Pacts With Minorities Get a Push

The Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday adopted a program designed to give companies owned by women and minorities a bigger share of the hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts the county signs with private firms each year.

Supervisor Kenneth Hahn first introduced the motion in March after Supervisor Gloria Molina’s election created a liberal majority on the board.

The establishment of a “minority- and women-owned business enterprise program”--similar to one enacted by the city of Los Angeles--was a major campaign theme for Molina, who became the first elected woman supervisor and the first Latino supervisor this century.

“This board is looking at sharing with the minority community,” Molina said Tuesday. “I think it is a whole new trend.”

As it turned out, conservative Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana joined liberals Ed Edelman, Hahn and Molina in voting to establish the program, which does not set quotas or goals for contracting with businesses owned by minorities or women.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1989 prohibited governments from establishing quotas or giving preference to minorities or women, except to make up for a clear history of discrimination.

County officials said they do not have figures on how many minority- and women-owned firms are doing business with the county.

Under the program passed Tuesday, special efforts will be made to give minority- and women-owned firms “the maximum feasible opportunity” to bid for contracts, ranging from construction and legal work to the sale of office supplies.

These efforts include conducting workshops to teach minority and women entrepreneurs how to obtain county contracts and helping disadvantaged businesses bid for them.

The program also calls for identifying barriers that prevent minorities and women from seeking county business and for revising procurement procedures “to facilitate the participation of smaller businesses, without increased cost to the county.”

The city program came under fire last year after reports in The Times that lucrative contracts had been awarded to politically influential leaders instead of disadvantaged minorities and women. County officials said they have established safeguards to prevent similar abuses.