NY Exec L § 310 (2021)
2021 New York Laws EXC - Executive Article 15-A - Participation by Minority Group Members and Women With Respect to State Contracts 310 - Definitions.

* § 310. Definitions.  As  used  in  this article, the following terms shall have the following meanings:   1. "Certified business" shall mean a business verified as  a  minority or  women-owned  business  enterprise  pursuant to section three hundred fourteen of this article.   2. "Contracting agency" shall mean a state agency which is a party  or a proposed party to a state contract or, in the case of a state contract described  in  paragraph  (c)  of  subdivision thirteen of this section, shall mean the New York state housing finance agency, housing trust fund corporation or affordable housing corporation,  whichever  has  made  or proposes  to  make  the  grant  or  loan  for the state assisted housing project.   3. "Contractor" shall  mean  an  individual,  a  business  enterprise, including  a  sole  proprietorship,  a  partnership,  a  corporation,  a not-for-profit corporation, or any other party to a state contract, or a bidder in conjunction with the award of a state contract or  a  proposed party to a state contract.   4.  "Director" shall mean the director of the division of minority and women's business development in the department of economic development.   5. "Large county" shall mean a county having a population in excess of two hundred eighty-five thousand according to the  most  recent  federal decennial census, provided however, that a county having a population in excess  of  two  hundred  eighty-five thousand according to the nineteen hundred eighty federal decennial census shall continue  to  be  a  large county thereafter notwithstanding a later census showing a population of less than two hundred eighty-five thousand for such county.   6.  "Metropolitan  area"  shall  mean  a city with a population of one million or more and a county  having  a  population  in  excess  of  one million and immediately contiguous to such city.   7.   "Minority-owned   business  enterprise"  shall  mean  a  business enterprise,  including  a  sole  proprietorship,  partnership,   limited liability company or corporation that is:  (a)  at  least  fifty-one  percent owned by one or more minority group members;  (b)  an  enterprise  in  which  such  minority  ownership   is   real, substantial and continuing;  (c)  an  enterprise in which such minority ownership has and exercises the authority to control independently the day-to-day business decisions of the enterprise;  (d) an  enterprise  authorized  to  do  business  in  this  state  and independently owned and operated;  (e)  an  enterprise  owned  by  an  individual  or  individuals, whose ownership, control and operation are relied upon for certification, with a personal net worth that does not exceed fifteen million  dollars,  and such  other  amount  as  the director shall set forth in regulations, as adjusted annually on the first of January for inflation according to the consumer price index of the previous year; and  (f) an enterprise that is a small  business  pursuant  to  subdivision twenty of this section.   8.  "Minority  group  member"  shall  mean  a United States citizen or permanent resident alien who is and can demonstrate membership in one of the following groups:  (a) Black persons having origins in any of the  Black  African  racial groups;  (b)  Hispanic/Latino  persons  of  Mexican,  Puerto  Rican, Dominican, Cuban, Central or South American of either Indian  or  Hispanic  origin, regardless of race;  (c) Native American or Alaskan native persons having origins in any of the original peoples of North America.  (d)  Asian  and  Pacific Islander persons having origins in any of the Far East countries, South East Asia,  the  Indian  subcontinent  or  the Pacific Islands.   9.  "Utilization  plan" shall mean a plan prepared by a contractor and submitted in connection with a proposed state contract. The  utilization plan   shall   identify   certified  minority  or  women-owned  business enterprises, if known, that have committed to perform work in connection with the proposed state contract as well as  any  such  enterprises,  if known,  which  the  contractor  intends  to  use  in connection with the contractor's performance of the proposed state contract. The plan  shall specifically  contain  a list, including the name, address and telephone number, of each certified enterprise with which the  contractor  intends to subcontract.   10.  "Office" shall mean the division of minority and women's business development in the department of economic development.   11. "State agency" shall mean (a) (i) any state  department,  or  (ii) any  division,  board,  commission or bureau of any state department, or (iii) the state university of New York and the city  university  of  New York,  including  all  their constituent units except community colleges and  the  independent  institutions  operating  statutory  or   contract colleges  on  behalf  of the state, or (iv) a board, a majority of whose members are appointed by the governor or who serve by  virtue  of  being state  officers  or  employees  as  defined in subparagraph (i), (ii) or (iii) of paragraph (i) of subdivision one of  section  seventy-three  of the public officers law:  (b)  a "state authority," as defined in subdivision one of section two of the public authorities law, and the following:         Albany County Airport Authority;         Albany Port District Commission;         Alfred, Almond, Hornellsville Sewer Authority;         Battery Park City Authority;         Cayuga County Water and Sewer Authority;      Nelson A. Rockefeller) Empire State Plaza Performing Arts           Center Corporation;         Industrial Exhibit Authority;         Livingston County Water and Sewer Authority;         Long Island Power Authority;         Long Island Rail Road;         Long Island Market Authority;         Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority;         Metro-North Commuter Railroad;         Metropolitan Suburban Bus Authority;         Metropolitan Transportation Authority;         Natural Heritage Trust;         New York City Transit Authority;         New York Convention Center Operating Corporation;         New York State Bridge Authority;         New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority;         New York State Thruway Authority;         Niagara Falls Public Water Authority;         Niagara Falls Water Board;         Port of Oswego Authority;         Power Authority of the State of New York;         Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation;         Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority;         State Insurance Fund;          Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority;         State University Construction Fund;         Syracuse Regional Airport Authority;         Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority.         Upper Mohawk valley regional water board.         Upper Mohawk valley regional water finance authority.         Upper Mohawk valley memorial auditorium authority.         Urban Development Corporation and its subsidiary corporations.  (c) the  following  only to the extent of state contracts entered into for its own account or for the benefit of a state agency as  defined  in paragraph (a) or (b) of this subdivision:         Dormitory Authority of the State of New York;         Facilities Development Corporation;         New York State Energy Research and Development Authority;         New York State Science and Technology Foundation.   12.  "State  assisted  housing  project" shall mean, for such projects which receive from the  New  York  state  housing  finance  agency,  the affordable  housing  corporation,  the housing trust fund corporation or the division of housing and community renewal a grant or loan for all or part of the total project cost:  (a) a "permanent housing project for homeless families"  or  "project" as  defined  in  subdivision  five  of section sixty-four of the private housing finance law;  (b) a "project" as  defined  in  subdivision  twelve  of  section  one thousand  one  hundred  one  of the private housing finance law provided said project is located in a large county  and  consists  of  more  than twelve residential units at a single site;  (c)  "affordable  home ownership development programs" or "project" as defined in subdivision eight of section one thousand one hundred  eleven of the private housing finance law provided said project is located in a metropolitan  area  as  herein  defined and consists of more than twelve residential units at a single site;  (d) a "turnkey/enhanced rental project" or  "project"  as  defined  in subdivision two of section one thousand one hundred six-a of the private housing finance law;  (e)  "infrastructure  improvements"  as  defined in subdivision two of section one thousand one  hundred  thirty-one  of  the  private  housing finance  law,  to the extent that such "infrastructure improvements" are applied for in connection with  a  state  assisted  housing  project  as defined  in  paragraphs (a) through (d) of this subdivision and provided further that the applicant for such infrastructure improvements and  for such state assisted housing project are identical.   13.  "State  contract" shall mean: (a) a written agreement or purchase order instrument,  providing  for  a  total  expenditure  in  excess  of twenty-five  thousand dollars, whereby a contracting agency is committed to expend or does expend funds in return for labor,  services  including but  not  limited  to  legal, financial and other professional services, supplies, equipment, materials or any combination of the  foregoing,  to be  performed  for,  on  behalf  of,  or  rendered  or  furnished to the contracting agency; (b) a written agreement in  excess  of  one  hundred thousand  dollars whereby a contracting agency is committed to expend or does  expend  funds  for  the  acquisition,  construction,   demolition, replacement,   major   repair   or   renovation  of  real  property  and improvements thereon; and (c) a  written  agreement  in  excess  of  one hundred  thousand  dollars whereby the owner of a state assisted housing project is committed to expend or does expend funds for the acquisition, construction, demolition, replacement, major  repair  or  renovation  of real property and improvements thereon for such project.    14.  "Subcontract"  shall  mean  an  agreement  providing  for a total expenditure  in  excess  of  twenty-five  thousand   dollars   for   the construction,   demolition,   replacement,   major  repair,  renovation, planning or design of real property and improvements thereon  between  a contractor  and  any individual or business enterprise, including a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or not-for-profit corporation, in which a portion of a contractor's obligation under a  state  contract is  undertaken  or  assumed,  but  shall  not  include any construction, demolition, replacement, major repair, renovation, planning or design of real property or improvements thereon for  the  beneficial  use  of  the contractor.   15.   "Women-owned   business   enterprise"   shall  mean  a  business enterprise,  including  a  sole  proprietorship,  partnership,   limited liability company or corporation that is:  (a)  at  least  fifty-one  percent  owned by one or more United States citizens or permanent resident aliens who are women;  (b) an enterprise in which the ownership interest  of  such  women  is real, substantial and continuing;  (c)  an enterprise in which such women ownership has and exercises the authority to control independently the day-to-day business decisions  of the enterprise;  (d)  an  enterprise  authorized  to  do  business  in  this  state and independently owned and operated;  (e) an  enterprise  owned  by  an  individual  or  individuals,  whose ownership, control and operation are relied upon for certification, with a  personal  net worth that does not exceed fifteen million dollars, and such other amount as the director shall set  forth  in  regulations,  as adjusted annually on the first of January for inflation according to the consumer price index of the previous year; and  (f)  an  enterprise  that  is a small business pursuant to subdivision twenty of this section.   A firm owned by a minority group member who is also  a  woman  may  be certified   as  a  minority-owned  business  enterprise,  a  women-owned business enterprise, or both,  and  may  be  counted  towards  either  a minority-owned  business  enterprise  goal  or  a  women-owned  business enterprise goal, in regard to any contract or any goal, set by an agency or authority, but such participation may not  be  counted  towards  both such  goals. Such an enterprise's participation in a contract may not be divided between the minority-owned  business  enterprise  goal  and  the women-owned business enterprise goal.   16.  "Statewide  advocate"  shall  mean  the  person  appointed by the director to serve in  the  capacity  of  the  minority  and  women-owned business enterprise statewide advocate and procurement ombudsman.   17.  "Commissioner"  shall  mean the commissioner of the department of economic development.   18.  "Lessee"  shall  mean  an  individual,  a  business   enterprise, including  a  sole  proprietorship,  a  partnership,  a  corporation,  a not-for-profit corporation, or any other party to a lease with  a  state agency as defined in subdivision eleven of this section, or a respondent in  conjunction with the award of such a lease or a proposed lessee with a state agency as defined in subdivision eleven of this section.   19. "Personal net worth" shall mean the aggregate adjusted  net  value of  the  assets  of  an individual remaining after total liabilities are deducted. Personal net worth includes the individual's share  of  assets held  jointly  with  said  individual's  spouse and does not include the individual's  ownership  interest  in   the   certified   minority   and women-owned  business  enterprise, the individual's equity in his or her primary residence, ownership interest in a holding  company  established  for  the  exclusive and sole purpose of leasing machinery, equipment, or vehicles exclusively to the certified minority or  women-owned  business enterprise  that is majority owned by the minority group member or woman relied  upon for certification, and the holding company does not own any other assets of any kind, or up to seven hundred fifty thousand  dollars of  the  present  cash value of any qualified retirement savings plan or individual retirement account held by the individual less any  penalties for early withdrawal.   20.  "Small  business"  as  used  in  this  section,  unless otherwise indicated, shall mean  a  business  which  has  a  significant  business presence in the state, is independently owned and operated, not dominant in  its  field  and  employs, based on its industry, a certain number of persons as determined by the director, but not to exceed three  hundred, taking into consideration factors which include, but are not limited to, federal  small business administration standards pursuant to 13 CFR part 121 and any amendments thereto. The director may  issue  regulations  on the construction of the terms in this definition.   21.   "The  disparity  study"  shall  refer  to  the  disparity  study commissioned by the department  of  economic  development,  pursuant  to section  three  hundred  twelve-a of this article, and published on June thirtieth, two thousand seventeen.   22. "Diversity practices" shall mean the  contractor's  practices  and policies with respect to:  (a) utilizing or mentoring certified minority and women-owned business enterprises  in  contracts  awarded  by  a  state agency or other public corporation, as subcontractors and suppliers; and  (b) entering  into  partnerships,  joint  ventures  or  other  similar arrangements   with   certified   minority   and   women-owned  business enterprises as defined in this article or other  applicable  statute  or regulation  governing an entity's utilization of minority or women-owned business enterprises.   23.  "Provisional  MWBE  Certification"  shall   mean   minority   and women-owned  business  enterprise  certification  status which shall not exceed one year, but which may be renewed by the director.   * NB Repealed December 31, 2024