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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
RESOLUTION TO SUPPORT MINORITY AND WOMEN OWNED BUSINESSES AMIDST LAWSUITS ALLEGING DISCRIMINATION IN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS
WHEREAS, The Cook County Minority/ Women Business Enterprise (M/WBE) program was first enacted in 1988, with the purpose of remediating past County discrimination against minorities and women on construction contracts;
WHEREAS, many local governments, including Cook County, were active and passive participants in discriminatory practices that adversely affected the growth and full participation of minority and women-owned businesses in the government marketplace;
WHEREAS, the Cook County M/WBE program evolved over time to apply to goods and services contracts, professional services contracts, and health and hospital contracts;
WHEREAS, in 2000, the construction portion of the program was ruled unconstitutional, and Cook County was without a M/WBE construction program for several years;
WHEREAS, under the leadership of President Preckwinkle, the construction program is now reinstated and on firm constitutional footing, and supported by the County's first ever Disparity Study in 2013;
WHEREAS, a number of cases challenging M/WBE and DBE (disadvantaged business enterprise) programs employed by local governments, including those in Cook County, are now before federal courts across the United States;
WHEREAS, in June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case Fair Admissions v. Harvard that the university's use of race considerations in their undergraduate admissions process was impermissible, triggering litigation in other areas, including transportation and infrastructure contracting, citing this case as new precedent;
WHEREAS, Mid-America Milling Company v. USDOT was filed in October 2023; plaintiffs assert that the DBE program is unconstitutional because it ultimately uses race and gender in government contracting decisions; the plaintiffs in this case rely heavily upon the U.S. Supreme Court decision ...
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