(AUSTIN) — Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock today announced the state’s Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) program has been restructured under emergency rules and will now operate as Veteran Heroes United in Business (VetHUB), a program focused exclusively on small businesses owned and operated by veterans with a 20 percent or higher service-connected disability.
The emergency rules, sent today to the Texas Register and effective immediately, reduce the program’s size significantly, bringing its administration into alignment with the Texas and U.S. constitutions by removing race- and sex-based preferences and adjusting the program’s focus to service-disabled veterans who qualify under legislative guidelines established in 2015.
“Our nation’s veterans have always stepped up for us,” Hancock said. “VetHUB is Texas’ way of stepping up for them — cutting red tape, restoring constitutional integrity and opening doors for the men and women who wore our nation’s uniform. These emergency rules ensure Texas’ state contracting is free from gender or race discrimination and keep the program centered on those who earned this support through their service.”
Businesses previously certified by the Comptroller of Public Accounts as HUBs based on race, ethnicity or sex will no longer qualify under the new rules unless they demonstrate ownership and control by a service-disabled veteran. The Comptroller’s office will move expediently to revoke outdated certifications and issue new VetHUB certifications.
Hancock previously announced an administrative freeze of the HUB program in October pending agency legal review.
More information regarding VetHUB, including frequently asked questions for small businesses, is available on the Comptroller’s website.
