Cities as Labs for Entrepreneurship Policy

January 12, 2015 | Issue 615 Cities as Labs for Entrepreneurship Policy  by Jonathan Ortmans More and more, we are counting on cities to deliver smart solutions to big challenges -- and increasingly, city governments are counting on entrepreneurs to birth those solutions in their locations. Local government shows lots of promise for serving as efficient crucibles for learning how we make the path easier for those doers and makers of things in our local communities. This Week in Entrepreneurship Policy: Committees Getting Organized by Mark Marich Last week marked the official beginning of the 114th Congress. This week, a number of committees hold organizational meetings to determine subcommittee structure and assignments as well as adopt rules that dictate the formal procedures the committee follows. Once these are determined, committee will begin holding hearings on a regular basis. One hearing slated to take place on the House side this week is in the Ways and Means Committee, now led by Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) who moves over from his role as chair of the House Budget Committee in the 113th Congress. South Dakota Tops List of State Policy Environments for Entrepreneurs by Mark Marich When asked what policymakers can do most for entrepreneurs, sometimes the response has been "get out of the way." That seems to be the overarching message of the latest report from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. The report, Small Business Policy Index 2014: Ranking the States on Policy Measures and Costs Impacting Small Business and Entrepreneurship, tracks 42 measures with 33 of them pertaining to taxes and regulations--the fewer, the better.