Bill Text: NY A00502 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires that bidders and all others seeking state contracts disclose their percentage and number of female executives and board members and their aspirations to include more female members.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to governmental operations [A00502 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A00502-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           502

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     January 9, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A. L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Governmental Operations

        AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in  relation  to  requiring  that
          bidders and all others seeking state contracts disclose their percent-
          age and number of female executives and board members

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature finds that there  is  a
     2  growing body of evidence that companies perform better when their boards
     3  and  executive leadership are strongly represented by women and that the
     4  state has a vested interest in ensuring that companies receiving  public
     5  funds  and  contracts  perform  efficiently  to  maintain a high rate of
     6  success.  Further, the legislature finds that it is in the state's vest-
     7  ed interest to encourage equitable and diverse gender representation  on
     8  corporate  boards  of companies receiving public funds and contracts. It
     9  is the intent of this act to require companies who wish to  do  business
    10  with  the  state  to disclose the current percentage and number of women
    11  executive officers employed by the company,  percentage  and  number  of
    12  women  on its corporate board, and the company's goals for the increased
    13  participation of women in executive positions and on corporate boards.
    14    § 2. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section  149  to
    15  read as follows:
    16    § 149. Disclosure of women in executive positions and serving as board
    17  members  by  state  contractors. 1. All contract solicitations including
    18  but not limited  to,  invitations  for  bids,  requests  for  proposals,
    19  requests for applications and requests for qualifications for contracts,
    20  in  excess  of one hundred thousand dollars shall require that all offe-
    21  rors seeking state contracts shall disclose:
    22    (a) the current percentage and number of women  serving  in  executive
    23  positions and as board members for the offeror;

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00861-01-3
        A. 502                              2

     1    (b)  the offeror's aspirational goals for the inclusion of women serv-
     2  ing in executive positions and as board members; and
     3    (c)  the  intended efforts by the offeror to achieve such aspirational
     4  goals.
     5    2. Prior to May thirty-first  of  each  year,  each  state  agency  in
     6  receipt  of the information required pursuant to subdivision one of this
     7  section shall be responsible for providing the  department  of  economic
     8  development with the compiled diversity data for every offeror seeking a
     9  state  contract,  whether  or not such offeror was awarded the contract,
    10  for the prior calendar year. Such data shall include, but  need  not  be
    11  limited to, data relating to general trends in the number of women serv-
    12  ing  in  executive  positions, serving on boards, statistics relating to
    13  winning and losing bidders, the method which agencies reflect  diversity
    14  information  in  their  scoring, and the manner in which such scoring is
    15  performed.
    16    3. The department of economic development shall aggregate and  analyze
    17  the  data  received  by agencies pursuant to subdivisions one and two of
    18  this section and present an annual report to the governor, the temporary
    19  president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority lead-
    20  ers of the senate and the assembly, and the chairpersons of  the  senate
    21  finance and assembly ways and means committees.
    22    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.