Harris: Dismantling the DBE program slams the door on minority- and women-owned businesses

State Rep. Earl Harris Jr. (D-East Chicago), chair of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus (IBLC), issued the following statement in response to Gov. Mike Braun's move to eliminate race- and gender-conscious goals from the Diversity Business Enterprises (DBE) program:

"Gov. Braun's decision erases opportunities for Black Hoosiers, women and other minority business owners who have historically been shut out of contracting — not because they lack merit or talent, but because the system was built to exclude them.

"The DBE program is not discriminatory. It exists because 'race-neutral' policies failed for decades to ensure marginalized communities were given equal opportunities. Minority- and women-owned businesses still face very real barriers: limited access to capital, exclusion from professional networks and a small fraction of government contracting dollars. Removing these protections does not eliminate those barriers. It simply relieves the state of our obligation to acknowledge them.

"Let's be clear about what this program actually does. It has never guaranteed anyone a contract based on race or sex. Its purpose is to broaden access to public contracting so that qualified businesses from every background have a meaningful opportunity to compete. When more firms can bid, competition goes up, costs come down and innovation follows. And when small, minority-owned and women-owned businesses win contracts, those dollars create jobs and investment in communities that have historically seen the least economic development.

"Gov. Braun claims to be a pro-business governor, but you cannot claim to support fair competition while dismantling the tools that make the competition fair in the first place. Shrinking the pool of qualified bidders will cost the state more on contracts, weaken competition and make Indiana's economy less inclusive.

"The governor says he is replacing DEI with 'MEI' — merit, excellence and innovation. My question is simple: Who decides what counts as merit, and how? For generations, 'merit' was defined in ways that kept Black Hoosiers, women and other minority owners out of the room entirely. This latest move, like so many of the governor's actions on diversity, equity and inclusion, will only drag Indiana backward."