GARDENA, August 8, 2007 –  Assemblymember Curren Price (D- Inglewood) held the second in a series of public hearings to determine how the State of California can use its procurement process, and $43 billion dollars in infrastructure bonds approved by the voters last November, to strengthen small business enterprises and ensure the economic growth and vitality of the state.  Representatives from the Department of General Services (DGS) and Caltrans were on hand to present the state’s procurement outlook.

In yesterday’s hearing at Gardena City Hall, small business owners and representatives of small business organizations presented testimony regarding their experience with the state’s procurement process.  A panel of Los Angeles-area small business leaders provided the minority business owners’ perspective.  “The state’s procurement process has historically been exclusionary for small and minority-owned businesses,” said Gene Hale, Chair of The Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce (GLAAACC).  “Until penalties are enforced for a lack of substantive small business participation in large state contracts, I don’t foresee any change in the usual practices.”

There are approximately 3.5 million small businesses in California, representing 98% of all California enterprises and employing 50% of the workforce. Approximately 1 million small businesses may be eligible to contract with the state, yet only 14,000 small businesses are currently certified to receive state contracts.  Fewer still have been awarded bids.   “It is the mandate of the Select Committee to ensure that the state will not conduct ‘business as usual’ with California’s small business owners,” said Asssemblymember Price.  “It is through this committee’s investigative and oversight authority that we can facilitate the changes necessary to meet, and hopefully exceed, the increased participation goal.”
 
Executive Orders S-02-06 and S-11-06 set a 25% contracting and procurement goal for small and emerging businesses.  The Select Committee on Procurement is committed to developing viable strategies for fulfilling that objective.  There will be more hearings scheduled in the coming months.

Assemblymember Curren Price serves the 51st Assembly District, which includes Inglewood, Hawthorne, Gardena, Playa Vista, Westchester, Lawndale, West Athens, Lennox, Alondra Park, West Compton, Del Aire, and Willowbrook, as well as portions of the unincorporated area of Ladera.