Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service
Under Assembly Bill 2019, state agencies are mandated to develop an “economic equity first” action plan and policy to ensure the active participation and benefit of small businesses in the procurement process. EMS training session on March 21 covered crucial aspects of registering your ethnic media business under this law, ensuring your media outlet’s eligibility for state contracts.
Joann Patty, Business Outreach Liaison Office of Small Business and DVBE (Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise) Services, California Department of General Services gave a special introduction to the ethnic community on “How to register your small business in California.”
She said that government-certified minority-owned enterprises and disabled veteran-owned enterprises can receive 5% incentive support, as well as loans, repayment time and low-interest discounts. It is not difficult to apply for minority small business certification. The relevant government web pages have special guidance.
It usually takes one hour to complete the application and then wait for the response from the relevant government departments (for details, please visit www.caleprocure.ca.gov or https://www.dgs.ca.gov
The main office must be located in California, the number of employees must not exceed 100, and the average annual revenue in the past three tax years cannot exceed $16 million. Certification is limited to two years, after which re-certification is required.
Patty said that 99.9% of the certification applications for ethnic minority small businesses are automatically certified online and can usually be approved quickly after entering relevant information; certification for small businesses of disabled service members takes four to six weeks.
