Harris County commissioners are set to discuss the county’s minority- and women-owned businesses equity program over a week after a federal court issued a decision that the city of Houston’s version of the program was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
The big picture<\/strong><\/p>\n Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey added the item to the agenda<\/a> after U.S. District Judge David Hittner, the ruling judge on the case, said the city of Houston’s program violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.<\/p>\n Run by the Harris County Department of Economic Equity and Opportunity<\/a>, the program was established in November 2020 by commissioners to provide equity among women- and minority-owned businesses for county contracts. The program aimed to have at least 30% of county contracts awarded to women- and minority-owned businesses on an annual basis after a survey found those businesses only received 9% of county contracts despite making up roughly 28% of the business market.<\/p>\n As previously reported by <\/a>Community Impact<\/a>, a white couple from Spring filed a lawsuit in 2023 against the city of Houston after stating that they had to pay $143,000 to a minority-owned competitor to finish part of the work on their five-year, $1.3 million contract with the city, which resulted in the judgment.<\/p>\n Also on the agenda<\/strong><\/p>\n Commissioners will also receive an update on third quarter projections for the Harris County fiscal year 2026-27 budget. During the presentation, the budget office will also look at identifying “high-value, underutilized county real estate assets to sell or lease to generate general fund revenue for the FY27 budget.”<\/p>\n Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis also requested a presentation of any generated revenues and expenses to the county as a result of the 2026 FIFA World Cup that took place over the summer.<\/p>\n Ramsey also put forth an item to approve an interlocal agreement with the Houston Parks Board to design a potential shared-use path connecting the Cypress Creek Greenway to the Spring Creek Greenway.<\/p>\n