Minority businesses

A. To provide equal procurement, contractual, and employment participation in any project, as defined in R.S. 33:4710.24, the authority shall prescribe rules and regulations as may be necessary to provide for the following protections for the rights of minority citizens: (1) To designate and set aside for awarding to minority businesses not less than thirty percent of anticipated local procurement of goods and services respectively, including contracts for professional services but excluding construction, for any project, based upon the total value of such procurement. (2) To designate and set aside for awarding to minority contractors not less than twenty percent of the construction contracts for any project, based upon the total value of such contracts. (3) To establish an affirmative action plan for the hiring and maintenance of personnel for any expansion project. (4) To establish an affirmative action plan to guarantee that equal opportunity in employment is incorporated into each agreement or contract with any provider of services to the authority for any expansion project. (5) To prescribe and promulgate rules and regulations to provide for effective enforcement of the rights granted in this Section including injunctive relief and penalties for violations. (6) To prescribe and promulgate rules and regulations for the certification of businesses as bona fide minority businesses or minority contractors. B. For purposes of this Section, the following definitions apply: (1) "Minority" means a person who is a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States and who is: (a) Black: having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. (b) Hispanic: of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish or Portuguese culture or origin regardless of race. (c) Asian American: having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, or the Pacific Islands. (d) American Indian or Alaskan Native: having origins in any of the original peoples of North America. (2) "Minority business" or "minority contractor" means a small business organized for profit performing a commercially useful function which is owned and controlled by one or more minority individuals or a minority enterprise as defined in R.S. 39:1952. "Owned and controlled" means a business in which one or more minorities or minority business enterprises own at least fifty-one percent or in the case of a corporation at least fifty-one percent of the voting stock and control at least fifty-one percent of the management and daily operations of the business.