A Virginia state bill passed along party lines directing state agencies to consider the race and sex of small businesses’ ownership when distributing discretionary funds for procurement and contracts is likely to face major legal headwinds, experts told Fox News Digital.
The Small SWAM Business Procurement Enhancement Program Act “provides that executive branch agencies and covered institutions are required to increase their small SWAM business utilization rates by three percent per year until reaching the 42-percent target or, if unable to do so, to implement achievable goals to increase their utilization rates,” according to its text.
SWAM stands for small, women-owned and minority-owned.
Purchases between $10,000 and $200,000 must be set aside to be awarded to SWAM businesses as well, according to the text of the bill drafted by Delegate Jeion Ward, D-Hampton.
As the bill approaches Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk, Oversight Project Vice President of Legal Kyle Brosnan told Fox News Digital it appears par for the course for the way Richmond is moving.
Brosnan said the bill constitutes “clearly intentional discrimination against White men.”
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“This could be brought in federal court,” he said, suggesting arguments against it will fall on 14th Amendment grounds.
Brosnan agreed, criticizing the bill’s section requiring Virginia taxpayers to fund $1 million for system updates, staffing and reporting to “institutionalize discrimination” in his words.
“It also ‘sets aside’ government contracts of up to $200,000 for women- and minority-owned businesses so long as their bids are no more than 5% higher than the lowest “noncertified” — read ‘White male-owned’— business.
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The post White Men ‘Clearly’ Targeted as Virginia Dems’ Race-Sex Bill Hits Spanberger’s Desk: Experts appeared first on American Renaissance.
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