§ 106.001.Prohibited Acts

The prohibition, and the list describes the ordinary points of contact between a person and government.

An officer or employee of the state or of a political subdivision who is acting or purporting to act in an official capacity may not, because of a person’s race, religion, color, sex, or national origin, do any of seven things.

"Or purporting to act" is a deliberate widening. An official exceeding their authority is still within the section, which forecloses the defence that the conduct was outside the job.

Refuse to issue a license, permit, or certificate, or revoke or suspend one. That is the licensing power, on which many livelihoods depend.

Refuse to permit the person to use facilities open to the public owned, operated or managed by or on behalf of the state or a subdivision.

Refuse to permit participation in a program so owned or operated.

Refuse to grant a benefit.

Impose an unreasonable burden on the person. That is the widest item, and it catches conduct the other six do not describe.

Refuse to award a contract. Public procurement, where the sums are largest.

Two exceptions follow, and both preserve remedial action. The section does not apply to a public school official acting under a plan reasonably designed to end discriminatory school practices, and does not prohibit a program designed to increase participation of businesses owned and controlled by women, minorities, or disadvantaged persons in public contract awards.

Without them, a desegregation plan or a supplier diversity programme could be attacked under the section itself — since both take the listed characteristics into account.