Texas businesses that require customers to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or recovery could lose state contracts and grants under a new enforcement measure announced this week by Texas Comptroller Don Huffines.
The October 21 order requires businesses receiving contracts or grants administered by the Comptroller’s Office to certify compliance with an existing state law prohibiting vaccine passports. The agency is also adding provisions allowing agreements to be terminated immediately for violations, tying compliance directly to taxpayer-funded contracts.
New Requirements For State Contractors
Under the order, businesses seeking contracts or grants through the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts must certify that they do not require customers to provide documentation of COVID-19 vaccination or recovery from infection.
The restriction applies when such documentation is demanded as a condition of entering a business, accessing its facilities, or receiving its services.
According to the agency’s announcement, contractors and grant recipients must acknowledge three requirements:
- They must comply with Section 161.0085 of the Texas Health and Safety Code throughout their agreements.
- They cannot require customers to produce COVID-19 vaccination or recovery documentation to enter, gain access to, or receive services.
- They must acknowledge that violating the restriction makes them ineligible for state-funded contracts and grants.
The Comptroller’s Office said the certifications will become standard provisions in future agreements and solicitations administered by the agency.
The office is also incorporating immediate-termination authority into its contracts and grants to enforce compliance.
The announcement did not identify businesses currently violating the law or disclose any contracts or grants terminated under the new measure.
Texas Law Has Prohibited Vaccine Passports Since 2021
The underlying prohibition predates Huffines’ announcement.
Section 161.0085 of the Texas Health and Safety Code prohibits businesses from requiring customers to provide documentation of COVID-19 vaccination or recovery as a condition of entry or service.
The statute took effect June 16, 2021, after lawmakers approved Senate Bill 968 during the 87th Texas Legislature.
It also prohibits Texas governmental entities from issuing standardized COVID-19 vaccination documentation to third parties for purposes other than health care, subject to the statute’s terms.
Businesses violating the customer-documentation restriction are already ineligible for state-funded contracts and grants.
The law additionally directs appropriate state agencies to ensure compliance and permits them to make compliance a condition of certain licenses, permits, or other authorizations necessary to conduct business.
Huffines’ order does not create a new statewide prohibition. Instead, it establishes an additional contractual enforcement mechanism within the Comptroller’s Office by requiring written compliance certifications and incorporating provisions for immediate termination.
What Businesses Can Still Require
The existing Texas statute does not prohibit every form of COVID-19 screening.
Under subsection (e), businesses may implement COVID-19 screening and infection-control protocols consistent with applicable state and federal laws.
The provision also preserves an individual’s right to access personal health information under federal law.
Consequently, Huffines’ measure concerns customer vaccination or recovery documentation, not all health-related requirements a business might impose.
The restriction also does not prohibit individuals from voluntarily presenting their medical records.
Huffines Cites Medical Privacy
Huffines described the action as a measure intended to protect Texans from being required to disclose private medical information to access services.
“The government has no authority to demand medical papers from Texans just so they can access basic services,” Huffines said in the October 21 release.
He also indicated that additional agency actions could follow.
“This order is one more step in an ongoing effort to give Texans back the freedoms that were taken from them, and there is more to come,” Huffines said.
The announcement did not identify those additional actions or provide a timeline.
What Happens To State Contracts?
The Comptroller’s new requirements apply to future contracts and grants administered by his office.
Businesses seeking those agreements will be required to certify compliance with the existing vaccine passport prohibition and acknowledge the potential loss of state funding eligibility for violations.
The agency’s planned immediate-termination provisions would provide a contractual mechanism for ending agreements when businesses violate the certification.
However, the October 21 announcement did not specify whether existing contracts would be amended, identify affected contractors, or provide the total dollar value of agreements potentially subject to the requirements.
It also did not establish that other Texas agencies have adopted identical contractual provisions.
For businesses seeking contracts or grants administered by the Comptroller’s Office, the new policy adds an explicit compliance requirement to the state’s existing restrictions on COVID-19 vaccine passports.
