Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is suing Kansas City, arguing that the City's Minority and Woman Business Enterprise (MWBE) program violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
In a press release, the Attorney General's Office stated that "Kansas City has a percentage-based quota for its contracts that must be awarded to specific race and sex groups", and this constitutes "unlawful race- and sex-based discrimination." The portion of the City legislation establishing the goals states that City departments and agencies must make "good faith efforts to encourage and attempt to obtain participation" of MWBEs without using the term "quotas".
Attorney General Hanaway also cited the recommendation to the City made by a City-commissioned disparity study, which encouraged the adoption of a race- and gender-neutral problem for reasons of legal defensibility, as demonstrating that the City's MWBE program serves no "compelling interest".
In a statement posted on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter), Mayor Quinton Lucas described the lawsuit as a "political stunt" and stated that the City's lawyers would "handle it."
Read the press release from the Attorney General's office at https://ago.mo.gov/attorney-general-hanaway-files-suit-against-kansas-city-for-blatant-race-and-sex-based-discrimination/.
Find the portion of Kansas City's Municipal Code relating to the MWBE program goals at https://library.municode.com/mo/kansas_city/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTIICOOR_CH3COLE_ARTIVCOPRRE_DIV2MIWOBUENMWB_S3-427CIDEGO.
Read the statement from Mayor Lucas at https://x.com/QuintonLucasKC/status/2080084043572617547.
Read more at https://www.axios.com/local/kansas-city/2026/07/23/missouri-sues-kansas-city-over-diversity-contracting-program.
Read more at https://www.kctv5.com/2026/07/23/minority-women-owned-businesses-brace-loss-kansas-city-contracting-program-amid-federal-lawsuit/.
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