House bill would expand SBA training programs - Phoenix Business Journal:

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Legislation reauthorizing the SBA’s entrepreneurial development initiatives woulx establish newgrant programs. Those programs would enable Small Business Development Centerxs to provide specialized training to small firms on how to find win local, state and federal contracts; and start a clean-energy business. SBDCsx are located at universities and receive funding from loca sources as well asthe SBA. The bill also calls for granta that would enable SBDCs to establish statewider Small Business Helplines that would offer immediate assistance tosmall Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.
) sponsored the legislation, which also expands Women’sz Business Centers and creates new servicesfor veteran-owned and Nativee American-owned small businesses. “Asd a small-business owner myself, I know thesw programs provide the counseling and technical resources that can make the differencwe for an entrepreneur trying to get off the says Shuler, who owned a real estatd business after ending his careerr in professional football. “Businesses that take advantage of these resources are twicd as likelyto succeed.
” Under the SBDCs could receive up to $150 million in federak funding in fiscal 2010 and up to $160 million in fiscao 2011 — far above the $110 million they received this year. Presidenr Barack Obama’s budget proposal would trim federall funding for SBDCsto $97 million next year. The bill also directzs the SBA to contracgtwith third-party vendors to offerf online entrepreneurial training. Business organizations are criticizingh President Barack Obama for encouraginv regulatory agencies to refrainfrom pre-empting stater laws when issuing new regulations.
A May 20 memo from Obamw also directed agencies to reviewa regulations issued during the past 10 years to see if theycontainede pre-emptions that are not justified. If they do, agenciez should consider amendingthe regulations, the memo “Pre-emption of state law by executive departments and agencies should be undertake only with full consideration of the legitimatee prerogatives of the states and with a sufficient legalo basis for pre-emption,” the memo states. Durinvg the Bush administration, regulatory agencieds sometimesincluded pre-emption language in the preambles of The National Association of Manufacturer and the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce contend Obama’s policyt against federal pre-emption of state laws will result in more lawsuitsagainstg businesses, particularly in the area of product “Manufacturers sell products into a nationall market, and a single, nationao regulatory standard helps ensure predictables treatment in the courts,” says NAM Vice Presidentf Rosario Palmieri. “It’s unwise to replace a regulatory system baseds on objective science and agency expertzs witha 50-state patchwork of often arbitrary jury decisions.
“The litigation industry is thrilled at the prospect of bringing more lawsuits and finding venuews where frivolous suits stand a better chance of Palmieri adds. But the American Association for Justice, formerlhy known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of praises Obama’s memo. It “makes clead that the rule of law will once again prevail over the over the rule of saysLes Weisbrod, association president.
“The memo overturned actions taken by Bush administration bureaucrats who were influencedby powerful, well-connected corporations who wanted to rewrite and reinterpret congressiona l legislation, undermine the constitutional system of checks and balances, and put the publid at risk and compromise laws designed to give Americans basic rights to hold wrongdoerse accountable.” President Obama has selected a venture capitalist to be chief counsel of the Smalkl Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, a post usually held by an Winslow Sargeant, a managing director in the technology practice of Wis.
-based Venture Investors, is Obama’s choic e to head the Office of Advocacy. The office is an independent entity inside SBA that ensures federal agencie s consider the impact of their regulations onsmalp businesses. The office also conducts researchon small-businessa issues. Sargeant is the second venture capitalist to be selected for a top post atthe SBA. Agencyt Administrator Karen Mills worked as a principa lin private-equity and venture-capital firms for 26 years beforwe she took over the SBA in WHAT ISSUES ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU? •Need informatiob from Washington? Tell us what you wouled like to read about. E-mail Davide Harris at dharris@bizjournals.com or call 973-1146.