The Office of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises (OMWBE) is responsible for administering a federal program designed to level the playing field for disadvantaged businesses. Unfortunately, some companies are abusing the program.
Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos is looking to end that abuse and punish cheaters who rig the system for their own advantage. She introduced HB 1674 which would create a fraud unit within the office and impose penalties on those who cheat the system.
State Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos (D-Seattle) has introduced a bill that would get tough on people who defraud a government program meant to help small businesses get work on state highway projects.
The legislation was prompted by a 2012 KING 5 series that found serious problems at the state agency charged with rooting out fraud in the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program, which guarantees a certain percentage of highway contracts will benefit businesses owned by women or minorities.
“Your stories pointed out it’s easy to game the system, but people who are playing by the rules are the ones getting hurt,” said Tomiko Santos.
Below is a KING 5 segment that exposed one of the cheaters who was caught rigging the system.