The Oklahoma law allows counties to create "County District Energy Authorities" that will offer loan or grants for renewable energy and energy efficiency investments.
SB 668 – April 2009
The Texas law allows municipalities to issue bonds for property-tax based public financing of energy improvements.
HB 1937 – May 2009
New Mexico’s municipal finance law allows for property-tax based public financing of solar thermal (hot water) and photovoltaic for counties.
HB 572 – April 2009 [pdf]
Colorado’s municipal finance law allows for property-tax based public financing of renewable energy and energy efficiency for all cities and counties.
HB 08-1350 – May 2008
A growing body of evidence suggests that public enthusiasm for all things local and independent is on the rise, providing locally owned businesses with a measure of insulation from the worst effects of the recession, even as some of their biggest competitors teeter and collapse. Continue reading
The Federal Government collects a lot of information that impacts all of our lives – from information about pollution to disease outbreaks to how our money is spent. Data.gov may be a model for how any government can make public information more accessible to citizens.
Wired.com interviewed the U.S. government’s first CIO (Chief Information Officer) – Vivek Kundra to understand his thoughts on how to accomplish this task. One of the main issues was making raw data available and letting users add tags to classify it.
Communities devise creative strategies to protect local businesses from the worst of the recession. Continue reading
ILSR’s MuniNetworks.org has published a story explaining how the Obama Administration ignored Congress to favor private companies over public networks when distributing the broadband stimulus.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is now accepting applications for its broadband stimulus program, has crafted rules that benefit private companies at the expense of the public interest.
In March 2009, Sonoma County became the first county in California to pursue public financing of distributed solar energy and energy efficiency improvements under AB 811 Continue reading
In one of the more brazen attempts by a corporation to disguise itself as a locally owned business, Starbucks is un-branding at least three of it Seattle outlets. Continue reading
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