Legislative Corner

Assemblymember Bichotte has traveled throughout the State and attended many community events, including sessions from the 2016 NYS Disparity Study, and has had an opportunity to hear from a wide range of stakeholders. The 2016 legislation that she has introduced is informed by the many MWBEs she has had an opportunity to come in contact with, and it is because of that this legislation has the potential to transform how MWBEs conduct business in New York State.

The Assemblymember has introduced a bundle of legislation that will greatly enhance economic opportunities for Minority and Women Owned Enterprises (MWBEs) and subcontractors throughout the State. The legislation falls mainly into four categories: 1) increased opportunities for MWBEs by attaching MWBE participation goals, 2) increased resources to expand the pool of certified MWBEs, 3) increased transparency and accountability, 4) the way in which subcontractors will be paid and reported, which are primarily MWBEs.

The 13 pieces of legislation are as follows:

A8700 - This bill is to help widen opportunities for Minority and MWBE throughout the State of New York

A9074A - This bill will help increase economic opportunities of MWBE by having them participate in real estate development related projects.

A9122 - The purpose of this bill is to study what state agencies and industries would benefit most from having a capacity-building/mentorship program, and the duration and cost of such a program.

A9700 - The purpose of this bill is to amend the state finance law and executive law so that the sole source procurement process will include the solicitation of MWBE

A9707 - This bill will help to enable under-represented MWBE to be exposed to Government contracting opportunities and resources

A9708 - The purpose of this bill is to allow the public to see which contracts have received waivers in relation to compliance with MWBE participation.

A9710 - The purpose of this bill is for contractors to report their contractual relationship throughout the life of the project with MWBE

A9733 - The purpose of this bill is for the division of Minority and Women's business development to issue an annual report which will summarize the different information required for their development

A9740 - This bill is to help steam line the payment process for both prime contractors and sub-contractors

A9771 - The purpose of this bill is to publish and announce agencies that have entered into a contract

A9772 - The bill will amend the public housing law, real property tax law, the private housing finance law, and the administrative code of the city of New York, so that real estate developers that are able to claim certain tax credits, abatements, and exemptions will be required to attach an MWBE goal to their project

A9774 - This bill is to eliminate the requirements that certain MWBE owners have a personal net worth of less than $3,500,000 in order to obtain certification as a qualifying MWBE; and clarifying that individuals net worth is not to be considered in determining eligibility for certification under article 15-A of the executive law

A9775 - This bill is to report on Minority and Women- Owned Business development and contract and spending by the State Comptroller

2015 MWBE Legislation

During the off session, one of the pieces of legislation that I introduced in 2015, (A7580 (Bichotte)/ S04856 (Croci)), was signed into law. This bill authorizes state agencies to purchase commodities and services from service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprises (SDVOBs). This month I introduced Bill A8700, which will increase procurement opportunities for MWBEs throughout the State from $7B to $65B. This Bill is aligned with Governor Cuomo's Legislative Proposal No. 14. making all state funding to municipalities and localities tied with the State's MWBE goal.

The Assembly passed several pieces of legislation during the 2015 legislative session intended to promote minority and women-owned businesses, as well as other small businesses, and assist these businesses to grow and thrive. Several of these bills will be sent to the Governor for action.

PASSED BOTH HOUSES

A7580 (Bichotte)/S4586 (Croci) This bill authorizes state agencies to use discretionary purchasing authority to purchase up to $200,000 of commodities and services from service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprises (SDVOBs) without a formal competitive bidding process. This bill also permits the use of a quantitative factor related to participation by SDVOBs when state agencies engage in best value procurement evaluations.

A7593 (Richardson)/S2656 (Parker) This bill creates a computerized registry of state, federal, private and non-profit technical and financial programs available to MWBEs and small businesses.

A7507 (Thiele)/S5444 (LaValle) This bill establishes a state small business commercial fishing industry advocate and creates a commercial fishing economic development program to promote small businesses in the state's small business commercial fishing industry.

A6902B (Blake)/S5283A (Martins) This bill ensures that small businesses are paid promptly by state agencies within 15 days of receipt of an invoice for contracts, other than highway construction contracts, unless certain conditions exist to justify a delay in payment. Interest would start accruing on such payments when agencies do not provide payment to small businesses within 15 days.

PASSED ASSEMBLY

A1259 (Titus)/S2095 (Hassell-Thompson) This bill creates minority and women-owned business enterprise (MWBE) regional advocates and provides that the advocates would help ensure that municipal agencies comply with the provisions of law relating to MWBEs.

A2063A (Quart) This bill establishes a microenterprise technical assistance and capacity building grant program to provide training and technical assistance to low income entrepreneurs operating microenterprises.

A2126A (Buchwald)/S3894A (Funke) This bill creates the New York State Innovation Vouchers Program to provide small businesses access to research and development by colleges and universities, government laboratories, and public research institutions in order to assist small businesses in the creation of innovative products or services that retain jobs and provide opportunities for expansion.

A2302 (Solages) This bill creates a small business crime prevention services program to provide small businesses with access to information on programs offering training and assistance in prevention of crimes, opportunities for financial assistance, information about protection of assets, and information on responses to reporting of crimes.

A5932A (Pichardo) This bill establishes the New York State Innovative Energy and Environmental Technology Program to award small businesses with grants of up to $100,000 on a competitive basis, in order to encourage and support innovative energy and environmental technology development in New York State.

A8044A (Bichotte)/S5924A (Sanders) This bill would authorize New York City to make discretionary purchases of up to $200,000 from locally certified minority or women owned business enterprises (MWBE) as well as create a capacity building program to increase the number of locally certified MWBEs.

The enacted budget for state fiscal year 2015-2016 included $1 million in the state financial plan for the Minority and Women-Owned Business Development and Lending Program. This program will provide financial assistance to MWBEs, as well as to projects and programs that assist the development of entrepreneurship among minorities and women in New York. In addition, the enacted budget included funding for the hiring of up to seven new full time employees to support the MWBE program.

For more information on additional legislation related to minority and women-owned business enterprises, and other small businesses, including bill numbers, bill text, sponsors' memos, votes, and bill status, the Assembly website includes a "New York State Bill Search" function, found at: http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/