The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:

1. The State wishes to provide all of its citizens with equal access to opportunities for business formation and business growth.

2. The elimination of discrimination against disadvantaged business enterprises is of paramount importance to the future welfare of this State.

3. The Legislature has received and carefully reviewed the “Availability and Disparity Study” commissioned by the Department and published on June 15, 2007, that this study provides a strong basis of evidence demonstrating persistent discrimination against businesses owned by women and minorities and that this study demonstrates that:

(a) Disparities exist in the utilization of businesses owned by women and minorities in the same geographic markets and industry categories in which the Department does business;

(b) The State would become a passive participant in private-sector racial, ethnic and gender discrimination if it ceased or curtailed its remedial efforts against such discrimination;

(c) An overall pattern of disparities exists in the utilization of all racial and ethnic groups and both minority and nonminority women combined in all Department contracts;

(d) Evidence exists that discrimination in the private sector has depressed the formation and growth of firms among minority and nonminority women entrepreneurs; and

(e) Evidence exists of discrimination against minority and nonminority women business owners in the Nevada marketplace.

4. The Department should continue to use race-neutral and gender-neutral efforts to eliminate discrimination to the maximum extent feasible and should use only race-conscious and gender-conscious measures where necessary to eliminate discrimination that was not alleviated by race-neutral and gender-neutral efforts, and only as allowed under federal law.

5. NRS 408.3872 to 408.38728, inclusive, continues and enhances efforts to ensure that the Department limits the burden on businesses which are not disadvantaged business enterprises by ensuring flexibility in the operations of the Department.

6. Efforts by this State to support the development of businesses owned by women and minorities that are competitively viable will assist in reducing discrimination and creating jobs for all citizens of this State.

(Added to NRS by 2013, 2823)