What's happening
This bill requires independent review and public reporting of contractors' requests for waivers from minority and women-owned business enterprise (MWBE) participation requirements.
Why it matters
Increases transparency and accountability. by requiring all contractor requests for MWBE participation waivers—whether granted or not—to be independently reviewed, helping ensure contractors are not bypassing diversity requirements without valid reasons.
Independent verification by MWBE experts. helps prevent abuse or misuse of the waiver process, making it harder for contractors to falsely claim they made a "good faith" effort to include minority and women-owned businesses.
Public monthly reporting. of the findings gives stakeholders—including taxpayers, advocacy groups, and MWBEs themselves—access to up-to-date information about how frequently waivers are requested and granted, potentially highlighting patterns of exclusion or non-compliance.
Empowers the Statewide Advocate. to oversee and publicize this process, which could lead to policy changes or heightened enforcement if the data reveals systemic issues with MWBE participation or waiver practices.
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Who cares
State contractors seeking MWBE waivers
Their requests for partial or total waivers would undergo independent good-faith review, whether or not the contracting agency granted them.
Minority- and women-owned businesses
Published findings would let them examine whether contractors seeking waivers of MWBE compliance acted in good faith.
Empire State Development and the statewide advocate
They would be responsible for retaining independent MWBE consultant firms and publishing their findings on the advocate’s website with monthly updates.
Independent MWBE consultant firms
They would be retained to examine every waiver request, verify the contractor’s good faith and report findings to the statewide advocate.
Headline styles
Verify Contractor Waiver Requests
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to governmental operations
- Referred to governmental operations
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1538
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 15, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. BICHOTTE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to verification of good faith by contractors that request waivers of compliance with the provisions of article 15-A of the executive law relating to minority and women-owned business enterprises
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 311-a of the executive law is amended by adding a new subdivision 5 to read as follows:
5. (a) The empire state development corporation, acting through the statewide advocate, shall retain one or more independent MWBE consultant firms to review all partial or total waivers of compliance requested by contractors pursuant to section three hundred thirteen of this article, regardless of whether such waivers were granted by the contracting agency. The MWBE consultant firms shall examine the circumstances under which each waiver was requested, and, if applicable, granted, verify whether the contractor has made the request for the waiver in good faith and report their findings to the statewide advocate.
(b) The findings of the MWBE consultant firms shall be published on the website of the statewide advocate and updated on a monthly basis.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law; provided, however, that the amendments to section 311-a of the executive law made by section one of this act shall not affect the expiration of such section and shall be deemed expired therewith.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00190-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.