[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 14946-14947]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   PRAISING LT. GOVERNOR DAVID PATERSON'S COMMITMENT TO MINORITY AND 
                WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES IN NEW YORK STATE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 5, 2007

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to bestow praise to Lt. 
Governor David Paterson of the great state of New York for his 
commitment to empowering Minority and Women-Owned Businesses (MWBE). 
His initiative to start this dialogue has shown the lack of contracts 
that MWBEs receive from the major agencies and authorities in the 
state. Lt. Governor Paterson's leadership in this initiative will help 
to improve procurement practices in New York State by ensuring that 
MWBEs receive contracts that they are fully capable of performing.
  Lt. Governor David Paterson's commitment to MWBEs will benefit 
businesses throughout the state just as the Upper Manhattan Empowerment 
Zone has done for business development, jobs, educational and health 
programs, and social services in Harlem, East Harlem, Washington 
Heights and Inwood. Today I enter into the Record an article published 
by the New York CaribNews highlighting the efforts of Lt. Governor 
Paterson for the advancement of MWBEs in New York State.

              [From the New York CaribNews, May 15, 2007]

Lt. Governor Pushes Agenda To Benefit Minority & Women-Owned Businesses

       Albany, NY.--Taking an important step in fulfilling a 
     campaign pledge to usher in a new era of accountability in 
     the area of state government utilization of Minority and 
     Women Owned Businesses, Lt. Governor David Paterson convened 
     a meeting of executives from the state's major agencies and 
     authorities. This historic gathering of state decision makers 
     was part of a mandate issued in an Executive Order signed by 
     Governor Eliot Spitzer on February 18th which, among other 
     things, establishes an executive Leadership Council to 
     examine state procurement practices and increase the 
     utilization of qualified MWBE's.

[[Page 14947]]

       Lt. Governor Paterson, who is leading the state's efforts 
     to improve its MWBE program told Executive Leadership Council 
     members, ``Last year the state spent over $11 billion in 
     discretionary expenditures and MWBEs only received 3% of 
     state contracts. This administration will reserve the 
     negative inertia of the past 12 years and push to build the 
     capacity of MWBE firms and increase the utilization of 
     qualified MWBEs.''
       After laying out the vision for the new MWBE initiative, 
     MWBE Development Executive Director Michael Jones-Bey 
     explained the purpose of the Executive Leadership Council 
     sating that, ``This will be a forum to discuss best practices 
     for implementation of procurement policies. It is also a 
     means to hold agency executives accountable for compliance 
     with state MWBE procurement laws.''
       For many in attendance the highlight of the meeting was 
     where agency executives made their presentations. Each 
     executive delivered a PowerPoint presentation reporting their 
     agency's previous quarterly utilization of MWBEs for 
     expenditures in the areas of construction, construction 
     consulting, commodities, and services. This was followed by a 
     presentation of their goals. This unprecedented public airing 
     of MWBE agency performance was followed by a general group 
     discussion of ways to tackle some of the common problems 
     encountered by agency executives.

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