New legislation advancing equity for minority- and woman-owned businesses (MWBEs) and other diverse businesses has recently passed both houses of the Illinois General Assembly. HB 2878, sponsored by State Senator Cristina Castro, makes a number of changes to the state code in the interest of streamlining the law and making contracting more straightforward for smaller, diverse businesses.
Among the changes made by the bill are: requiring the annual small business report of the Business Enterprise Council to be made public, to foster transparency; require contractors to provide more transparency when working on state contracts to ensure efforts are being made to spend with diverse subs and suppliers; raise the earnings cap on the veteran-owned small business certification from $75 million to $150 million; allow local agencies to form certain types of public-private transportation partnerships; and more.
"Through these changes, we continue our work to cut red tape and make Illinois' business environment more equitable and efficient," said State Senator Castro in a statement.
Find the text of HB 2878 at https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=2878&GAID=17&GA=103&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=148010&SessionID=112.
Read the press release from State Senator Castro at https://www.senatorcristinacastro.com/news/363-castro-package-to-improve-equity-in-procurement-state-contracts-clears-senate.
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