Governor Ted Kulongoski recently joined a group minority and women small business owners for a roundtable discussion about how the state can strengthen and expand opportunities for small businesses in Oregon. Following the roundtable, the Governor and meeting participants celebrated the signing of three bills to enhance the link between the state and small business-owners – Senate Bills 359, 316 and 173.

"Small businesses are the backbone of Oregon – they inspire innovation and create economic opportunities for our citizens and our communities," Governor Kulongoski said. "The state needs to do a better job at reaching out to minority and small businesses so they have equal bidding opportunities for public contracts – and the bills I signed today will help us move forward in expanding access and opening more doors for such opportunities."

This new legislation will require all state agencies to report their contract awards to the Governor’s Advocate for Minority and Women Businesses, which will enable the state for the first time to track how state contracts are awarded to Minority, Women and Emerging Small Businesses – which will improve the state’s targeting efforts to assist minority, women and emerging small businesses in contracting. The Governor also signed legislation to expand Oregon’s Emerging Small Business Program (the state’s race and gender neutral certification program) – which will allow small businesses to participate in the program longer and increase the number of projects agencies can set aside for participation by certified emerging small businesses.

Senate Bill 359 creates the Oregon Advocacy Commissions Office to provide administrative support to the Commission on Hispanic Affairs, Commission on Black Affairs, Commission for Women and Commission on Asian Affairs. The funding for all of the state advocacy commissions was eliminated during the 2001-03 legislative session. Establishing this new office will help restore state support for the advocacy commissions so they can continue to carry out their missions and provide a unified voice for minority and women Oregonians in state government.

Senate Bill 316 requires all state agencies to report their contract awards to the Governor’s Advocate for Minority and Women Businesses, which will enable the state for the first time to track where state contacts are being awarded and how often they are awarded to Minority, Women and Emerging Small Businesses. This information will improve the state’s targeting efforts to assist minority, women and emerging small businesses in contracting.

Senate Bill 173 will expand Oregon’s Emerging Small Business Program (the state’s race and gender neutral certification program). With this expansion, ODOT will now be able to increase the number of projects that they can set aside for participation by certified emerging small businesses. The expansion also nearly doubles the number of years that a business can