November 4, 2024

By Lane Kimble

A federal court ruling against the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program now touches many more states, but it still does not impact work in Wisconsin at this time.

Late last week, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) announced Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove of Kentucky clarified his initial ruling.  The judge says his injunction blocks the program in all states where the plaintiffs do business, not just Kentucky and Indiana.

Mid-America Milling Company and Bagshaw Trucking sued to block the federal government from using the DBE program to award contracts, claiming it violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause based on race. Judge Van Tatenhove’s initial ruling came down in late September.

“In practice, the door to government contracting will open not only for our clients, but also for other firms,” WILL Associate Counsel Cara Tolliver said. “The DBE program’s days of sanctioning racial and gender discrimination are dwindling.”

The two companies also do business in Mississippi, Delaware, Alabama, Louisiana, Virginia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, West Virginia, Missouri, Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Texas, and portions of northern Florida.

However, Wisconsin is not on that list.

“The court says this is not a nationwide injunction as the term is understood because it is not applicable anywhere against anyone,” WTBA General Counsel Jodi Jensen advised. “This injunction applies to the parties to the litigation rather than a specific geographical area.”

WisDOT, for its part, said earlier this fall it intends to continue doing business and running its DBE program as it has been.

WTBA will continue to monitor the lawsuit and any developments as they happen.