M/WBE BONDING REQUIREMENTS

Urges the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to consider whether a surety program should be administered to provide a financial guarantee to bonding companies for projects conducted by minority-owned and women-owned small businesses. Urges the Department of Insurance to find ways to help identify and encourage bond companies to participate in a program for minority-owned and women-owned small business construction firms. Urges the Department of Transportation and the Capital Development Board to review their bonding requirements for minority-owned and women-owned small business participants in light of the number of defaults by those companies over the last 5 years to determine whether their requirements are more stringent than necessary. Urges the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the Department of Insurance, the Department of Transportation, and the Capital Development Board to report to the General Assembly with recommendations to reform bonding requirements for minority-owned and women-owned small business firms in public construction projects.