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March 2, 2026 4:23 PM
Acting Comptroller Hancock faces lawsuit for unilaterally cutting women and people of color out of the Historically Underutilized Business program
Attorneys for the plaintiffs argue it’s extra egregious because Acting Comptroller Hancock was not elected to his position; Republicans and Democrats have agreed that it was an “inside job”; Hancock has said the program as it existed is “discriminatory and doesn't abide within the Constitution”
A lawsuit
filed in Travis County alleges acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock and
three stage agency heads overstepped their authority when they restructured a
longtime program meant to diversify the pool of state contractors. In December,
Hancock announced he was restructuring the Historically Underutilized
Business program to only focus on businesses run by veterans with certain
disabilities, cutting out people of color and women who have been included in the
program for decades. Hancock also renamed it VetHUB.
The
lawsuit also has Texas Capitol players again talking about the
way in which Hancock left the Senate and was, as one put it, “snuck into the spot
he’s in now.”
By James Russell
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Copyright March 02, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved 