The proposed bill establishes the Minority and Women-Owned Businesses State Contractor Remedies Act and amends the Set-Aside Act for Small Businesses, Female Businesses, and Minority Businesses. It aims to enhance the participation of minority and women-owned businesses in state contracting by requiring state agencies to develop annual plans that encourage these businesses to submit proposals. The legislation sets specific contract utilization goals based on findings from the New Jersey Disparity Study, mandating that state agencies make good faith efforts to meet these goals, with potential consequences for non-compliance, including remedial action plans overseen by the Chief Diversity Officer. Additionally, prime contractors are held accountable for meeting subcontractor goals, with failures potentially leading to bid rejections.

Significant changes in the bill include the modification of the Set-Aside Act to focus solely on small businesses, increasing the set-aside goal from 15% to 25% while eliminating specific goals for minority and women-owned businesses. The responsibilities for overseeing these initiatives shift from the Office of Small Business Assistance to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Department of the Treasury. The bill also establishes a new goal for state agencies to award at least 30% of contracts to socially and economically disadvantaged businesses and repeals previous laws related to compliance calculations for minority, women, and veteran-owned businesses.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 5:10-21.1, 52:32-17, 52:32-18, 52:32-19, 52:32-20, 52:32-21, 52:32-22, 52:32-23, 52:32-24, 52:32-25, 52:32-26, 52:32-27, 52:32-28, 52:32-30, 52:32-31.17