Four business owners and a trade association sued the state of Texas on Monday, seeking to reverse acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock’s emergency rules altering a state program intended to give additional exposure to economically disadvantaged groups in government contracting.
During an afternoon news conference in Austin, the business owners said they are suing because they all lost out on government contracts after Hancock stripped their Historically Underutilized Business Program certification in December.
“In this country, the legislature passes the laws, not the comptroller, and Texas is no different,” Alphonso David, president & CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum, and lead counsel for the plaintiffs, wrote in a statement. “The HUB case highlights a fundamental American principle — members of the executive branch cannot rewrite laws passed by the state legislature. They cannot deny citizens of their legal rights without a court order, legislative approval, or due process…