NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5687
SPONSOR: Woerner TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to the definition of
small business for minority group members and women with respect to
state contracts
PURPOSE:
Raises the number of workers required for consideration as an MWBE small
business from 300 to 500 employees.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends the Executive Law to increase the thresh-
old of workers from 300 to 500 for small business MWBEs.
Section two provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Currently New York State's MWBE definition of small business is less
than 300 employees. This has an unfortunate impact of deterring small
businesses with less than 500 employees from participating in New York
State. By amending state law to match the federal definition, this will
allow more small businesses to participate in state contracts and
discourage those same firms from leaving the state.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: A7099 - Referred to Governmental Relations. S6609 - Committed to
Rules.
2023: A7099 - Referred to Governmental Relations. S6609 - PASSED THE
SENATE.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5687
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 20, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WOERNER -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to the definition of
small business for minority group members and women with respect to
state contracts
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 20 of section 310 of the executive law, as
2 amended by chapter 44 of the laws of 2024, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 20. "Small business" as used in this section, unless otherwise indi-
5 cated, shall mean a business which has a significant business presence
6 in the state, is independently owned and operated, not dominant in its
7 field and employs, based on its industry, a certain number of persons as
8 determined by the director, but not to exceed [three] five hundred,
9 except during a declared state disaster emergency as defined pursuant to
10 section twenty-eight of this chapter, not to exceed [three] five hundred
11 employees who work thirty or more hours per week over the period of
12 fifty-two weeks for a total of one thousand five hundred sixty hours
13 worked, taking into consideration factors which include, but are not
14 limited to, federal small business administration standards pursuant to
15 13 CFR part 121 and any amendments thereto. The director may issue regu-
16 lations on the construction of the terms in this definition. For
17 purposes of this subdivision, an employee may break from employment for
18 up to thirteen weeks without the fifty-two week lookback period reset-
19 ting.
20 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided however, the
21 amendments to article 15-A of the executive law made by section one of
22 this act shall not affect the repeal of such article and shall be deemed
23 repealed therewith.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06220-02-5
