Harris County has filed an amicus brief in support of plaintiffs in Ipsum General Contractors, LLC, et al. v. Kelly Hancock, et al., urging the court to restore the State of Texas’s Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Program and block recent changes by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts that removed minority- and women-owned businesses from eligibility.

The HUB program, created in the 1990s, was designed to ensure that minority- and women-owned businesses have a fair opportunity to participate in state contracting. Last year, interim Comptroller Kelly Hancock unilaterally reduced the program’s scope, eliminating eligibility for these businesses. Harris County argues the move violates the Texas Constitution’s separation-of-powers protections and undermines established law.

Harris County relies on the state’s HUB certification as a cornerstone of its own Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) program, adopted in 2020 following a comprehensive disparity study. Since launching the MWBE program, the County has more than doubled its spending with certified businesses and set an aspirational goal of awarding 30 percent of contract dollars to MWBEs.

County officials emphasize that the state’s changes disrupt local procurement, narrow the pool of qualified bidders, and threaten businesses that have built operations around HUB certification. The County is seeking court approval to maintain the program as originally enacted, arguing that it is essential to local economic stability and fair contracting.

The State of Texas is accepting public comments on the HUB changes until April 12. Comments can be submitted by email to Gerard.MacCrossan@cpa.texas.gov or by mail to Gerard MacCrossan, P.O. Box 13528, Austin, TX 78711. A virtual public session on the proposed changes will be held on Tuesday, April 7 at 7 a.m., with registration to speak required by Monday, April 6.