SisterSong's Statement on the Texas HUB Case

The dismantling of Texas’ Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) program is a direct attack on our communities’ ability to build economic power and thrive in safe, healthy communities. At its core, this is about who gets access to opportunity and who gets locked out.

Acting Comptroller Hancock took a program the Legislature put in place more than 35 years ago and rewrote it on his own. In the process, he wiped out opportunities for thousands of Black- and women-owned businesses overnight. Contracts disappeared. Pathways to state work vanished. People lost jobs. Now families across Texas are scrambling to replace income they counted on, and small businesses that hold local economies together are facing layoffs, possible closures, and an uncertain future.

We cannot talk about Reproductive Justice without talking about economic justice. Families need stable jobs and steady income to afford food, housing, healthcare, and education. The freedom to decide if, when, and how to build a family does not mean much if state leaders take away the economic stability that makes that freedom real.

This is not policy reform. It is economic harm with real consequences. When businesses close, families lose income, healthcare, and security, and entire communities feel the impact. 

That’s why four minority- and women-owned businesses, alongside a statewide trade association, have filed a landmark lawsuit in Travis County state court to challenge the Comptroller’s unlawful and unilateral dismantling of the HUB program. SisterSong stands with the Global Black Economic Forum and business owners who are fighting to protect this program and restore the opportunities it was designed to create.