New York SBDC Research Network

Don't Miss U.S. House Committee on Small Business Hearing, "Taking Care of Small Business: Working Together for a Better SBA" Wednesday, April 5, 2017, 11 am EDT Linda McMahon, SBA Administrator will appear in front of the U.S. House Committee on Small Business. The hearing titled, "Taking Care of Small Business: Working Together for a Better SBA" is scheduled to begin at 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 in Room 2360 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The Honorable Linda McMahon was sworn in on February 14, 2017 as the 25th Administrator of the United States Small Business Administration (SBA). From 1980 to 2009, Administrator McMahon was active in her family's company, World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., eventually becoming President and Chief Executive Officer. WWE began as a small regional company and grew into a large, global business. The Committee will hear from Administrator McMahon about her priorities for entrepreneurs and the SBA.

The US House of Representatives has passed HR 5485, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations for FY2017.  This bill, which funds the US Small Business Administration, includes $130 million in support for the 63 Small Business Development Center (SBDC) networks and their nearly 1,000 centers across the United States and in DC, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa.   "We particularly want to thank Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Ander Crenshaw for his support. This funding increase will enable SBDCs to expand and improve our ability to assist small businesses nationwide, small businesses that are the vital foundation of our national economy.  Every day small businesses face challenges with access to capital, sales, marketing, and a host of other issues. This funding will make sure that SBDCs are there to help them grow and create jobs"

The Forty Hours is Full Time Act of 2013, or H.R. 2988, which was introduced by Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., would expand the definition of a full-time employee from the ACA’s current 30-hour-per-week threshold. The ACA currently establishes that businesses with more than 50 full-time workers must provide health insurance for full-time employees who work either 30 hours a week or 130 hours per month. Many in the foodservice industry have been working to convince policymakers to increase the number of weekly hours worked to 35 or 40 since the ACA was passed in 2010. This newest measure mirrors a similar bipartisan bill that had been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., earlier this year. Like the House bill, the Senate version redefines a full-time employee as one who works 40 hours a week or 174 hours a month based on a 52-week year. More from Nation's Restaurant News .

Measure of America provides easy-to-use yet methodologically sound tools for understanding the distribution of well-being and opportunity in America and stimulating fact-based dialogue about issues we all care about: health, education, and living standards. The hallmark of this work is the American Human Development Index, an alternative to GDP and other money metrics that tells the story of how ordinary Americans are faring and empowers communities with a tool to track progress over time. The Index is comprised of health, education, and income indicators and allows for well-being rankings of the 50 states, 435 congressional districts, county groups within states, women and men, and racial and ethnic groups. Through national and state reports, thematic briefs, and the project’s interactive website, Measure of America aims to breathe life into numbers, using data to create compelling narratives that foster greater understanding of our shared challenges and greater support for peopl

The U.S. Small Business Administration plans to shift some funding away from basic counseling programs for new and small businesses to help finance advanced training for slightly larger companies, part of the agency’s efforts to nurture the economic recovery even as the government reins in spending... “The existing programs, such as the Small Business Development Centers and SCORE, provide absolutely fantastic services, but they’re different,” Mills recently told the House Small Business Committee, referring to the agency’s network of Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) and the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) program, both of which provide inexpensive and often free business services. “We want to make sure we reach more entrepreneurs in more places who don’t have access to an intensive entrepreneurship experience.” At a time when federal spending is being held in check, the SBA proposes to finance the new training course by pulling back on funding for some existi