Has California reached a point where Hispanic contractors are no longer suffering from the ill effects of discrimination?
Officials with the California Department of Transportation say the answer -- for now -- is yes.
But the state's Hispanic Contractors Association says the answer is an emphatic "no way."
This month, the state department -- generally referred to as Caltrans -- released a new list of the ethnic and gender groups that qualify for federally funded affirmative-action programs. Hispanics are no longer on it. Four other groups still are: blacks, Asian-Pacific Americans, American Indians and women.
The new list is sure to be a boon for contracting companies owned by people in those four groups, but is expected to do little for the firms owned by Hispanics, who nationwide have been hit disproportionately hard by the deepening recession.
The new list also comes just before money from President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus program is expected to begin flowing into California's beleaguered construction industry. It also coincides with an apparent slowdown for disadvantaged minority- and women-owned California contractors, who appear to be getting shorter shrift than usual on Caltrans contracts.
In Caltrans jargon, the term for the affirmative-action policy in question is the "race- and gender-conscious" program. Caltrans strives to ensure that at least 6.75 percent of all highway projects partly funded by federal dollars go to the disadvantaged women- or minority-owned companies in this group.
Caltrans's race- and gender-conscious program had been put on ice for four years -- not just for Hispanics, but for all minority- and women-owned contractors -- while the agency conducted a study to determine which groups still feel the sting of discrimination. On April 2, the program was officially re-instated, but with Hispanics removed.
The controversial new list is taking heat from all sides. It already has raised the ire of not only the Hispanic Contractors Association, but also a prominent conservative legal foundation that opposes affirmative action, and which is considering filing a lawsuit.
Caltrans based the new list on a two-year-old disparity study concluding that Hispanic-owned construction companies are generally numerous and successful enough to be removed from the race-conscious group.
Julian Camacho, president of the Hispanic Contractors Association of California, says the results of the Caltrans disparity study have it all wrong.
By law, he said, ethnic groups are considered at a disparity when there is evidence of discrimination or its lasting effects.
"I grew up in California; I remember when you would see signs that said 'No Mexicans or dogs allowed,' " he said. "It took a long time for our people to wrestle ourselves out of the backbreaking labor of the fields. It took a long time to move from campesinos to owners of businesses. As a consequence we don't have, as a class of people -- Mexicans, mostly -- a lot of accumulated wealth. The fact that we don't is an effect of discrimination."
Camacho, who also serves on the Caltrans Small Business Council -- an advisory council to the Caltrans staff -- said the Hispanic Contractors Association has asked Caltrans to amend the study. He said he hopes Hispanics will be back on the race-conscious list by July, in time for more Hispanic contractors to reap the benefits of the stimulus money.
