State: You’re no longer Hispanic: Definition excludes people from Spain; established local contractor pays the price.
The Syracuse Post-Standard
Sunday, June 13, 2004
By John O’Brien
Staff writer
New York state officials recognized Rocco Luiere as Hispanic for 15 years.
Suddenly, the state says he’s not – at least not under its definition for minority businesses.
His maternal grandparents were born in Spain, which would meet most dictionary definitions for Hispanic meaning Spanish or Spanish and Portuguese.
The federal government considers him Hispanic.
But he doesn’t meet New York state’s definition, so in April the state revoked his minority business enterprise certification for his Cazenovia road construction company, Jana-Rock Construction Inc.
Luiere says he has to lay off up to one-third of his workers and has already sold 30 percent of his equipment. He’ll stay in business without the minority business certification, but on a smaller scale, he said.