WESTERN STATES' LIGHT: RESTRUCTURING THE FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS ENTERPRISE PROGRAM

Abstract

Federal transportation subsidies have been a major form of federal largess to hundreds of local governments for decades.' Few major transportation construction projects are undertaken without the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) subsidizing some share of the funding. For example, in 2005, Congress authorized $244 billion for the re-enactment of a federal transportation program called the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). Additionally, a major part of the 2009 American Reinvestment and Recovery Act economic stimulus package was intended to go towards transportation infrastructure. Such massive programs involve significant lobbying regarding which modes of transportation and which areas will receive subsidies. The transportation program has also been legally controversial because it contains a mandate to classify firms by the owner's race, ethnicity, and gender and to insure that so-called Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) owned by minorities and women receive a share of the dollars on federally assisted contracts. As will be discussed in Part IV, whether DBEs or Minority or Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs) are used to calculate availability in meeting DBE goals makes an enormous difference.