Bill > S1618

This bill aims to promote jobs, workforce development, and fairness for local businesses by introducing several new provisions and amending existing laws. It defines "low income community" as a municipality with a median household income at or below 65% of the state median, or a specific neighborhood within a large city, and "minority business enterprise" and "women business enterprise" are defined by existing law. The bill requires entities awarded state contracts to report on the portion of payments allocated to minority and women-owned businesses, and to provide demographic data on their workforce, with the state providing a template for this reporting and establishing a system (MMARS) to collect the data. It also sets goals for the Commonwealth to achieve contracting diversity in state procurement that reflects the state's population and establishes that a bidder's ability to advance these inclusion goals will be considered when determining their responsibility for state-funded construction contracts. Furthermore, the bill expands the definition of "engaged in business in the commonwealth" for tax purposes to include entities with a substantial connection to the state, and it creates a commission to study the feasibility of vocational-technical high schools awarding associate degrees. Finally, it makes several changes to the composition of various boards and committees, including adding vocational-technical educators and administrators to some.