Prohibits a public authority or public benefit corporation from entering into any procurement contract with a contractor or legal entity in which the contractor holds a 10% or greater interest therein, unless such contractor or legal entity stipulates that it has no business operations in Northern Ireland or conducts any business that it has in Northern Ireland in accordance with the MacBride Fair Employment Principles; such principles promote nondiscrimination in employment and freedom of workplace opportunity in Northern Ireland.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5264
SPONSOR: Brennan (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public authorities law, in
relation to the application of the MacBride principles to contracts of
public authorities
PURPOSE: This bill clarifies that the MacBride Fair Employment Prin-
ciples continue to be applicable to the procurement contracts of public
authorities.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: This bill amends Public Authorities Law § 2879
to provide that public authorities may not enter into a procurement
contract with any contractor that does not agree to stipulate either
that the contractor or any legal entity in which the contractor holds a
ten percent or greater ownership interest has no business operations in
Northern Ireland, or that the contractor conducts any business that it
has in Northern Ireland in conformity with the MacBride Fair Employment
Principles. These Principles are intended to promote nondiscrimination
in employment and freedom of workplace opportunity in Northern Ireland.
EXISTING LAW: In 1992, the Legislature enacted a new § 174-b to the
State Finance Law. This section provided that state agencies and
authorities would not be permitted to contract for the supply of goods,
services or construction with any contractor unless the contractor
either did not have business operations in Northern Ireland, or stipu-
lated that any business operations that it did have in Northern Ireland
would comply with the MacBride Fair Employment Principles. State Finance
Law § 174-b was recodified in 1995 and moved to § 165(5) of the State
Finance Law, where it presently resides. At that time, however, the
language of the statute was changed and it now applies only to state
agencies, which term, according to State Finance Law § 2-a(5), does not
include public authorities. Unlike other provisions of the State Finance
Law which have been picked up in Public Authorities Law § 2879 (for
instance, the language prohibiting state agencies from entering into
contracts with foreign business enterprises that have their principal
places of business located in a discriminatory jurisdiction), the
MacBride Fair Employment requirement currently does not appear in the
Public Authorities Law.
JUSTIFICATION: The MacBride Fair Employment Principles were authored
by Sean MacBride, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974. The
Principles require contractors to: (1) increase the representation of
individuals from under-represented religious groups in the workforce in
Northern Ireland; (2) take steps to promote the security of workers from
such under-represented religious groups; (3) ban provocative religious
or political emblems from the workplace; (4) publicly advertise all job
openings and make special recruitment efforts to bring workers from
under-represented religious groups into the workplace; (5) establish
religion-neutral layoff, recall and termination procedures; (6) abolish
job reservations, apprenticeship restrictions and differential employ-
ment criteria that discriminate on the basis of religion; (7) develop
training programs for workers from under-represented religious groups;
(8) establish procedures to assess, identify and actively recruit
employees from underrepresented religious groups; and (9) appoint a
senior management staff member to oversee affirmative action efforts.
The intent of the MacBride Principles is to secure equal opportunities
for fair employment for all religious groups in Northern Ireland by
requiring businesses to take affirmative steps to bring members of
underrepresented religious groups into the workplace.
The Legislature made the MacBride Principles applicable to contracts
involving State agencies and public authorities in 1992. However, when
this provision of law was recodified in 1995, the requirement that
public authorities comply with these Principles was inexplicably omit-
ted. There is no indication either in the language of the recodified
statute or its legislative history that would shed light on this
deletion. This legislation seeks to correct this oversight by requiring
public authorities, like state agencies, to ensure that contractors that
engage in business operations in Northern Ireland implement employment
practices intended to balance the workforce and end workplace discrimi-
nation.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: A.11054 (2001-02) A.1310 (2003-04) A.2137
(2005-06). A4058 (2007-2008)
BUDGET IMPLICATIONS: None.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect on the 180th day after it
shall have become law, provided, however, that the provisions of this
act shall in no way affect the validity of contracts entered into prior
to such effective date.
