Maryland 2024 2024 Regular Session

Maryland Senate Bill SB587 Introduced / Bill

Filed 01/25/2024

                     
 
EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MAT TER ADDED TO EXISTIN G LAW. 
        [Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law. 
          *sb0587*  
  
SENATE BILL 587 
P2   	4lr2174 
      
By: Senator McCray 
Introduced and read first time: January 25, 2024 
Assigned to: Budget and Taxation 
 
A BILL ENTITLED 
 
AN ACT concerning 1 
 
Procurement – Minority Business Participation – Real Property Title Services 2 
Reporting 3 
 
FOR the purpose of requiring certain reporting relating to minority business participation 4 
in State procurement by industry type to include real property title services; 5 
prohibiting the Special Secretary for the Governor’s Office of Small, Minority, and 6 
Women Business Affairs from waiving a certain reporting requirement related to 7 
real property title services; and generally relating to reporting minority business 8 
participation in State procurement.  9 
 
BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 10 
 Article – State Finance and Procurement 11 
Section 14–301(a) 12 
 Annotated Code of Maryland 13 
 (2021 Replacement Volume and 2023 Supplement) 14 
 
BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 15 
 Article – State Finance and Procurement 16 
Section 14–301(e–1) and 14–305 17 
 Annotated Code of Maryland 18 
 (2021 Replacement Volume and 2023 Supplement) 19 
 
 SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 20 
That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 21 
 
Article – State Finance and Procurement 22 
 
14–301. 23 
 
 (a) In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated. 24 
  2 	SENATE BILL 587  
 
 
 (e–1) “Industry type” means the following procurement categories: 1 
 
 (1) construction; 2 
 
 (2) architectural and engineering services and other construction–related 3 
professional services; 4 
 
 (3) maintenance; 5 
 
 (4) information technology; 6 
 
 (5) services; [and] 7 
 
 (6) goods, supplies, and equipment; AND 8 
 
 (7) REAL PROPERTY TITLE SERVICES. 9 
 
14–305. 10 
 
 (a) (1) Within 90 days after the end of the fiscal year, each unit shall report to 11 
the Governor’s Office of Small, Minority, and Women Business Affairs and the certification 12 
agency. 13 
 
 (2) A report under this subsection shall for the preceding fiscal year: 14 
 
 (i) state the total number and value of procurement contracts 15 
between the unit and certified minority business enterprises, by specific category of 16 
minority business enterprise and by industry type, including whether the minority 17 
business enterprise participated as a prime contractor or as a subcontractor; 18 
 
 (ii) indicate the percentage that those procurement contracts 19 
represent, by specific category of minority business enterprise and by industry type, of the 20 
total number and value of procurement contracts; 21 
 
 (iii) state the total number and the names of certified minority 22 
business enterprises that participated as prime contractors or as subcontractors on 23 
procurement contracts awarded by a unit; 24 
 
 (iv) for each minority business included in the report under item (iii) 25 
of this paragraph, list all procurement contracts awarded by a unit to the minority business 26 
enterprise, including a description of the contract and industry type; 27 
 
 (v) provide the results of each compliance assessment conducted by 28 
the unit under § 14–303(b)(15) of this subtitle, including for each contract completed during 29 
the fiscal year: 30 
   	SENATE BILL 587 	3 
 
 
 1. the names of each prime contractor and each 1 
subcontractor that participated in the contract; 2 
 
 2. the type of good or service provided by the contract; 3 
 
 3. the minority business enterprise participation goal for the 4 
contract; 5 
 
 4. whether a waiver was granted for the minority business 6 
enterprise participation goal; 7 
 
 5. the total dollar value of payments made to each prime 8 
contractor and by each prime contractor to each subcontractor during the contract term; 9 
 
 6. whether each subcontractor is a certified minority 10 
business enterprise; and 11 
 
 7. if applicable, a description of factors that may have 12 
contributed to failure to achieve the minority business enterprise participation goal for the 13 
contract, including documented nonperformance or unavailability of a minority business 14 
enterprise; and 15 
 
 (vi) contain other such information as required by the Governor’s 16 
Office of Small, Minority, and Women Business Affairs and the certification agency and 17 
approved by the Board. 18 
 
 (3) As to procurement contracts for architectural services and engineering 19 
services reported under paragraph (2) of this subsection, the report shall identify by 20 
separate category of minority business enterprise procurements for: 21 
 
 (i) architectural services; and 22 
 
 (ii) engineering services. 23 
 
 (4) A report under this subsection shall be in a form prescribed by the 24 
Governor’s Office of Small, Minority, and Women Business Affairs and the certification 25 
agency and approved by the Board. 26 
 
 (5) [The] EXCEPT FOR REAL PROPE RTY TITLE SERVICES , THE Special 27 
Secretary for the Office of Small, Minority, and Women Business Affairs may waive the 28 
requirement for a unit to report minority business participation by industry type under 29 
paragraph (2) of this subsection if the spending threshold for the industry type is too low 30 
for the unit to provide sufficient data. 31 
 
 (b) (1) On or before December 31 of each year, the Governor’s Office of Small, 32 
Minority, and Women Business Affairs shall submit to the Board of Public Works and, 33 
subject to § 2–1257 of the State Government Article, to the Legislative Policy Committee 34  4 	SENATE BILL 587  
 
 
and the Joint Committee on Fair Practices and State Personnel Oversight a report 1 
summarizing the information the Office receives under subsection (a) of this section. 2 
 
 (2) If applicable, the report submitted under paragraph (1) of this 3 
subsection shall include minority business enterprise participation data for each unit by 4 
industry type. 5 
 
 (3) This report may be prepared in conjunction with the annual report 6 
required under § 9–306 of the State Government Article. 7 
 
 (4) (i) Beginning with the report submitted under paragraph (1) of this 8 
subsection on December 31, 2023, and each year thereafter, the Governor’s Office of Small, 9 
Minority, and Women Business Affairs shall include in the report an attestation that all 10 
units required to report under subsection (a) of this section are represented in the report. 11 
 
 (ii) To ensure accuracy of the attestation made under subparagraph 12 
(i) of this paragraph, on or before December 31, 2023, and every 3 years thereafter, the 13 
Governor’s Office of Small, Minority, and Women Business Affairs shall conduct an audit 14 
of the Executive Branch of State government to determine what entities are included in the 15 
definition of “unit” under § 11–101 of this article. 16 
 
 (c) (1) In this subsection, “mitigating factors” includes documented 17 
nonperformance or unavailability of a minority business enterprise designated for a 18 
contract. 19 
 
 (2) The Governor’s Office of Small, Minority, and Women Business Affairs 20 
and the Office of State Procurement in the Department of General Services, in consultation 21 
with the Office of the Attorney General and the Board of Public Works, shall adopt by 22 
regulation criteria used to determine that a prime contractor has persistently failed to meet 23 
contract goals in the absence of mitigating factors. 24 
 
 (3) The criteria adopted under paragraph (2) of this subsection shall 25 
include the results of the compliance assessments made under subsection (a)(2)(v) of this 26 
section. 27 
 
 (4) The Governor’s Office of Small, Minority, and Women Business Affairs 28 
shall refer prime contractors identified under the criteria adopted under paragraph (2) of 29 
this subsection to the Office of the Attorney General for debarment under § 16–203(d)(4) of 30 
this article. 31 
 
 SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 32 
October 1, 2024. 33