A 1989 Disparity Study of the Puget Sound area concluded that discrimination was a pervasive problem in the contracting community. As a result, Pierce County established goals for public contracts of 14% for minority-owned businesses, and 8% for women-owned businesses.
Passage of Initiative 200 in 1998 eliminated mandatory goal setting for locally-funded projects, but agencies are still required to ensure nondiscrimination in public contracting.