Designing Rules as if Community Matters

About the New Rules Project The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) proposes a set of new rules that builds community by supporting humanly scaled politics and economics. The rules call for: Decisions made by those impacted Communities accepting responsibility for the welfare of their members and the next generation Households and communities possessing or owning sufficient productive capacity to generate real wealth NewRules.org discusses the importance of rules and catalogs the best. We make the rules and the rules make us. More	Why Does Congress want me to Shun my Local Bookstore and Shop Online Instead? February 1, 2010 \| Retail Article By exempting internet retailers like Amazon.com from collecting sales taxes, lawmakers provide a substantial financial incentive for people to bypass local businesses and shop online instead. Over the years, there have been four primary arguments made in favor of this inequitable policy. None of them stand up. More
Supreme Court Removes Clean Energy Policy Detour January 26, 2010 \| Energy Article In a largely unheralded move last week, the Supreme Court removed an unnecessary and unpopular detour from the road to a clean energy economy, preserving the right of states to refuse new high voltage transmission lines. At issue was the right of the federal government to override a state’s veto of a new transmission line. Electric utilities had appealed the Piedmont Environmental Council’s victory in a lower court decision, but the high court’s refusal to review means that states will retain the authority to refuse new high voltage transmission lines. More	Op-Ed: Municipal fiber needs more FDR localism, fewer state bans January 11, 2010 \| Information Article Community-owned broadband is one way to bring fiber to smaller markets, but many states restrict the practice. Researcher Christopher Mitchell argues that it's time for a bit more Roosevelt-style localism in US broadband. Following ILSR's map showing states that preempt local authority to build Community Broadband Networks we published the following op-ed on the leading tech site Ars Technica. More
Electric Vehicle Policy For the Midwest – A Scoping Document December 18, 2009 \| Environment Publication This December 2009 report was prepared for the RE-AMP network (120+ organizations in eight Midwestern states). The scoping report outlines and makes recommendations on a variety of policy issues related to expanding electric vehicles. The report illustrates the relationships between electric vehicles and other GHG reduction strategies such as fuel economy standards (CAFE), low carbon fuel standards (LCFS) and efforts to reduce vehicle miles traveled. Because of their energy storage capability, electrified vehicles will also play an increasingly important role in the expansion of renewable energy and the future elaboration of smart grid technologies. More	A New Deal for Local Economies December 2, 2009 \| Retail Article In this lecture, delivered at the Bristol Schumacher Conference in Great Britain, Stacy Mitchell proposes a set of new rules — policies that would foster local self-reliance and refashion the economy for long-term viability. Scattered here and there, the seeds of a new economy are taking root. Locally grown food has soared in popularity. Farmers markets are multiplying. Support for independent retailers is on the rise. But despite these promising shifts, local businesses are likely to remain on the economic margins without fundamental changes in public policy. More