- Legislation
- HB 793
- Status
- In Effect
- In Effect Since
- May 2019
- Type(s)
- Anti-boycott, State Contracts, State Investments
- Full Text
- Read HB 793
HB 793 amends Texas’ 2017 anti-boycott law (HB 89) to exclude sole proprietors, companies with fewer than 10 employees, and contracts worth less than $100,000 from the prohibition on state contracts with companies that boycott Israel or persons or entities doing business in Israel or territories it occupies. A federal court blocked enforcement of HB 89 in April 2019, finding that the law would likely violate the First Amendment. These amendments, which are designed to remove the plaintiffs challenging the law from its reach, may reduce the number of individuals affected by the law, but fail to resolve the underlying constitutional issues.
The amended law leaves in place the written certification requirement for state contractors as well as the creation of a blacklist of companies in which state retirement plans are prohibited from investing. Related Bill: SB 491.