Bill introduced in California Assembly to strengthen small business participation

CA News - Published Mar 02, 2022

A bill has been introduced into California's state Assembly, AB-2019, by Assemblymembers Cottie Petrie-Norris and Chris Holden, which would make a number of revisions to existing business development law.

Changes the bill makes include: requiring small business liasons within existing state agencies to develop an "economic equity first" plan for fully utilizing DBEs in procurement; requiring the Office of Small Business Advocate within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to include more detailed information about to their efforts to support procurement participation by small and diverse businesses; declaring that "the state economy is strengthened by the diversity and resiliency of its small businesses"; require the directors of the Department of General Services (DGS) to establish a minimum 25 percent SBE participation goal; expanding current SBE contract preferences to also pertain to DBEs as well; require DGS to consider "remedial actions" against state agencies that have failed their participation goals; require the creation of a department capable of fast-tracking SBE certifications for businesses that are already federally-certified; and require the annual DGS contracting report to contain information on the participation of businesses dual-certified as both SBEs and DBEs in state contracts.

Read the bill at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2019.