(a) The Legislature hereby declares that it serves a public purpose, and it is of benefit to the state, to promote and facilitate the fullest possible participation by all citizens in the affairs of the State of California in every possible way. It is also essential that opportunity is provided for full participation in our free enterprise system by small business enterprises.
(b) Further, it is the declared policy of the Legislature that the state should aid, counsel, assist, and protect, to the maximum extent possible, the interests of small business concerns, including microbusinesses, in order to preserve free competitive enterprise and to ensure that a fair proportion of the total purchases and contracts or subcontracts for property and services for the state be placed with these enterprises.
(Amended by Stats. 2001, Ch. 882, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2002.)