Support SELC!
1) Donate to support our world-changing work! All donations are tax-deductible. Click here: www.theselc.org/donate/
3) Join our mailing list by clicking on the right-hand column here: |
Upcoming Events
Bay Area
3/24: SELC is co-sponsoring a free reception and talk by Michael Shuman, author of Local Dollars, Local Sense (Cost: Free. Location: David Brower Center, Berkeley)
3/23-3/25: SELC is co-sponsoring the Economics of Happiness Conference, organized by the International Society for Ecology and Culture.
(Cost: $250-300. Location: David Brower Center, Berkeley)
|
Volunteer and Internship Opportunities
SELC offers a variety of ways to get involved on a volunteer basis, plus we offer more structured full-time and part-time internships for law students and other community members interested in dedicating significant time to learning about the law. If you would like to volunteer, please fill out the volunteer questionnaire.
If you are interested in applying for an internship, please see the internship application guidelines under Internships. If you have questions, please email Janelle Orsi at Janelle.SELC@gmail.com.
|
|
|
Greetings!
In this month's issue, we share about some of SELC's research and advocacy work that has started to impact state laws on small business food production and federal laws on localized investment. On March 24, we're also delighted to co-sponsor a reception and book talk with Michael Shuman, author of "Local Dollars, Local Sense: How to Shift Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity."
Enjoy!
Janelle Orsi Executive Director Christen Lee Director of Legal Education |
|
What do the Tea Party and White House have in common with SELC? They agree with us that crowdfunding creates jobs and economic opportunity!
Faced with regulatory and financial barriers to accessing mainstream investment capital, many entrepreneurs have turned to crowdfunding platforms such as KickStarter and IndieGoGo to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations. These small-dollar donations demonstrate that regular non-wealthy folks want to support local entrepreneurs in their community. If entrepreneurs could also offer investment opportunities to the crowdfunding "crowd", they could potentially access millions of dollars of investments from their communities and networks that already support their businesses, without the financial and logistical challenges of regular securities registration.
H.R. 2930, the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act, which would exempt crowdfunded investments from state and federal securities registration, introduced by Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) overwhelmingly passed the House last November (407-17) with White House support. Two other crowdfunding bills are in the Senate Banking Committee: S. 1971 (Scott Brown, R-MA) and S. 1970 (Jeff Merkley, D-OR).
These crowdfunding bills can be traced back to the Sustainable Economies Law Center's July 2010 rulemaking petition to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC File No. 4-605), which petitioned the Commission to create a registration exemption for crowdfunded investments. Our work caught the eye of small business advocates, who in turn created online petitions, testified at Congressional hearings, and lobbied Congress to introduce a crowdfunding bill.
The current crowdfunding bills, which enjoy bipartisan support, are now stalled in the Senate. Small business advocates have learned that the Senate wants to see more public interest in these proposals before moving forward. To demonstrate public interest (as well as the power of crowdfunding), SELC's allies have launched a campaign to take out a full page ad in the Washington D.C. newspaper Politico, which is distributed in printed form to Congressional staffers and other DC types. For more information or to participate in this crowdfunding effort, click here.
|
California Homemade Food Act to go to Assembly Health Committee March 27th
has been assigned to the Assembly Health Committee and will be heard on March 27. AB 1616 would make it legal to sell homemade non-potentially hazardous foods such as baked goods, jams, dry nut, herb, tea mixes and other non-perishables prepared without all the high costs and red tape of commercial kitchens.
With this important committee hearing coming up on March 27, right now is an excellent time to contact your legislators in Sacramento to ask for their support.
Visit our Take Action page to find contact info for your representatives in Sacramento, sample letters, and a phone script. Please note that the bill is authored by Assemblymember Mike Gatto to help identify it.
For general info about this legislation please visit www.cottagefood.org.
Be sure to sign the online petition to show your support and include your email when you sign to automatically receive occasional updates about the campaign and further opportunities to support it as it progresses. |
|
Join SELC on March 24 for "Local Dollars, Local Sense: An Economy for the Rest of Us"
SELC Advisory Board Member Michael Shuman, author of Local Dollars, Local Sense, will show you how the 99% can put our money into building local businesses and resilient regional economies-and profit in the process. Michael is one of the founders of Cutting Edge Capital, which works to redirect the flow of resources and wealth from Wall Street to Main Street and to preserve it for future generations, and a Fellow at Post Carbon Institute, a think tank on the interrelated economic, environmental, energy, and social equity challenges defining the 21st century.
Join us at the David Brower Center (2150 Allston Way, Berkeley) on March 24th, 5:30-7:30 for a reception and talk with Michael Shuman.
Sponsored by Cutting Edge Capital, Post Carbon Institute, the Economics of Happiness conference, the Sustainable Economies Law Center, and the Sustainable Business Alliance.
Free Admission! Click here to RSVP. |
|
|
|
|
