Texas Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock unlawfully decertified thousands of women- and minority-owned contractors from a decades-old program intended to support “economically disadvantaged groups” in state contracting, a new lawsuit alleges.
Four minority businesses and a nonprofit trade group sued in Texas state court Monday to overturn Hancock’s December decision that “unilaterally” restructured the Historically Underutilized Business program, revoking certification for more than 15,000 Black, Hispanic, and women-owned businesses.
Alphonso David, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs and president and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum, said this is the first lawsuit challenging a state government’s action to dismantle a legislatively ...