The Texas Comptroller's office says its contracts and grants will require contractors and grantees to certify that their work for the state involves no discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion program.
In its Oct. 15 announcement, the agency also said it is writing immediate-termination authority into those agreements.
A contractor or grantee serving a Comal County local government through a comptroller agreement would face the new certification and termination terms. The comptroller says its office handles contracts and grants for local governments across Texas; the announcement does not identify a particular Comal County agreement.
The agency defines the conduct covered by its order as disparate treatment based on race, color, ethnicity, religion, age, sex or national origin in recruiting, hiring, contracting, program participation or use of state resources. It also says contractors and grantees must certify that they operate no DEI program that violates state or federal anti-discrimination law. These are terms for comptroller contracts and grants; the announcement does not establish a change to every Texas public contract.
The next point to check is when revised terms appear in specific agreements. Contractors and local governments can inspect the comptroller's announcement for the agency's description of the requirement, then compare that description with the terms of any agreement they use.