A Virginia state bill passed along party lines directing state agencies to consider the race and sex of small businesses’ ownership when distributing discretionary funds for procurement and contracts is likely to face major legal headwinds, experts told Fox News Digital.
The Small SWAM Business Procurement Enhancement Program Act "provides that executive branch agencies and covered institutions are required to increase their small SWAM business utilization rates by three percent per year until reaching the 42-percent target or, if unable to do so, to implement achievable goals to increase their utilization rates," according to its text.
SWAM stands for small, women-owned and minority-owned.
Purchases between $10,000 and $200,000 must be set aside to be awarded to SWAM businesses as well, according to the text of the bill drafted by Delegate Jeion Ward, D-Hampton.
