As used in this article, the following definitions apply:

(a) “Awarding department” means any state agency, department, governmental entity, or other officer or entity empowered by law to enter into contracts on behalf of the State of California.

(b) “Contract” includes any agreement or joint development agreement to provide labor, services, material, supplies, or equipment in the performance of a contract, franchise, concession, or lease granted, let, or awarded for and on behalf of the State of California.

(c) “Contractor” means any person or persons, regardless of race, color, sex, ethnic origin or ancestry, or any firm, partnership, corporation, or combination thereof, whether or not a minority or women business enterprise, who submits a bid and enters into a contract with a representative of a state agency, department, governmental entity, or other officer empowered by law to enter into contracts on behalf of the State of California.

(d) “Minority,” for purposes of this section, means a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States who is an ethnic person of color and who is: Black (a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa); Hispanic (a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish or Portuguese culture or origin regardless of race); Native American (an American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, or Native Hawaiian); Pacific-Asian (a person whose origins are from Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Samoa, Guam, or the United States Trust Territories of the Pacific including the Northern Marianas); Asian-Indian (a person whose origins are from India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh); or any other group of natural persons identified as minorities in the respective project specifications of an awarding department or participating local agency.

(e) “Minority business enterprise” means a business concern that meets all of the following criteria:

(1) The business is an individual proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or joint venture at least 51 percent owned by one or more minorities or, in the case of any business whose stock is publicly held, at least 51 percent of the stock is owned by one or more minorities.

(2) A business whose management and daily operations are controlled by one or more minorities who own the business.

(3) A business concern with its home office located in the United States which is not a branch or subsidiary of a foreign corporation, firm, or other business.

(f) “Women business enterprise” means a business concern that meets all of the following criteria:

(1) The business is an individual proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or joint venture at least 51 percent owned by one or more women or, in the case of any business whose stock is publicly held, at least 51 percent of the stock is owned by one or more women.

(2) A business whose management and daily operations are controlled by one or more women who own the business.

(3) A business concern with its home office located in the United States which is not a branch or subsidiary of a foreign corporation, firm, or other business.

(g) “Goal” means a numerically expressed objective that awarding departments and contractors are required to make efforts to achieve.

(Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 846, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 1995.)