Huffines left family firm with SpaceX ties off state form

Nearly 1.7 billion dollars in tax breaks will go to a company linked to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, yet the state official who oversees those funds did not list his role in a firm investing in SpaceX on his official financial disclosure.

Texas Comptroller Don Huffines serves as president of Huffines Enterprises Science & Technology, known as HEST. A Dallas-based private equity firm launched in 2022, HEST lists SpaceX among nine companies in its portfolio. Huffines and his twin brother Phillip founded the real estate companies that manage the firm. A state filing signed in September, after Huffines took office, lists him and his son Colin as managers. His son Russell was listed as vice president on the company website.

Huffines filed his personal financial disclosure form in February to run for a full term. He did not include HEST on that document. State law requires candidates to detail executive roles in businesses they hold. The form also asks for income, liabilities, and investments, but it does not require a business to have generated income for the official to list it. A 2023 legislative bill to limit disclosures to only compensated positions failed to pass.

Huffines won the Republican primary in March and was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott in July after acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock stepped down. The comptroller’s office administers major tax incentive programs. In June, the office recommended TeraFab AI, a SpaceX-linked entity, receive the Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation Act incentive. The office stated that without the break, the company might move to Arizona. If all phases of the 100-million-square-foot semiconductor facility are built, the state will exempt it from nearly $1.7 billion in local school maintenance and operations taxes through 2046.

SpaceX has also received up to $11.25 million in tax breaks under the Enterprise Zone Program for projects in Starbase and Bastrop County. Three of these awards were approved before Huffines was sworn in. The comptroller’s office continues to monitor compliance and can revoke agreements if awardees fail to meet requirements, according to state law.

Campaign senior adviser Allen Blakemore said Huffines holds no personal ownership interest in HEST or SpaceX and has received no income from either. “Since taking office, Comptroller Huffines has not approved, directed, or influenced a single incentive, grant, or agreement for any entity with which he has any financial involvement,” Blakemore said. He added that all SpaceX incentives were approved before Huffines’ swearing in.

Ethics lawyer Andy Cates noted that the timing of the awards does not change the duty to disclose. “Being manager of a family firm is still a holding that requires disclosure, no matter if the impact predates your tenure or not,” Cates said. He warned that omissions erode public trust, noting that many residents now presume missing information is intentional rather than accidental.

Huffines faces Democrat Sarah Eckhardt on the November ballot. The state’s disclosure law makes it a crime to knowingly fail to file a form, but it does not automatically penalize omissions. Any Texas resident can file a sworn complaint for investigation. The highest fine ever levied for a disclosure violation was $100,000, assessed against a judge in a separate case.