§ 9-B — Minority and women-owned business enterprise program

§ 9-b. Minority and women-owned business enterprise program. 1. (a)\nMinority and women-owned business enterprises shall be given the\nopportunity for meaningful participation in all contracts executed by\nthe corporation pursuant to the provisions of this act other than\ncontracts the cost of which is borne solely by a municipality or\nmunicipalities. The corporation shall establish measures and procedures\nto secure meaningful participation and identify those contracts and\nitems of work for which minority and women-owned business enterprises\nmay best bid to actively and affirmatively promote and assist their\nparticipation in the projects, so as to facilitate the award of a fair\nshare of contracts to such enterprises; provided, however, that nothing\nin this act shall be construed to limit the ability of the corporation\nto assure that qualified minority and women-owned business enterprises\nmay participate in the program. For purposes hereof, minority business\nenterprise shall mean any business enterprise which is at least\nfifty-one per centum owned by, or in the case of a publicly owned\nbusiness, at least fifty-one per centum of the stock of which is owned\nby citizens or permanent resident noncitizens who are Black, Hispanic,\nAsian or American Indian, Pacific Islander or Alaskan natives and such\nownership interest is real, substantial and continuing and have the\nauthority to independently control the day to day business decisions of\nthe entity for at least one year; and women-owned business enterprise\nshall mean any business enterprise which is at least fifty-one per\ncentum owned by, or in the case of a publicly owned business, at least\nfifty-one per centum of the stock of which is owned by citizens or\npermanent resident noncitizens who are women, and such ownership\ninterest is real, substantial and continuing and have the authority to\nindependently control the day to day business decisions of the entity\nfor at least one year.\n The provisions of this paragraph shall not be construed to limit the\nability of any minority or women-owned business enterprise to bid on any\ncontract.\n (b) In the implementation of this section, the corporation shall\nconsider compliance by any contractor with the requirements of any\nfederal, state, or local law concerning minority and women-owned\nbusiness enterprises, which may effectuate the requirements of this\nsection. If the corporation determines that by virtue of the imposition\nof the requirements of any such law, in respect to contracts, the\nprovisions thereof duplicate or conflict with this section, the\ncorporation may waive the applicability of this section to the extent of\nsuch duplication or conflict.\n (c) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to require that overall\nstate and federal requirements for participation of minority and\nwomen-owned business enterprises in programs authorized under this act\nbe applied without regard to local circumstances to all projects or in\nall communities.\n 2. In order to implement the requirements and objectives of this\nsection, the corporation shall establish procedures to monitor the\ncontractors' compliance with provisions hereof, provide assistance in\nobtaining competing qualified minority and women-owned business\nenterprises to perform contracts proposed to be awarded, and take other\nappropriate measures to improve the access of minority and women-owned\nbusiness enterprises to these contracts.\n