The Businesses Council of New York State supports and advocates for a package of legislation benefiting Minority and Women owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) for the 2023 legislative session. The legislative package would positively impact MWBE businesses throughout New York State.
Two previously supported 2022 pieces of legislation have already been chaptered into law, including S.571(Comrie)/A.6520(Bichotte-Hermelyn), which allows MWBE businesses to use money from state lending programs to pay existing debt, and S.3390(Bailey)/A.9259-A(People-Stokes) which addresses fraud throughout the state MWBE program.
In 2023, The Business Council supports eight pieces of legislation that would impact mentorship and support programs, incentivize contracting for MWBEs, streamline the certification process, and address fraud throughout the program.
Legislative Proposals Positively Impacting Minority and Women Business Enterprise (MWBE)
Mentorship & Support Programs
- S.2285 (Cleare)/A.1447(Bichotte-Hermelyn) Directs the Empire State Development Corporation to conduct a study on which industries and state agencies would benefit from a minority and women-owned business enterprise capacity mentorship program
- S2005(Sanders)/A.2431(Dilan) Creates an entrepreneurial training program.
- S.1424(Bailey) Requires state agencies to develop a three-year plan on how to increase MWBE participation in state contracts and subcontracts
- S.1873 (Webb) Changes how many employees an MWBE can have during a state of emergency.
- S.2008 (Sanders) Creates the minority and women-owned business protection program that would provide funding to businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Streamlining Certification
- S.1687(Hinchey)/A.1621-A(McDonald) Streamlines the state recertification process for reputable MWBEs.
Article VII, TED, Part HH Creates an agreement where New York State will accept the New York City MWBE certification when bidding for a state contract and increases the prior contract limit awarded to MWBEs from $1million to $1.5million
Incentives for Contracting MWBEs
- A.2719 (People-Stokes) Creates a business and personal income tax credit that covers a portion of what is paid when contracting with an MWBE.
Fraud
- S.1757/A.1266(Bichotte-Hermelyn) Requires state agencies to contact MWBEs when they are listed on a utilization plan submitted by a contractor
- S.1419 (Comrie)/A.3861(Jackson Requires state agencies to provide a letter of rejection to unsuccessful bidders that are MWBEs