New Jersey Treasury opens certification portal for LGBTBEs

NJ News - Published Apr 10, 2023

Governor Phil Murphy and Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio of New Jersey have announced that the New Jersey Department of the Treasury has opened up a certification portal website for LGBTQ+-owned businesses (LGBTBEs), which is currently accepting applications. Businesses certified as LGBTBEs by this process are certified in the same manner and by the same department currently certifying minority- and woman-owned business enterprises (MWBEs).

To be eligible for certification as an LGBTBE, a business must be "at least 51 percent owned, operated, and controlled by persons who identify as LGBTQ+". Other criteria include appropriate licensing for the industry of the LGBTBE, demonstrable authority over the affairs of the business by the LGBTQ+ owners, and degree of variance in financial relationships with non-LGBTBEs from industry practice.

One a business is certified as an LGBTBE, it will be listed in the New Jersey Selective Assistance Vendor Information (SAVI) portal, as MWBEs and other classes of business are currently listed.

"I was proud to sign an executive order establishing state-backed certification for LGBTQ+ owned businesses and I am thrilled to see that action become reality with the opening of the certification portal," said Governor Murphy in a statement.

Read the press release from the governor's office at https://nj.gov/governor/news/news/562023/approved/20230405b.shtml.