Public utilities seek LGBTQ+ contractors whether they keep the lights on or not

California Democrats have embraced a new form of favoritism: contracts for businesses that are state-certified as being owned by LGBTQ+ individuals.The scheme operates through the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which regulates privately owned utility companies.In 1986, Gov.George Deukmejian signed Assembly Bill 3678,which required certain CPUC-regulated utilities to submit annual “plans” for buying goods and services from female- and minority-owned companies.

Two years later, CPUC created its “Supplier Diversity Program,” which would enforce the law and set contracting “goals” for large utilities.Under a series of Democratic governors, the program has expanded to include gay-owned businesses.In September 2014, then-Gov.

Jerry Brown signed legislation requiring CPUC to recognize “LGBT-owned businesses” as eligible for supplier-diversity benefits.Five years later, Gov.Gavin Newsom expanded the program, “encouraging” other companies involved in the energy sector to award contracts to gay-owned firms.In the years that followed, CPUC faced activist pressure as it implemented the LGBTQ+ expansion.

BuildOUT California, a since-rebranded LGBT building-industry organization, sent a letter to the commission arguing that “homophobia” existed within “the ranks of the utility companies.” The state’s legislative LGBTQ caucus suggested in a 2021 letter that even considering lower procurement targets was “an insult to the LGBTQ+ community.”By 2022, CPUC had fully implemented the expansion.In practice, this meant establishing a “goal” for utility companies with annual revenues exceeding $25 million to buy things from state-certified LGBTQ+ businesses: 0.5% of procurement in 2022; 1% in 2023; and 1.5% in 2024 and beyond.

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