In September 2014 Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1678 which opened the procurement pipeline for LGBT businesses with California-based Utilities who do in excess of $25 Million in annual revenues.  Several BuildOUT California Founders were instrumental in the passage of this legislation.

Beginning in 2020 the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), Joint Utilities and representatives from the LGBT business community began the formal process of establishing an aspirational LGBT utilization goal.  That process has now been completed and the CPUC Commissioners voted unanimously in April of 2022 in favor of a path toward 1.5% LGBT utilization. That path forward includes a stair-step utilization approach  as follows:  2022 - .5%, 2023 – 1% and 2024 – 1.5%..

 

What follows below is a ‘digital archive’ of the letters of support from key elected officials from throughout California at the local, state and federal levels.  BuildOUT California was honored to work with each of these representatives, and their staff, to secure their support.

 

While we were successful in our advocacy for this level of inclusion, we know that we have just begun the heavy lifting necessary to reach the aspiration goals.  As the saying goes “it will take a village” for these goals to be realized.

 

BuildOUT California is committed to this effort and toward that end you will find our most current Annual Public Utility LGBT Utilization (Spend) Report which covers the years 2015 through 2021. It is important to note that even in the year 2021, there were no goals set for LGBT business inclusion so what has been reported by each of the Utilities is the ‘baseline’ from which we will begin to work towards the 1.5% aspirational goal.

 

We invite you to read the Report below and more importantly – please engage with us on all levels if you are a utility, a Tier One/Prime Contractor, an LGBT/Allied business who wishes to increase your competitive edge in competing for utility contracts, or an industry stakeholder.