(a) It shall be unlawful for a person to:
(1) Knowingly and with intent to defraud, fraudulently obtain, retain, attempt to obtain or retain, or aid another in fraudulently obtaining or retaining or attempting to obtain or retain, certification as a minority business enterprise for the purposes of this article.
(2) Willfully and knowingly make a false statement with the intent to defraud, whether by affidavit, report, or other representation, to a state official or employee for the purpose of influencing the certification or denial of certification of any entity as a minority business enterprise.
(3) Willfully and knowingly obstruct, impede, or attempt to obstruct or impede any state official or employee who is investigating the qualifications of a business entity which has requested certification as a minority business enterprise.
(4) Knowingly and willfully with intent to defraud, fraudulently obtain, attempt to obtain, or aid another person in fraudulently obtaining or attempting to obtain, public moneys to which the person is not entitled under this article.
(b) Any person who is found by the department to have violated any of the provisions of subdivision (a) is subject to a civil penalty of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000).
(c) If a contractor, subcontractor, supplier, subsidiary, or affiliate thereof, has been found by the department to have violated subdivision (a) and that violation occurred within three years of another violation of subdivision (a) found by the department, the department shall prohibit that contractor, subcontractor, supplier, subsidiary, or affiliate thereof, from entering into a state project or state contract and from further bidding to a state entity, and from being a subcontractor to a contractor for a state entity and from being a supplier to a state entity.
(d) For the purposes of this section, “minority” means those individuals who can be identified as being part of one of the following groups:
(1) “Black Americans,” which includes persons having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.
(2) “Hispanic Americans,” which includes persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
(3) “Native Americans,” which includes persons who are American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, or Native Hawaiians.
(4) “Asian-Pacific Americans,” which includes persons whose origins are from Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Trust Territories of the Pacific, and the Northern Marianas.
(5) “Asian-Indian Americans,” which includes persons whose origins are from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
(6) Those persons determined by the department, on a case-by-case basis, as socially and economically disadvantaged in accordance with applicable federal regulations.
(e) For the purposes of this section, “minority business enterprise” means a small business concern, as defined in Section 632 of Title 15 of the United States Code, and which also meets the following requirements:
(1) It is at least 51 percent owned by one or more women or minority individuals or, in the case of any publicly-owned business, at least 51 percent of its stock is owned by one or more women or minority individuals.
(2) Its management and daily business operations are controlled by one or more of the women or minority individuals who own it.
(Added by Stats. 1984, Ch. 739, Sec. 2.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018