Recently Updated Rules

On August 30, 2011, the city of Tacoma, Washingotn, adopted a 6-month moratorium on the development of retail stores over 65,000 square feet.  The city is using the time to review the economic, environmental and social impacts of large stores and to consider long-term changes its zoning law. More

In September 2011, the California Legislature pased a bill requiring cities and counties to have an economic impact analysis prepared before deciding whether to approve an application to develop a large superstore. The legislation defines a superstore as a retail store of at least 90,000 square feet that devotes 10 percent or more of its space to groceries.  The law lists a range of impacts that the study must assess and quantify.  More

In June 2011, Oregon enacted a new law (HB 3000) that allows state agencies and local governments to give preference to goods made in Oregon and services perfomed by local businesses, even if it entails paying up to 10 percent more than the cost of out-of-state suppliers.  Previously, schools, prisons and other government agencies had to choose the lowest bidder and were not allowed to consider the economic benefits of buying locally. 
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In May 2011, Connecticut passed a law that requires  e-commerce retailers to collect and remit state sales taxes if they generates more than$2,000 in sales a year through sales affiliates based in the state. More

Ammon, Idaho, is a community of approximately 15,000 outside Idaho Falls in eastern Idaho. Ammon has struggled to boost economic development in part because providers in Ammon offer slower, more expensive services than are available in Idaho Falls. For years, Ammon has sought to expand access to next generation networks, including an application to the broadband stimulus program in 2010.

However, it became clear that the City would have to move ahead without assistance from the federal government. Having studying their options and existing technology for years, they were well equipped to begin building their own network and have embraced an incremental approach to building the network they need.

Ammon is currently building the core of a network that will eventually connect all residents and businesses if the vision succeeds. In the meantime, they are expanding the open access network opportunistically to keep costs low. More

In May 2011, Massachusetts Treasurer Steven Grossman launched the Small Business Banking Partnership, a program that will move at least $100 million of the state's cash reserves from large national banks to local community banks with the understanding that these institutions will use the deposits to increase lending to small businesses. More

Chelan is in a rural region of Washington state and was a pioneer in rural fiber networks, investing high-speed connections for citizens and businesses long before private companies saw any reason to do so. They have adopted an interesting line-extension policy that may lower the cost of the network to the PUD and allow households to take greater responsibility for connecting.

In short, the new policy is that the PUD will connect subscribers if the cost of doing so is less than $1500 (or average cost for a group of subscribers). If the cost exceeds $1500 per subscriber, the subscribers will have to pay the difference or make alternate arrangements to lower the cost. This alternate arrangement is where we think the rule is interesting. A homeowner, or group of homeowners that want to trench their own property and backfill can lower the costs, benefiting everyone. More

In early 2011, South Dakota enacted the following law, which requires out-of-state retailers to notify their South Dakota customers that they owe use taxes on their purchase. More

In March 2011, Illinois passed a law that requires large e-commerce retailers to collect and remit state sales taxes if they generate more than $10,000 in sales a year through sales affiliates based in Illinois. More

A bill (HB11-1142) submitted in Colorado's 2011 legislative session would require that, when reviewing bids for contracts of $150,000 or more, "the state purchasing director or the head of the purchasing agency shall consider the state economic impact of the bid as a component of the cost assessment of the bid." More

California state law grants local, independently owned, small businesses a 5 percent preference when competing for state contracts. The law also sets for state agencies a goal of making at least 25 percent of their purchases with small businesses. More

San Diego enacted, in 2007 and 2010, two separate ordinances that require the city to review the economic and community impact of large-scale retail development proposals before deciding whether to approve them.  One applies to all retail stores over 50,000 square feet and the other to supercenters over 90,000 square feet. More