The HUB Case: August 2026 Statement

STATE LOSES ATTEMPT TO DISMISS TEXAS HUB LAWSUIT

Business owners will continue challenging regulations that removed, without any legal authority, thousands of businesses owned by women and people of color from the state’s certification program.

AUSTIN, Texas (Monday, Aug. 24, 2026) — The State of Texas has failed in its attempt to end the landmark lawsuit challenging the dismantling of the state’s Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) program.

The Fifteenth Court of Appeals rejected the State’s request to dismiss the underlying lawsuit, allowing Texas business owners and a trade association representing more than 150 contractors to continue challenging the Comptroller’s regulations in Travis County District Court.

The State argued that the case should be thrown out because the Comptroller withdrew the emergency regulations the plaintiffs originally challenged and replaced them with final regulations. The court disagreed, finding that the challenged HUB regulation had been adopted “without substantive change.” The business owners can now return to trial court and continue their challenge.

“The State asked the court to end this case. It lost,” said Alphonso David, President and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum and co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs. “Replacing one set of regulations with another does not give the Comptroller power the Legislature never gave him. The core question is unchanged: Can the Comptroller ignore the Legislature and rewrite Texas law through regulation? The answer is no, and we will return to the trial court to make that case.”

“Thousands of businesses lost certifications, contracts, employees and opportunities because of these regulations,” David continued. “Changing the form of the regulations does not erase that harm. We will keep fighting for the businesses, workers and communities paying the price.”

This case is bigger than the state’s contracting program. It is about whether Texans can rely on laws passed by their elected representatives and whether an executive official can unilaterally issue regulations to cut thousands of businesses owned by women and people of color out of a program the Legislature created. The stakes reach beyond Texas: businesses, investors, workers, and communities across the country depend on stable public contracting systems and clear limits on executive power.

The case will now return to Travis County District Court, where the plaintiffs will continue challenging the Comptroller’s unlawful regulations. The Global Black Economic Forum, Petrillo Klein + Boxer LLP, Freedom Economy, and American Pride Rises continue to support the litigation alongside a coalition of business and civil rights organizations.

Media Contacts:

Michael Franklin
Global Black Economic Forum
[email protected]

Rob Shearer
The Shearer Group
[email protected]

Ellisa Brown
The Shearer Group
[email protected]