An Austin district judge on Monday ordered the state’s Historically Underutilized Business Program rules be temporarily reinstated, meaning women- and minority-owned business owners can qualify for the state’s HUB program again for now.
Four business owners and a trade association sued the state of Texas and acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock on March 2 over the agency’s emergency rules that removed women and minorities from the HUB program and stripped their businesses of their HUB certifications. The judge ordered the reinstatement of six businesses that sued the Comptroller’s office over the emergency rules — two joined after the lawsuit was first filed — and further directs state agencies to inform HUB businesses that have been decertified since December of the court ruling.
