In a plot twist no one asked for, Texas’ acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock approved thousands of small businesses to renew their Historically Underutilized Business certification—then a few hours later sent another email basically saying “lol nevermind.” More than 15,000 women-, minority-, and veteran-owned small businesses were suddenly told they’re no longer welcome in a program built specifically for them.
Why? Hancock froze the HUB program back in October because he claimed it might violate the Constitution—without actually citing any case or ruling. And despite no judge agreeing with him, he’s now retooling the whole program to only serve one group: veterans with a disability rating of at least 20%. Or, more accurately, men with a disability rating of at least 20%, since all 485 current VetHUB companies are male-owned.
Texas legislators—including the guy who helped write the original law—are loudly pointing out that this isn’t remotely how statutes work. Meanwhile, affected business owners are watching revenue vanish, contracts unravel, and seminars cancel… while Hancock proudly insists this is actually about stopping discrimination.
In other words: the state just solved discrimination by eliminating everyone who’s been discriminated against. Brilliant, truly.
But hey, nothing says “equal opportunity” like kicking out almost everyone and calling it fairness. Only in Texas.