Title
Repealing Chapter 17-500 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Goals for the Participation of Minority, Female and Disabled Owned Businesses in City Contracts," and enacting a new Chapter 17-500 of The Philadelphia Code to establish City Contract participation goals for Disadvantaged Owned Business Enterprises, which are businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and which presumptively include businesses owned by women, minorities and the disabled.
Body
WHEREAS, Seven years after the Philadelphia City Council's enactment of 17-500, establishing goals for the participation of minority, women and disabled owned businesses in City contracts, the United States Supreme Court in City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co., 488 U.S. 469, 109 S. Ct. 706, 102 L.Ed.2d 854 (1989) enunciated a strict standard of review for race-based affirmative action programs; and
WHEREAS, In a subsequent legal challenge to the City's affirmative action programs, Contractors Ass 'n. v. Philadelphia, 893 F. Supp. 419 (E.D. Pa. 1995), aff'd 91 F.3d 586 (3d Cir. 1996), the Eastern Federal District Court held that they were violative of the Equal Protection Clause because the City's program was not narrowly tailored, the goals chosen were arbitrary and the Council's findings failed to prove racial discrimination in the construction industry sufficient to warrant the use of a race-based remedy for Black construction firms; and
WHEREAS, A disparity report on minority business utilization entitled "Philadelphia Consortium-Business Utilization Study" was commissioned by the City and completed by D.J. Miller and Associates, Inc. in April 1998. That report concluded that "past effects of discrimination continue in the present, thereby slowing the growth and development of Minority and Women owned Business Enterprises;" and
WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia should provide an equal opportunity for all businesses, including those owned by minorities, women and/or...
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