Relates to requiring that the annual report from the division of minority and women's business development contain information on the annual minority and women-owned business enterprise utilization and expenditure categorized by minority-owned enterprises, women-owned enterprises, and total utilization and expenditure, and be organized by certain industry categories.
A09455 amends the Executive Law to expand the annual reporting requirements of the Division of Minority and Women’s Business Development. The bill keeps the existing reporting framework for minority- and women-owned business enterprise (MWBE) participation in state contracting, but requires the annual report to present utilization and expenditure data in a more structured way. Specifically, the report must break out annual MWBE utilization and spending by minority-owned enterprises, women-owned enterprises, and total utilization and expenditure.
The bill also requires the report to organize this information by industry categories, including services, agriculture, mining, construction, manufacturing, transportation/communication/sanitary services, wholesale or retail goods, construction materials, and financial/insurance/real estate services. The report must continue to include information on certifications, applications, denials, waivers, violations, penalties, and related agency efforts, and it must be distributed to state leaders and made publicly available online. The act takes effect on the same date and in the same manner as the related 2025 chapter law referenced in the bill.
The bill would amend section 315 of the Executive Law, changing how the Division of Minority and Women’s Business Development compiles and presents its annual MWBE report. It does not create new contracting preferences or change certification standards directly; instead, it increases reporting specificity and transparency by requiring industry-based and ownership-based breakdowns of utilization and expenditures. The affected parties are state contracting agencies, MWBE-certified businesses, policymakers, and the public, who would receive more detailed data for oversight and analysis of state contracting participation.
The available voting record suggests strong bipartisan support and little opposition. The bill passed the Assembly Governmental Operations Committee unanimously, cleared the Assembly Rules Committee unanimously, and passed the Assembly floor by a wide margin. It also passed the Senate floor with only one dissenting vote, indicating broad agreement that the reporting changes are useful and noncontroversial.
There is no committee transcript available showing substantive debate, and the vote history shows minimal opposition. The main policy issue appears to be the level and format of reporting rather than the underlying MWBE program itself. Any potential concern would likely center on administrative burden for the division and contracting agencies versus the benefit of more detailed public data, but the record provided does not show organized opposition or a major dispute over those tradeoffs.