Notwithstanding any other provision of law, whenever any employer in this state sponsors or initiates a program of affirmative action designed to cure or eradicate the effects of discrimination in employment, and the intent of the program is to affect the recruitment, selection, appointment, promotion, or other personnel procedures or functions in a manner so as to insure equal employment opportunity for minorities, the term “minority” shall include, in addition to any specifically identified ethnic group or other classification, a person who is a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States and who can establish by information contained on his or her birth certificate, by tribal records or by other reliable records, that he or she is an American Indian or Alaskan native, having origins in any of the original peoples of North America.