Measure would track gender, race of business owners

A bill that would create a way to track minority- and women-owned businesses passed out of the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee Wednesday.

After the 7-1 vote, HB327 now moves to the House floor. Rep. Mark Wheatley said the bill would give Utah a way to gather demographic data. Reporting gender and race information would be voluntary when a business applied for its license with the Department of Commerce.

The Center for Women's Business Research ranked Utah first for growth in women-owned businesses last year, Wheatley said.

Currently the state relies on the U.S. Census Bureau, which is years behind, and other outside sources for such data, he said.

"It gives us a measuring tool to find out how well we're doing," Wheatley said. "We need real data, not data (that's) as much as seven years behind."

Some lawmakers raised questions about racial profiling or that people might not want to volunteer the information.