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 busi-
nesses owned by minorities and women, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION. 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Telecommunications Economic Opportunity Act of
1995’’.
(b) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
(1) It is in the public interest for business en-
terprises owned by minorities and women to partici-
pate in procurement contracts of all providers of
telecommunications services.
(2) The opportunity for full participation in our
free enterprise system by business enterprises that
are owned by minorities and women is essential if
this Nation is to attain social and economic equality
for those businesses and improve the functioning of
the national economy.
(3) It is in this Nation’s interest to expedi-
tiously improve the economically disadvantaged posi-
tion of business enterprises that are owned by mi-
norities and women.
(4) The position of these businesses can be im-
proved through the development by the providers of
telecommunications services of substantial long-
range and annual goals, which are supported by
training and technical assistance, for the purchase,
to the maximum practicable extent, of technology,
equipment, supplies, services, material and construc-
tion from minority business enterprises.
(5) Procurement policies which include partici-
pation of business enterprises that are owned by mi-
norities and women also benefit the communication
industry and its consumers by encouraging the ex-
pansion of the numbers of suppliers for procure-
ment, thereby encouraging competition among sup-
pliers and promoting economic efficiency in the proc-
ess.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to encourage and foster greater economic
opportunity for business enterprises that are owned
by minorities and women;
(2) to promote competition among suppliers to
providers of telecommunications services and their
affiliates to enhance economic efficiency in the pro-
curement of telephone corporation contracts and
contracts of their State commission-regulated sub-
sidiaries and affiliates;
(3) to clarify and expand a program for the
procurement by State and federally-regulated tele-
phone companies of technology, equipment, supplies,
services, materials and construction work from busi-
ness enterprises that are owned by minorities and
women; and
(4) to ensure that a fair proportion of the total
purchases, contracts, and subcontracts for supplies,
commodities, technology, property, and services of-
fered by the providers of telecommunications services
and their affiliates are awarded to minority and
women business enterprises.
SEC. 3. ANNUAL PLAN SUBMISSION.
(a) ANNUAL PLANS REQUIRED.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Commission shall re-
quire each provider of telecommunications services
to submit annually a detailed and verifiable plan for
increasing its procurement from business enterprises
that are owned by minorities or women in all cat-
egories of procurement in which minorities are under
represented.
(2) CONTENTS OF PLANS.—The annual plans
required by paragraph (1) shall include (but not be
limited to) short- and long-term progressive goals
and timetables, technical assistance, and training
and shall, in addition to goals for direct contracting
opportunities, include methods for encouraging both
prime contractors and grantees to engage business
enterprises that are owned by minorities and women
in subcontracts in all categories in which minorities
are under represented.
(3) IMPLEMENTATION REPORT.—Each provider
of telecommunications services shall furnish an an-
nual report to the Commission regarding the imple-
mentation of programs established pursuant to this
Act in such form as the Commission shall require,
and at such time as the Commission shall annually
designate.
(4) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Commission
shall provide an annual report to Congress, begin-
ning in January 1996, on the progress of activities
undertaken by each provider of telecommunications
services regarding the implementation of activities
pursuant to this Act to develop business enterprises
that are owned by minorities or women. The report
shall evaluate the accomplishments under this Act
and shall recommend a program for enhancing the
policy declared in this Act, together with such rec-
ommendations for legislation as it deems necessary
or desirable to further that policy.
(b) REGULATIONS AND CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING
ELIGIBILITY OF MINORITY BUSINESS ENTERPRISES FOR
PROCUREMENT CONTRACTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall estab-
lish regulations for implementing programs pursuant
to this Act that will govern providers of tele-
communications services and their affiliates.
(2) VERIFYING
CRITERIA.—The Commission
shall develop and publish regulations setting forth
criteria for verifying and determining the eligibility
of business enterprises that are owned by minorities
or women for procurement contracts.
(3) OUTREACH.—The Commission’s regulations
shall require each provider of telecommunications
services and its affiliates to develop and to imple-
ment an outreach program to inform and recruit
business enterprises that are owned by minorities or
women to apply for procurement contracts under
this Act.
(4) ENFORCEMENT.—The Commission shall es-
tablish and promulgate such regulations necessary to
enforce the provisions of this Act.
(c) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The requirements of this
section may be waived, in whole or in part, by the Commis-
sion with respect to a particular contract or subcontract
in accordance with guidelines set forth in regulations
which the Commission shall prescribe when it determines
that the application of such regulations prove to result in
undue hardship or unreasonable expense to a provider of
telecommunications services.
SEC. 4. SANCTIONS AND REMEDIES.
(a) FALSE REPRESENTATION OF BUSINESSES; SANC-
TIONS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person or corporation,
through its directors, officers, or agent, which falsely
represents the business as a business enterprise that
is owned by minorities or women in the procurement
or attempt to procure contracts from telephone oper-
ating companies and their affiliates pursuant to this
article, shall be punished by a fine of not more than
$5,000, or by imprisonment for a period not to ex-
ceed 5 years of its directors, officers, or agents re-
sponsible for the false statements, or by both fine
and imprisonment.
(2) HOLDING
COMPANIES.—Any provider of
telecommunications services which falsely represents
its annual report to the Commission or its imple-
mentation of its programs pursuant to this section
shall be subject to a fine of $100,000 and be subject
to a penalty of up to 5 years restriction from partici-
pation in lines of business activities provided for in
this Act.
(b) INDEPENDENT CAUSE OF ACTION, REMEDIES,
AND ATTORNEY FEES.—
(1) DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED.—No other-
wise qualified business enterprise that is owned by
minorities or women shall solely, by reason of its ra-
cial, ethnic, or gender composition be excluded from
the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be
subjected to discrimination in procuring contracts
from telephone utilities.
(2) CIVIL ACTIONS AUTHORIZED.—Whenever a
qualified business enterprise that is owned by mi-
norities or women has reasonable cause to believe
that a provider of telecommunications services or its
affiliate is engaged in a pattern or practice of resist-
ance to the full compliance of any provision of this
Act, the business enterprise may bring a civil action
in the appropriate district court of the United States
against the provider of telecommunications services
or its affiliate requesting such monetary or injunc-
tive relief, or both, as deemed necessary to ensure
the full benefits of this Act.
(3) ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND COSTS.—In any ac-
tion or proceeding to enforce or charge of a violation
of a provision of this Act, the court, in its discretion,
may allow the prevailing party reasonable attorneys’
fees and costs.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
For the purpose of this Act, the following definitions
apply:
(1) The term ‘‘business enterprise owned by mi-
norities or women’’ means—
(A) a business enterprise that is at least
51 percent owned by a person or persons who
are minority persons or women; or
(B) in the case of any publicly owned busi-
ness, at least 51 percent of the stock of which
is owned by one or more persons who are mi-
nority persons or women, and whose manage-
ment and daily business operations are con-
trolled by one or more of those persons.
(2) The term ‘‘minority person’’ means persons
who are Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Na-
tive Americans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Amer-
icans.
(3) The term ‘‘control’’ means exercising the
power to make financial and policy decisions.
(4) The term ‘‘operate’’ means the active in-
volvement in the day-to-day management of the
business and not merely being officers or directors.
(5) The term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal
Communications Commission.
(6) The term ‘‘telecommunications service’’
means the offering, on a common carrier basis, of
telecommunications facilities, or of telecommuni-
cations by means of such facilities. Such term does
not include an information service.
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