S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   10166
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               May 10, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Blumencranz)
   -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend  the  executive  law, the public authorities law, the
   economic development law, the environmental conservation law  and  the
   transportation  law,  in  relation to adding ethno-religious groups as
   minority group members

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
 the "MWBE Equality Act".
   § 2. Subdivision 8 of section 310 of the executive law is  amended  by
 adding a new paragraph (e) to read as follows:
   (E)  ETHNO-RELIGIOUS  PERSONS UNIFIED BY A COMMON RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC
 BACKGROUND.
   § 3. Subdivision 6 of section 821 of the executive law is  amended  by
 adding a new paragraph (e) to read as follows:
   (E)  ETHNO-RELIGIOUS  PERSONS UNIFIED BY A COMMON RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC
 BACKGROUND.
   § 4. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 3 of  section  2879  of  the  public
 authorities  law  is amended by adding a new subparagraph (v) to read as
 follows:
   (V) ETHNO-RELIGIOUS PERSONS UNIFIED BY A COMMON RELIGIOUS  AND  ETHNIC
 BACKGROUND.
   §  5.  Subdivisions 3 and 4 of section 210 of the economic development
 law, as amended by chapter 669 of the laws of 2022, are amended to  read
 as follows:
   3.  "Minority  business enterprise" shall mean any business enterprise
 which is at least fifty-one per centum owned by, or in  the  case  of  a
 publicly  owned  business  at least fifty-one per centum of the stock of
 which is owned by, citizens or permanent resident  noncitizens  who  are
 Black,  Hispanic, Asian or American Indian, Pacific Islander [or], Alas-
 kan Native, OR ETHNO-RELIGIOUS where such ownership  interest  is  real,
 substantial  and continuing and where such persons have the authority to
 independently control the day-to-day business decisions of the entity.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD15443-01-4
 A. 10166                            2
 
   4. "Minority group member" shall  mean  a  United  States  citizen  or
 permanent  resident  noncitizen who is and can demonstrate membership in
 one of the following groups:
   (a)  Black  persons  having origins in any of the Black African racial
 groups not of Hispanic origin;
   (b) Hispanic persons  of  Mexican,  Puerto  Rican,  Dominican,  Cuban,
 Central  or  South American descent of either Indian or Hispanic origin,
 regardless of race;
   (c) Asian and Pacific Islander persons having origins in the Far East,
 Southeast Asia, the Indian sub-continent or the Pacific Islands; [or]
   (d) American Indian or Alaskan Native persons having origins in any of
 the original peoples of North America[.]; OR
   (E) ETHNO-RELIGIOUS PERSONS UNIFIED BY A COMMON RELIGIOUS  AND  ETHNIC
 BACKGROUND.
   §  6.  The  opening  paragraph  of  paragraph  (a) of subdivision 1 of
 section 52-0113 of the environmental conservation  law,  as  amended  by
 chapter 669 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows:
   In  the  performance of projects pursuant to this article minority and
 women-owned business enterprises shall  be  given  the  opportunity  for
 meaningful  participation.  The department or the office shall establish
 measures and procedures to secure meaningful participation and  identify
 those  contracts  and  items  of work for which minority and women-owned
 business enterprises may best bid to actively and affirmatively  promote
 and  assist their participation in the projects, so as to facilitate the
 award of a fair share of contracts to such enterprises; provided, howev-
 er, that nothing in this article shall be construed to limit the ability
 of the department or  office  to  assure  that  qualified  minority  and
 women-owned  business  enterprises  may  participate in the program. For
 purposes hereof, minority business enterprise shall  mean  any  business
 enterprise  which  is  at least fifty-one per centum owned by, or in the
 case of a publicly owned business, at least fifty-one per centum of  the
 stock  of  which  is owned by citizens or permanent resident noncitizens
 who are Black, Hispanic, Asian  or  American  Indian,  Pacific  Islander
 [or], Alaskan natives OR ETHNO-RELIGIOUS, and such ownership interest is
 real, substantial and continuing and have the authority to independently
 control the day to day business decisions of the entity for at least one
 year; and women-owned business enterprise shall mean any business enter-
 prise which is at least fifty-one per centum owned by, or in the case of
 a publicly owned business, at least fifty-one per centum of the stock of
 which  is  owned  by  citizens or permanent resident noncitizens who are
 women, and such ownership interest is real, substantial  and  continuing
 and  have the authority to independently control the day to day business
 decisions of the entity for at least one year.
   § 7. The opening paragraph  of  paragraph  (a)  of  subdivision  2  of
 section  428 of the transportation law, as amended by chapter 669 of the
 laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows:
   In the performance of transportation infrastructure renewal  projects,
 minority  and women-owned business enterprises shall be given the oppor-
 tunity for meaningful participation. The governor shall establish  meas-
 ures  and  procedures  to  secure  meaningful participation and identify
 those contracts and items of work for  which  minority  and  women-owned
 business  enterprises may best bid to actively and affirmatively promote
 and assist their participation  in  the  department's  construction  and
 procurement  program for transportation infrastructure renewal projects,
 so as to facilitate the award of a  fair  share  of  contracts  to  such
 enterprises;  provided,  however,  that nothing in this article shall be
 A. 10166                            3
 
 construed to limit the ability of the governor to assure that  qualified
 minority  and  women-owned  business  enterprises may participate in the
 transportation infrastructure  renewal  program.  For  purposes  hereof,
 minority business enterprise shall mean any business enterprise which is
 at  least  fifty-one  per  centum owned by, or in the case of a publicly
 owned business, at least fifty-one per centum of the stock of  which  is
 owned  by  citizens  or  permanent  resident  noncitizens who are Black,
 Hispanic, Asian [or],  American  Indian  OR  ETHNO-RELIGIOUS,  and  such
 ownership  interest is real, substantial and continuing; and women-owned
 business enterprise shall mean any business enterprise which is at least
 fifty-one per centum owned by, or in the case of a publicly owned  busi-
 ness,  at  least  fifty-one per centum of the stock of which is owned by
 citizens or permanent resident  noncitizens  who  are  women,  and  such
 ownership interest is real, substantial and continuing.
   §  8. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend-
 ments to section 310 of the executive law made by section  two  of  this
 act  and  the  amendments  to  section  821 of the executive law made by
 section three of this act shall not affect the repeal of  such  sections
 and shall be deemed repealed therewith.