Public media of Lucio Vasquez / Houston
After considering the Withdrawal of companies belonging to Asian and Hispanic According to part of its business business program belonging to minorities and women (MWBE), the Houston municipal council voted on Wednesday 12-3 for rather Continue the program as it currently exists While accepting the results of a study showing that these groups are not confronted with disparities in certain categories of urban spending.
The study and the proposed changes have come in response to legal action for the abolition of the entire business program belonging to minorities, implemented to ensure a diversified group of local businesses are awarded supply contracts by the city. A white couple who have two landscaping companies continued the city in 2023, and their lawyer, Erin Wilcox of the Pacific Legal Foundation, called last week to an approach “-Aveugle” in municipal contracts.
“If we do not have this consensus in the future when we go to court to defend the entire program, it will be in danger,” said Mayor John Whitmire. “It was therefore certainly a consideration – prepare for the court – because we have individuals in society who would end the program completely, and obviously, we cannot tolerate this.”
The study analyzed the city’s expenses in different categories. He noted that companies belonging to Asian origin did not face any disparity in the category of professional services, companies belonging to Hispanic did not face any disparity in professional services and construction, and companies belonging to women had no disparity in goods and services. Companies belonging to blacks were faced with disparities in all categories of spending.
The results and the proposed changes have caused a long way for owners of Asian and Hispanic companies, who argued that the study was wrong and that their withdrawal of the business program belonging to minorities would erase opportunities for small businesses. After the criticism, the City’s Commercial Opportunities Office (OBO) and the Legal Service proposed to maintain the program as it exists while accepting the results of the study.
“We think there have been faults and problems with the study on disparities,” said Daniel Yoo, vice-president and member of the board of directors of the Asian Houston Chamber of Commerce Houston public media After the vote on Wednesday. “However, knowing that the municipal council had advanced with the vote to maintain the status quo for the MWBE program, which means that there would be no change in the participation or abolition of groups in the current MWBE program, it is something that the Asian chamber supports and is aligned with this vote.”
Yoo and others argued that the qualitative section of the study, based on investigations with business owners, has failed to obtain sufficient participation. In the quantitative section, they challenged the emphasis on the total of the city’s expenses with different groups rather than the actual number of entrepreneurs who receive business with the city. He called for a continuous commitment when the city considers future changes to make the program “fair and fair for everyone”.
On Tuesday, the member of the municipal council, Martha Castex-Tatum, who chairs the economic development committee, said that the vote would allow the city “to use this information to take care of what we have to face the courts, then we will have time to continue working on the policy of the OBO”.
The member of the Council Julian Ramirez, who voted against the order, said on Tuesday that the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce had remained opposed to the study. On Wednesday, the members of the council discussed the order, the leadership of the League of United Latin American Citizens (Lulac) shared a letter addressed to Whitmire and the municipal council arguing of this decision “puts you on the path of exclusion”.
“As we warned last week, if Houston points out that legal threats are enough to dismantle opportunity programs, this establishes a precedent where each challenge is not responded not by dialogue, but disputes,” wrote the national president of Lulac, novel Palomares and CEO Juan Proaño. “Lulac is no stranger to the courts. In a city where the Hispanics represent the largest demographic group, we are fully ready to defend companies belonging to Hispanic against the refusals of race for access to prosperity thanks to the contracts of the city.”
Ramirez, the member of the council Twila Carter and the member of the Council Mary Nan Huffman voted on Wednesday against the order.
In addition to accepting the results of the study on disparities, the order approved on Wednesday also establishes a small businesses certification program belonging to veterans and extends the city’s small businesses program.