Minority, Women-Owned Small Businesses Seek Role in Caltrans Contracting Suit
Small business owners filed a motion today asking to intervene in a lawsuit that seeks to dismantle Caltrans’ Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program (DBE). The group of business owners asking to intervene oppose the lawsuit and support the DBE program, which aims to give minority and women-owned businesses equal opportunity to compete for federal contracts.
“Small businesses owned by women and minorities are a vital part of our state’s economy and deserve a level playing field,” said Ingrid Merriwether, CEO of Merriwether & Williams, a small insurance services firm and a member of the Coalition for Economic Equity. “No matter how hard we work, without a fair public contracting system, small business owners will be at a tremendous disadvantage – as will the thousands of Californians we employ and the communities in which we work.”
The suit, Associated General Contractors of America v. California Department of Transportation, is pending in U.S. District Court in Sacramento.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCR), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation of Northern California, Equal Justice Society (EJS) and the law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP filed the motion on behalf of the Coalition for Economic Equity (CEE) and the San Diego Chapter of the NAACP.
“Caltrans’ federally approved contract procedures give small businesses a fair shot at competing for contracts, including for transportation projects slated to receive millions in ‘stimulus funds,’” said Oren Sellstrom, Associate Director of Litigation at LCCR. “California must continue to make a focused and concerted effort to ensure that every business in the state has equal access to these public contracts, and that no group will be disproportionately excluded.”
“This lawsuit against Caltrans is a blatant attempt to dismantle equal opportunity in public contracting and goes against core constitutional values,” said Alan Schlosser, Legal Director at the ACLU of Northern California. “Caltrans’ framework to ensure fair participation is consistent with equal protection principles, and is in fact mandated by constitutional requirements.”
Caltrans’ Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program has established a framework for ensuring fair participation in federally funded public works projects in California, but has faced challenges. In 2006, Caltrans suspended the program’s race- and gender-conscious elements after a federal appeals court ruled that states had to document the existence of discrimination in the awarding of contracts. As a result, the number of women- and minority owned businesses awarded Caltrans projects plummeted — from nearly 11 percent in 2005 to just 2.2 percent in 2009.
In 2007, an extensive disparity study commissioned by Caltrans documented discrimination against small businesses owned by women and minorities in federally funded contracts. Caltrans then sought approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to reinstate the suspended elements as a necessary remedy to such discrimination. DOT granted its approval in August 2008, noting that Caltrans had a duty under federal law to reverse the steep decline in participation.
In June 2009, Caltrans’ procedures were challenged in the pending lawsuit filed by the Associated General Contractors of San Diego.
Asian America Must Battle Injustice with President Obama
I originally wrote this for ningin.com, a site covering Asian media and pop culture.
A Black man born in Hawai’i with an Asian sister was sworn into office Tuesday as our President. He took the oath of office on the same bible used by Abraham Lincoln for the exact same oath 148 years ago, realizing the dreams of countless African Americans and others who previously never imagined this moment.
President Barack Obama now leads our country into uncertain and troubled times. But he begins work on our nation’s ills with unprecedented numbers of Asian Americans in substantive roles in this Administration.
Japanese American Peter Rouse is White House Senior Adviser. Chinese American Chris Lu is Cabinet Secretary. Former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki is Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Nobel prize winner Steven Chu is Secretary of Energy.
We now have a First Family that includes Asian Americans. The President’s sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, is half Indonesian. Her husband Konrad is Chinese American. Their daughter Suhaila is hapa.
This roster of Asian names is significant because the halls and backrooms of power in our nation’s capitol have for too long been dominated by monochromatic men. It does not mean we have arrived. It means we’ve only just begun.
Civil Rights Groups Ask California Supreme Court to Stop Prop. 8
Civil rights groups on Nov. 14 filed a petition (PDF) with the California Supreme Court to stop the enactment of Proposition 8 because it would mandate discrimination against a minority group and did not follow the process required for fundamental revisions to the California Constitution.
In the petition, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Equal Justice Society, California NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. argue that in order to protect the fundamental rights of all Californians, a higher standard is required to overturn the right to marry. Minority communities cannot be stripped of their fundamental rights by a simple majority vote.
“We would be making a grave mistake to view Proposition 8 as just affecting the LGBT community,” said Eva Paterson, president of the Equal Justice Society. “If the Supreme Court allows Proposition 8 to take effect, it would represent a threat to the rights of people of color and all minorities.”