Bacon's Rebellion

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Email Your Delegate: Kill the Unconstitutional Affirmative Action Bill

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by

Bob Rayner
in ,


by Jock Yellott

As a follow-up to “US Constitution Calling Jason Miyares,” published here January 15, 2024: the Virginia Legislature now is considering a bill, HR 1404, mandating “Disadvantaged Business Enterprise” affirmative action in all state government contracting.  It’s before the House Committee on Rules.

H.R. 1404 presumes people are “disadvantaged” based on their origins; their group identity.  Which the US Supreme Court declared unconstitutional 30 years ago in the Adarand Constructors case.  And the Supreme Court confirmed its unconstitutionality last June in Students for Fair Admissions. The bill mirrors the federal Small Business Administration list of groups presumed disadvantaged, always and everywhere, that a federal district court declared unconstitutional last July (the Biden administration’s SBA is now trying to wiggle out from under that ruling).

You can do something: write a delegate on the House Rules Committee.  Click on the names below:

Scott, D.L(Chair),Watts, Ward, Sickles, Herring, Carr, Torian, Simon, Hayes, Sullivan, Tran,  Kilgore, Austin, Webert, O’Quinn, Batten

They have a lot to read; no need to write an essay. Just say the affirmative action in H.R. 1404 is unconstitutional on its face.  Kill it in committee.

Instead of putting a thumb on the scale, giving the advantage of being presumed disadvantaged to those who can claim ancestry from Sri Lanka. Or “a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Africa.” Which is all of us. Or of Hispanic origins. Attorney General Jason Miyares is of Hispanic origins. Ask him what he thinks about affirmative action.

Let’s hope enough folks on that committee care about equality under the law.

Jock Yellott is an attorney in Charlottesville and an occasional contributor to Bacon’s Rebellion.

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38 responses to “Email Your Delegate: Kill the Unconstitutional Affirmative Action Bill”

  1. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    Sorry, Jock, but loyal Bacon’s Rebellion stalwarts are already focused on the much more vital issue of saving the recordation tax exemption for the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Don’t distract them from that snipe hunt with a piece of real socialist economic engineering.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Hey! You forgot saving VMI from DE&I and UVa from Ryan.

  2. walter smith Avatar
    walter smith

    You think the Constitution still matters under the OBiden regime?

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Well, the Former Guy has said out loud that when he gets back he’ll trash it.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        I’m beginning to think that , that may be the thing that much of Trumps base wants and values him for. Haley and others say chaos but his base, eager.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Well, look on the bright side. No Constapitution, no 2nd Amendment.

  3. Bob X from Texas Avatar
    Bob X from Texas

    It is Racist to consider RACE when making any decision.,

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      gender, native american?

      1. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        The legal recognition and special treatment of the tribes is based on their status as semi-sovereign entities apart from general US or state laws. Yellot is right that this bill is totally unconstitutional, will be struck down routinely, but maybe we make all these other groups sovereign tribes? 🙂 We’re heading that way anyway.

      2. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        The legal recognition and special treatment of the tribes is based on their status as semi-sovereign entities apart from general US or state laws. Yellot is right that this bill is totally unconstitutional, will be struck down routinely, but maybe we make all these other groups sovereign tribes? 🙂 We’re heading that way anyway.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          so off topic on this thread, but this changes my mind unless he has gone over to the dark side:

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/190f09007c18b3289c1bfa987a29329aca03764e522846411b89bad081f148ed.png

        2. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          much ado about nothing other than theater if it can’t overcome the Dems and/or a Youngkin veto… just like marijuana.
          pretty sure the Native Americans also have status on small business. More than casinos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Native_corporation

        3. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          How about Women Small businesses? https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/grow-your-business/become-federal-contractor#id-small-and-disadvantaged-businesses

    2. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      I dunno, what’s the acronym stand for?

  4. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    8A set asides have been cooking along nicely since the 70s. The first time I heard of them, my boss at the time said, “I applied for 8A status. They told me that Turkish Jews are not a minority.”

    Then who is?

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      “Program qualifications
      To qualify for the 8(a) program, businesses must meet the following eligibility criteria:

      Be a small business
      Not have previously participated in the 8(a) program
      Be at least 51% owned and controlled by U.S. citizens who are socially and economically disadvantaged
      Have a personal net worth of $850 thousand or less, adjusted gross income of $400 thousand or less, and assets totaling $6.5 million or less
      Demonstrate good character
      Demonstrate the potential for success such as having been in business for two years
      8(a) certification lasts for a maximum of nine years. The first four years are considered a development stage and the last five years are considered a transitional stage. Continuation in the program is dependent on staying in compliance with program requirements.

      The federal government fully defines who qualifies for the 8(a) program — including what counts as being socially and economically disadvantaged — in Title 13 Part 124 of the Code of Federal Regulations

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        He was a US citizen. He stayed after graduation from UVa. We weren’t hurting. We were a small business.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          SCOTUS seems inclined to do away with all such “help disadvantaged” programs and all they really
          have to do is kill one and lawsuits to declare the others in violation of the SCOTUS precedent.

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Yeah, they will. There were a lot of abuses too. My boss was joking. As “minorities” go, he definitely fit the bill.

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            yes. We had one and when it’s term ran out, lo and behold , another “new” 8A company formed
            and had most of the same folks and woman top dog. Happens in general with govt contractors bidding
            on a proposal… whoever wins it gets newly unemployed to pick from the loser companies.

  5. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    re: ” H.R. 1404 presumes people are “disadvantaged” based on their origins; their group identity. Which the US Supreme Court declared unconstitutional 30 years ago in the Adarand Constructors case. And the SupremeCourt confirmed is unconstitutional last June in Students for Fair Admissions. ”

    Anyone heard of Casinos and Native Americans or the law that says handicapped people must be offered accommodations or kids with disabilities, accommodations in the schools?

    Gonna be interesting how SCOTUS deals with the issue in general and my bet is that they going to try to “craft” it so it only affects the desired things and ignores/exempts others which is not a good way to truly determine the Constitutionality of issues like laws that benefit the disadvantaged. Gonna outlaw all?

  6. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Yellot does not seem to understand how legislation works. He is obviously upset about the requirement to include minority businesses in state procurement processes. The program is the Small, Women-owned, and Minority-Owned (SWAM) business program. (The joke in state government was it geared to “small women”? Someone then put the comma in between “small” and “women”.) That program exists in law now. This bill would just beef it up. If this bill fails, the program will still be there.

    After the recent Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, I have wondered if SWAM would pass muster with the courts. Because race is not the only category that is favored, it might be upheld.

    The question is: Shouldn’t the “little guys” be able to get some of the business from state agencies?

    SWAM increases costs for agencies, because small businesses don’t have the benefit of economy of scale. This bill would increase the costs even more. (I notice there is no fiscal impact statement.) In the past, governors watched the participation of agencies in SWAM carefully. There was often pressure on agencies to increase their SWAM numbers.

    The program lends itself to abuse. I remember a prison librarian with the Department of Corrections complaining that she had to use a SWAM vendor to purchase some reference books and the cost was much higher than she would have had to pay elsewhere. It occurred to me that I could get my wife set up as a small, woman-owned business (LLC) and she could use our Barnes and Noble member discount to purchase books and then turn around and sell them to DOC at the regular price.

    By the way, it is too late to write to members of the Rules Committee. It reported the bill today (with the support of 3 Republican members) and referred it to House Appropriations.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Don’t they just have small business set asides? And then the woman- and minority-owned is just a set aside in the set aside?

      1. Not Today Avatar
        Not Today

        No. All SWaMs are in the same pot…women, small, and minorities. You do away with SWaM, you do away with ALL of it.

  7. Eric the half a troll Avatar
    Eric the half a troll

    Would veteran owned small business set asides also be considered unconstitutional…?

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      Any kind of veteran “preferences” including tax breaks?

      totally equality, no preferences for anyone for any reason, right?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        Except the not taxing SocSec. Gray Power!

    2. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      10% discount at Lowe’s too?

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        Gotta wipe this woke stuff out! No exceptions. If you have exceptions, it grows.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          They’re a subculture, ya know, and over represented at J6. Maybe we can get an Amendment removing their discount?

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Whatever we can do to let them know that nationalists, militia and related are bad form and deserve prison just
            like any other would-be terrorists.

  8. Larry Rouse Avatar
    Larry Rouse

    Since when does contacting my representative make any difference? We are in an age where my representative no longer needs to persuade anyone.

  9. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    To paraphrase the most beautiful soul to have ever followed politics, “All anyone needs to enjoy the state legislature is a strong stomach and a complete insensitivity to the needs of the people. As long as you don’t think about what that peculiar body should be doing and what it actually is doing to the quality of life in (Virginia), then it’s all marvelous fun.”

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      who?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        Oh c’mon Larry. Change (Virginia) to Texas, and you’ll know. Wrote for the Ft. Worth Star-Telegraph. Big laugh, red hair…

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          duh…

        2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
          Dick Hall-Sizemore

          Molly Ivins
          https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/molly-ivins-matters-more-than-ever/

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            You strike me as a man who could appreciate the subtle humor and insight.
            https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/molly-ivins-matters-more-than-ever/

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