TRENTON – Legislation sponsored by Senator Ronald L Rice and Sandra Bolden Cunningham to create more government transparency and ensure economic fairness for women and minorities with regards to all federal stimulus money that will be awarded to New Jersey was approved by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee today.
“As Assistant Majority Leader, Chairmen of the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee and Chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, I fully understand the struggles that those living in the urban community face,” said Senator Rice, D-Essex. “Although everyone in the country is hurting, those in the cities have had the highest unemployment figures around and face economic blight and chronic poverty on a daily basis. The best thing the State can do to help our communities in need is to ensure fairness in the rewarding of contracts paid for by stimulus funds.”
The bill, S-2730, would require public bodies to provide funding for outreach and training programs for minority and women’s groups in connection with some construction contracts.
“For many years, we have been working hard to address the disparity in the awarding of construction contracts to businesses run by woman and minorities,” said Senator Cunningham, D-Hudson. “By creating a program to help these groups understand how to go about bidding on and winning the contracts, we can help women and minorities get a fair share of work being created in this State.”
The bill now heads to the full Senate for consideration. ###