I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 503

To require all providers of telecommunications services to establish and carry

out plans for procurement from businesses owned by minorities and

women, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 13, 1995

Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred to

the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To require all providers of telecommunications services to

establish and carry out plans for procurement from businesses owned by minorities and women, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION. 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Telecommunications Economic Opportunity Act of

6 1995’’.

7 (b) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) It is in the public interest for business en2 terprises owned by minorities and women to partici3 pate in procurement contracts of all providers of

4 telecommunications services.

5 (2) The opportunity for full participation in our

6 free enterprise system by business enterprises that

7 are owned by minorities and women is essential if

8 this Nation is to attain social and economic equality

9 for those businesses and improve the functioning of

10 the national economy.

11 (3) It is in this Nation’s interest to expedi12 tiously improve the economically disadvantaged posi13 tion of business enterprises that are owned by mi14 norities and women.

15 (4) The position of these businesses can be im16 proved through the development by the providers of

17 telecommunications services of substantial long18 range and annual goals, which are supported by

19 training and technical assistance, for the purchase,

20 to the maximum practicable extent, of technology,

21 equipment, supplies, services, material and construc22 tion from minority business enterprises.

23 (5) Procurement policies which include partici24 pation of business enterprises that are owned by mi25 norities and women also benefit the communication
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1 industry and its consumers by encouraging the ex2 pansion of the numbers of suppliers for procure3 ment, thereby encouraging competition among sup4 pliers and promoting economic efficiency in the proc5 ess.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

7 The purposes of this Act are—

8 (1) to encourage and foster greater economic

9 opportunity for business enterprises that are owned

10 by minorities and women;

11 (2) to promote competition among suppliers to

12 providers of telecommunications services and their

13 affiliates to enhance economic efficiency in the pro14 curement of telephone corporation contracts and

15 contracts of their State commission-regulated sub16 sidiaries and affiliates;

17 (3) to clarify and expand a program for the

18 procurement by State and federally-regulated tele19 phone companies of technology, equipment, supplies,

20 services, materials and construction work from busi21 ness enterprises that are owned by minorities and

22 women; and

23 (4) to ensure that a fair proportion of the total

24 purchases, contracts, and subcontracts for supplies,

25 commodities, technology, property, and services of-
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1 fered by the providers of telecommunications services

2 and their affiliates are awarded to minority and

3 women business enterprises.

4 SEC. 3. ANNUAL PLAN SUBMISSION.

5 (a) ANNUAL PLANS REQUIRED.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall re7 quire each provider of telecommunications services

8 to submit annually a detailed and verifiable plan for

9 increasing its procurement from business enterprises

10 that are owned by minorities or women in all cat11 egories of procurement in which minorities are under

12 represented.

13 (2) CONTENTS OF PLANS.—The annual plans

14 required by paragraph (1) shall include (but not be

15 limited to) short- and long-term progressive goals

16 and timetables, technical assistance, and training

17 and shall, in addition to goals for direct contracting

18 opportunities, include methods for encouraging both

19 prime contractors and grantees to engage business

20 enterprises that are owned by minorities and women

21 in subcontracts in all categories in which minorities

22 are under represented.

23 (3) IMPLEMENTATION REPORT.—Each provider

24 of telecommunications services shall furnish an an25 nual report to the Commission regarding the imple-
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1 mentation of programs established pursuant to this

2 Act in such form as the Commission shall require,

3 and at such time as the Commission shall annually

4 designate.

5 (4) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Commission

6 shall provide an annual report to Congress, begin7 ning in January 1996, on the progress of activities

8 undertaken by each provider of telecommunications

9 services regarding the implementation of activities

10 pursuant to this Act to develop business enterprises

11 that are owned by minorities or women. The report

12 shall evaluate the accomplishments under this Act

13 and shall recommend a program for enhancing the

14 policy declared in this Act, together with such rec15 ommendations for legislation as it deems necessary

16 or desirable to further that policy.

17 (b) REGULATIONS AND CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING

18 ELIGIBILITY OF MINORITY BUSINESS ENTERPRISES FOR

19 PROCUREMENT CONTRACTS.—

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall estab21 lish regulations for implementing programs pursuant

22 to this Act that will govern providers of tele23 communications services and their affiliates.

24 (2) VERIFYING CRITERIA.—The Commission

25 shall develop and publish regulations setting forth
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1 criteria for verifying and determining the eligibility

2 of business enterprises that are owned by minorities

3 or women for procurement contracts.

4 (3) OUTREACH.—The Commission’s regulations

5 shall require each provider of telecommunications

6 services and its affiliates to develop and to imple7 ment an outreach program to inform and recruit

8 business enterprises that are owned by minorities or

9 women to apply for procurement contracts under

10 this Act.

11 (4) ENFORCEMENT.—The Commission shall es12 tablish and promulgate such regulations necessary to

13 enforce the provisions of this Act.

14 (c) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The requirements of this

15 section may be waived, in whole or in part, by the Commis16 sion with respect to a particular contract or subcontract

17 in accordance with guidelines set forth in regulations

18 which the Commission shall prescribe when it determines

19 that the application of such regulations prove to result in

20 undue hardship or unreasonable expense to a provider of

21 telecommunications services.

22 SEC. 4. SANCTIONS AND REMEDIES.

23 (a) FALSE REPRESENTATION OF BUSINESSES; SANC24 TIONS.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any person or corporation,

2 through its directors, officers, or agent, which falsely

3 represents the business as a business enterprise that

4 is owned by minorities or women in the procurement

5 or attempt to procure contracts from telephone oper6 ating companies and their affiliates pursuant to this

7 article, shall be punished by a fine of not more than

8 $5,000, or by imprisonment for a period not to ex9 ceed 5 years of its directors, officers, or agents re10 sponsible for the false statements, or by both fine

11 and imprisonment.

12 (2) HOLDING COMPANIES.—Any provider of

13 telecommunications services which falsely represents

14 its annual report to the Commission or its imple15 mentation of its programs pursuant to this section

16 shall be subject to a fine of $100,000 and be subject

17 to a penalty of up to 5 years restriction from partici18 pation in lines of business activities provided for in

19 this Act.

20 (b) INDEPENDENT CAUSE OF ACTION, REMEDIES,

21 AND ATTORNEY FEES.—

22 (1) DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED.—No other23 wise qualified business enterprise that is owned by

24 minorities or women shall solely, by reason of its ra25 cial, ethnic, or gender composition be excluded from
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1 the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be

2 subjected to discrimination in procuring contracts

3 from telephone utilities.

4 (2) CIVIL ACTIONS AUTHORIZED.—Whenever a

5 qualified business enterprise that is owned by mi6 norities or women has reasonable cause to believe

7 that a provider of telecommunications services or its

8 affiliate is engaged in a pattern or practice of resist9 ance to the full compliance of any provision of this

10 Act, the business enterprise may bring a civil action

11 in the appropriate district court of the United States

12 against the provider of telecommunications services

13 or its affiliate requesting such monetary or injunc14 tive relief, or both, as deemed necessary to ensure

15 the full benefits of this Act.

16 (3) ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND COSTS.—In any ac17 tion or proceeding to enforce or charge of a violation

18 of a provision of this Act, the court, in its discretion,

19 may allow the prevailing party reasonable attorneys’

20 fees and costs.

21 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

22 For the purpose of this Act, the following definitions

23 apply:

24 (1) The term ‘‘business enterprise owned by mi25 norities or women’’ means—
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1 (A) a business enterprise that is at least

2 51 percent owned by a person or persons who

3 are minority persons or women; or

4 (B) in the case of any publicly owned busi5 ness, at least 51 percent of the stock of which

6 is owned by one or more persons who are mi7 nority persons or women, and whose manage8 ment and daily business operations are con9 trolled by one or more of those persons.

10 (2) The term ‘‘minority person’’ means persons

11 who are Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Na12 tive Americans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Amer13 icans.

14 (3) The term ‘‘control’’ means exercising the

15 power to make financial and policy decisions.

16 (4) The term ‘‘operate’’ means the active in17 volvement in the day-to-day management of the

18 business and not merely being officers or directors.

19 (5) The term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal

20 Communications Commission.

21 (6) The term ‘‘telecommunications service’’

22 means the offering, on a common carrier basis, of

23 telecommunications facilities, or of telecommuni-
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1 cations by means of such facilities. Such term does

2 not include an information service.

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