Sponsored by:
Senator NICHOLAS P. SCUTARI
District 22 (Middlesex, Somerset and Union)
Senator NELLIE POU
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senators Durr, Ruiz, Singleton and Turner
SYNOPSIS
Provides that definition of women’s business enterprise include businesses owned in whole or in part by certain irrevocable trusts.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the definition of women’s business enterprises and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Any statutory definition of “women’s business,” “women’s business enterprise,” “women-owned business,” or “women-owned business enterprise” used for the purposes of State certification of a women’s business enterprise or for the purposes of providing financial assistance and other programs for businesses certified as a women’s business enterprise in this State shall include a business that has its principal place of business in this State, is independently owned, operated, and controlled by women, and whose requisite 51 percent ownership by women is achieved, in whole or in part, by the equity percentage of the business enterprise owned by an irrevocable trust in which, other than an administrative trustee, the trustee is a woman or a majority of the trustees are women and the beneficiary is a woman or a majority of the beneficiaries are women.
2. Any business enterprise which has been denied certification or re-certification as a “women’s business,” “women’s business enterprise,” “women-owned business,” or “women-owned business enterprise,” but which would qualify under section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. )(pending before the Legislature as this bill), may apply following the effective date of section 1 for certification or re-certification without waiting for the expiration of any otherwise prescribed statutory or regulatory waiting period governing the timing of re-application given a denial of certification or re-certification.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires that the various statutory definitions of women’s business enterprise include businesses owned, in whole or in part, by an irrevocable trust of which the majority of beneficiaries or trustees are women.
Under current law, a women’s business enterprise is interpreted as requiring direct ownership by a woman or women. A women’s business enterprise is generally defined as a business that has its principal place of business in this State, is independently owned and operated, and is:
(1) a sole proprietorship owned and controlled by a woman;
(2) a partnership or joint venture owned and controlled by women in which at least 51 percent of the ownership is held by women and the management and daily business operations of which are controlled by one or more women who own it; or
(3) a corporation or other entity whose management and daily business operations are controlled by one or more women who own it, and which is at least 51 percent owned by women, or if stock is issued, at least 51 percent of the stock is owned by one or more women.
This bill supplements the various definitions to include a business that has its principal place of business in this State and is owned, in whole or in part, by an irrevocable trust of which the majority of trustees and beneficiaries are women. This addition would accommodate indirect women ownership of the business through an irrevocable trust, an estate planning tool often utilized to preserve family ownership of a business over the course of multiple generations.
This bill also waives any waiting period prior to re-application by any enterprise which previously had been denied certification or re-certification as a women-owned business that would now qualify for such status.