Senate panel: state procurement and advertising practices leave Latino and ethnic media behind

SACRAMENTO — Lawmakers and industry representatives told a California State Senate select committee that the state’s procurement and advertising practices are failing to direct sufficient dollars to Latino, ethnic and community media, hampering minority-owned businesses and local civic infrastructure.

At a hearing hosted at TikTok’s Los Angeles facility, State Senator Susan Rubio, chair of the Select Committee on Minority Economic Development, said the committee would gather recommendations to return to the Legislature. Panelists including Michelle O’Grady Caballero, Jay Torres, Arturo Carmona and Thomas Trujillo described a consistent pattern: complex, nonstandard RFP processes; large contract scopes and reserve requirements that disadvantage small firms; and weakened statutory implementation that leaves agencies unaccountable.

"This is infrastructure, not entertainment," Sen. Marielena Durazo said, arguing that when local outlets fade, civic participation and disaster communication suffer. Panelist Arturo Carmona, president of the Latino Media Collaborative, said state advertising spending that reached ethnic and community media has declined since 2021 and that AB 1511’s implementation was significantly weakened, limiting the law’s ability to increase investments in community outlets.

Panelists provided examples and numbers from their experience. Michelle O’Grady Caballero said her agency took seven years to secure a prime county contract and ten years to win a first state contract, and described RFP requirements that can demand large financial reserves and substantial staff time to respond. Carmona urged the state to adopt an organized approach like New York’s Office of Ethnic and Community Media — negotiating master contracts, maintaining a vendor database and overseeing compliance across agencies — rather than leaving small outlets to track hundreds of separate departments.

Specific policy recommendations included setting procurement goals that reflect California’s demographics, standardizing RFP processes and documentation across departments, creating dedicated funding streams and technical-assistance programs for diverse media contractors, and applying circular procurement principles so state spending circulates locally. Several senators noted legal constraints under Proposition 209 and discussed location- or program-based targeting and local-hire set-asides as legally viable tools for getting dollars to community outlets.

Panelists also flagged near-term procurement risks and opportunities tied to large events such as the LA 2028 Olympics, urging proactive pipeline-building to ensure minority-owned firms can compete for contracting and outreach work.

The committee requested a short set of prioritized policy fixes. Arturo Carmona offered to compile recommendations and examples from other jurisdictions; Chair Rubio said staff would work with panelists on a memo and pursue follow-up hearings, including a Dec. 2 session in San Jose focused on access to capital.

The hearing recorded no formal votes. The committee adjourned after inviting public comment and committing to bring focused proposals back to the Legislature.

Sources: testimony from Michelle O’Grady Caballero (CEO, Team Bridal); Jay Torres (founder, Colectivo); Arturo Carmona (president, Latino Media Collaborative); Thomas Trujillo (CEO, Morello Media); remarks of State Senator Susan Rubio and other committee members at the Select Committee on Minority Economic Development hearing held at TikTok headquarters in Los Angeles.

Next step: the committee expects to assemble a memo of top recommendations and consider legislative clean-up to AB 1511 and revived media-spend reporting when the Legislature reconvenes.