Judge Orders Temporary Injunction, Restoring HUB Certifications

A Travis County district judge has granted a temporary injunction blocking Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock from enforcing the emergency rules that restructured the state’s Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) program against the plaintiffs who sued over the change, ordering the comptroller to immediately reinstate those businesses’ HUB certifications.

In an order signed April 13, Judge Amy Clark Meachum also denied defendants’ plea to the jurisdiction and said the injunction is intended to preserve the status quo of the HUB Act and comptroller regulations that were in effect as of Dec. 1, 2025, which the court described as the last “actual, peaceable and non-contested” interpretation before the controversy began.

The plaintiffs listed in the order are Globe Express Trucking Inc.; Kirstins Care LLC; Ipsum General Contractors; Mpulse Healthcare & Technology; Williams Professional Water Restoration Service; Houston WiFi, Ltd. Co. d/b/a Houston Construction Services; and NAMC Inc. – Greater Houston Chapter.

Meachum’s order includes findings that Hancock, as acting comptroller, “lacks the authority to determine the constitutionality of the HUB Act” and that executive branch agencies enforce laws but cannot alter pre-existing law. The court also found plaintiffs demonstrated a probable right to relief and that a probable, immediate and irreparable injury would result without temporary relief.

The order states that between now and final judgment, the comptroller is enjoined from enforcing the emergency rules as to the plaintiffs and must immediately reinstate the plaintiffs’ HUB certifications.

In addition, the order bars the comptroller from enforcing or adopting the proposed regulations unless and until the Legislature amends the HUB Act and the governor signs it or unless the HUB Act is declared unconstitutional or void by a valid court order. The order notes the proposed regulations were scheduled to be adopted April 17.

Meachum also enjoined the other defendants in the case — leaders of the Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office, Texas Department of Transportation, Health and Human Services Commission and Texas Facilities Commission — from altering their compliance with the pre-existing HUB status quo “to deny benefits to the plaintiffs.”

Beyond reinstating certifications, the order requires the comptroller to immediately notify all prime contractors and state agencies in every Texas county of the ruling and to publish the order on the comptroller’s website while circulating it to prime contractors and agencies statewide.

While the order directs statewide notice to prime contractors and agencies and includes a requirement to notify that businesses were decertified due to the emergency regulation, the directive to reinstate certifications is written as applying to the named plaintiffs.

The temporary injunction is conditioned on a $500 cash bond for each named plaintiff to be filed with the Travis County district clerk and remains in effect until final judgment, according to the order.

The dispute stems from Hancock’s Dec. 2, 2025, emergency rule change that rebranded the program as Veteran Heroes United in Business and limited eligibility to small businesses at least 51 percent owned and controlled by veterans with a service-connected disability rating of 20 percent or higher while revoking prior certifications based on race, ethnicity or gender unless the business met the new criteria.

The order sets trial to begin Nov. 9, 2026.