BILL NUMBER: S3965
SPONSOR: STAVISKY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to minority and women-
owned business enterprise certification
 
PURPOSE:
To encourage "Buy New York State.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends subdivision 7 (e) of section 310 as amended
by chapter 2019 of the laws of 2019 so that the personal net worth Omits
for small businesses applying for certification as a minority owned
Lousiness shall not apply to certain manufacturers of metal or vinyl
windows and doors (NAICS Codes 332321 end 326199) that am located in New
York Citywhare at least eighty percent of its employees working in the
New York City location are minority group members.
Section 2 - subdivision 20 of section 310 as amended by chapter 44 of
the laws of 2024 so that the three-hundred employee limit shall not
apply to certain minority owned small business enterprises that manufac-
turer metal or vinyl windows and doors (NAICS Codes 332321 and 326199)
that are located in New York City where at least eighty percent of its
employees working in the New York City location are minority group
members.
Section 3 - subdivision 1 of section 314 of the executive law as amended
by chapter 567 of the laws of 2022 so that the personal net worth limits
for small businesses applying for certification as a minority owned
business shall not apply to certain manufacturers of metal or vinyl
windows and doors (NA1CS Codes 332321 end 326199) that are located in
New York City where at least eighty percent of its employees working in
the New York City location are minority group members.
Section 4 -Subparagraph (vi) of paragraph (a) of subdivision 2-a of
section 314 of the executive law as amended by chapter 96 of the taws of
2019 as it relates to municipal certifications so that the personal net
worth limits for small businesses applying for certification as a minor-
ity owned business shad not apply to certain manufacturers of metal or
vinyl windows and doors (NAICS Codes 332321 and 326199) that are located
in New York Citywhere at least eighty percent of its employees working
in the New York City location are minority group members.
Section 5 of the bill is the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Under Article 15-A of the Executive Law, a small business enterprise can
only receive certification as a minority business enterprise if it has
less than three hundred employees and where the owners of such enter-
prise have a net worth of less than fifteen million dollars. However,
there are certain small minority owned business enterprises involved in
the window manufacturing business with operations in New York City that
lost their certification when they grew beyond those limits in order to
remain In business. The window manufacturing business is unique in that
companies must reach a larger scale in order to compete and survive.
Window manufacturers must produce on a large scale to meet quantity and
quality demands of contractors and developers that build housing, hospi-
tals, schools, etc. That scale requires larger woricforces and greater
capital. Affordable housing construction projects are increasingly La
rge in size, require hundreds, if not thousands of quality windows and
to the best of our knowledge there are no NYS MWBE manufacturing firms
capable of supplying such large-scale publicly- funded or subsidized
construction projects. it is clear that the NYS window manufacturing
industry is not sufficiently represented in the pool of MWBE firms;
thus, they are effectively excluded from participating in the program
and helping general contractors and owners achieve MWBE participation
goats.
Manufacturers must operate at a large scale to meet current demand for
high quality, well-engineered and energy efficient windows. New York
must recognize the uniqueness of the industry and allow any large-scale
minority owned window manufacturer operating in New York City to be
given MBE status so it can serve its customers and compete with subsi-
dized foreign window manufacturers that are dumping product into the
United States. This is especially true where such NYC window manufactur-
ing business(es) have a minority employee population that exceeds eighty
percent of their New York workforce. Finally, it Is important to know
that the SBA considers a small window manufacturer as having no more
than 750 employees (NAICS Codes 332321 and 326199), notthe 300- employee
level threshold New York is applying under existing law. Nor does the
SBA make reference to net worth limitations. Moreover, attempts at
certifying such window manufacturers that exceed the limits through a
waiver process under Article 15-A have been rejected even though there
is a lack of MWBE participation rate by window manufacturers so a change
In the law is required.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023 -2024 -S.9217 /A.10492 -Referred to Procurement and Contracts
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Encouraging manufacturing wilt result in increased revenue for the state
of New York and New York City.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect, immediately.

Statutes affected:
S3965: 310 executive law, 310(20) executive law, 314 executive law, 314(1) executive law, 314(2-a) executive law