SSTI Digest

Envision Utah appointed Alan Matheson as executive director of the Coalition for Utah's Future, the sponsor of Envision Utah.

Johns Hopkins University has named Jill Tarzian Sorenson to serve as associate provost and director of the Office of Licensing and Technology Development.

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin has appointed Nancy Sturm and Jay Cole to serve, respectively, as the state’s education technology coordinator and governor's liaison for education policy, both new policy positions.

Jason Williamson is leaving his position as vice president of community development for the South Carolina Technology Alliance to become a founding partner in a new start-up tech firm.

The Special Federal Budget Issue of SSTI's Weekly Digest, published electronically in three parts on Feb. 10, is now available for download as a 25-page PDF. As readers are aware, the Administration's budget request proposes significant changes to the federal government's role in supporting economic development, research, investment and community development. SSTI's budget summary has received considerable praise from many in the nation's tech-based economic development community for its concise descriptions of the proposed impact for more than 225 different programs, initiatives and line items across 19 agencies and departments. It also includes an SSTI editorial and active links to most of the individual federal programs for more information. The PDF is available from a link on our homepage, www.ssti.org, or directly at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2005/FY06_Federal_Budget.pdf

For those interested in technology-based economic development, you'll be hard-pressed to find any good news in the President's Budget Request for FY 2006 unless, that is, you're hoping to go to Mars or heavily involved in homeland security. It's become a matter of routine to expect bad news when the federal budget comes out. It's never a surprise to see the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) or Community Technology Centers (CTC) on the chopping block, and there's always a guessing game as to what level the Administration will propose for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). (This time the Administration proposes $46.8 million for MEP, a $60.7 million decrease from FY 2005.) What is striking about this year's budget request, though, are two general themes: 1) cutting community and economic development spending, and 2) the lack of any type of strategic response toward building tech-based economies across the United States. Cutting $3B in Community and Economic Development Spending The Administration is proposing the elimination of some 28 programs in five agencies that received $6.7 billion…

Strengthening America's Communities Grants Program The Strengthening America's Communities Grants Program is a new $3.7 billion initiative proposed within the Department of Commerce to provide performance-based grants for both community and economic development. The limited printed information available on the proposal indicates awards will be targeted to distressed areas and low-income audiences with criteria based on job loss, unemployment levels and poverty. The Administration proposes making the grants flexible in their use in exchange for "strong accountability measures" toward specific economic development or community development goals. The economic development measures identified include increased job creation and new business formation rates. Community development measures include increasing home ownership, commercial development and private sector investment. A portion of the $3.7 billion would be used to provide Economic Development Challenge Fund grants as bonuses to communities and regions that "have already taken steps to improve economic conditions and demonstrate…

Opportunity Zones - While the Administration's FY06 budget request proposes eliminating all other geographically-based tax credit programs (e.g. Enterprise Zones), it is requesting $10 billion over 10 years in tax incentives to competitively select 28 urban and 12 rural economic Opportunity Zones in areas transitioning to new and emerging industries. Targeted areas are those that have lost a significant portion of their economic base as a result of the changing economy, for example, due to loss of manufacturing or textile employment, and are now in the process of transitioning to a more diverse, broad-based, 21st century economy. White House press materials state, "Opportunity Zones are different from existing Empowerment Zones (EZ), Enterprise Communities (EC), and Renewal Communities (RC). They provide a comprehensive, results-based approach, expanding the focus of assistance beyond economic activity to encompass education, job training, affordable housing, and other activities critical for a vibrant community." Areas qualifying for Opportunity Zone status would be moved to the front of…

Taking one of the largest percentage cuts of all agencies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) FY 2006 discretionary budget level of $19.4 billion calls for an 11.8 percent reduction, or $2.6 billion below the FY 2005 level. No funds are included in the 2006 budget for the Rural Business Enterprise ($41 million in FY05) and Rural Business Opportunity Grant ($3 million) programs or the Empowerment Zones & Enterprise Community (EZ/EC) Program ($13 million). The FY06 budget request proposes $376 million in USDA funding for the multi-agency Food and Agriculture Defense Initiative, which is funded at nearly $600 million government-wide. This initiative began in 2004. Within USDA's oversight, the budget proposes $317 million for programs and $59 million to complete construction of the National Centers for Animal Health in Ames, Iowa. Funding for programs reflects a $140 million increase above FY05, including $35 million in increases for research to develop the means to quickly identify pathogens, develop improved vaccines and better understand the genes that provide disease…

The Administration's FY 2006 $9.4 billion discretionary budget request for the Department of Commerce reflects a 48 percent increase above FY 2005 estimated expenditures of $6.33 billion. If one excludes the proposed $3.71 billion Strengthening America's Communities Grant Program (see description under Multi-Agency Initiatives above), the agency is actually facing a 5.6 percent cut of more than $357 million. NIST would bear the brunt of the cuts through reduction of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and elimination of the Advanced Technology Program. The Economic Development Administration (EDA) currently provides grants to states, regions and communities to help create wealth and minimize poverty by promoting a favorable business environment to attract private capital investments and high skill, high wage jobs. The FY05 appropriation was $284 million, a 10 percent reduction from the FY 2004 level. Staffing levels, on the other hand, rose 13.2 percent in FY05. Recently reauthorized by Congress, EDA's FY06 request maintains the full-time equivalent staffing level of 240 while…

The Administration's FY 2006 budget request for the Department of Defense (DoD) totals $419.3 billion, an increase of 4.8 percent from the FY 2005 appropriation level. However, the budget proposes significant cuts for Defense science and technology (S&T). The FY06 budget provides $10.5 billion for S&T, a 19.5 percent decrease from the FY05 funding level of $13.1 billion. This includes cuts in basic research, applied research and advanced technology development. Spending on basic research is down 12.9 percent from the FY05 funding level, applied research would decline 14.7 percent, and advanced technology development would drop 24.5 percent. The budget provides $10.3 million for a new National Defense Education program aimed at providing financial support to students who pursue studies in areas deemed critical to national defense, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. The new program would incorporate $2.5 million provided in the FY05 budget to the Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation Defense Scholarship Pilot Program, or SMART. Defense-wide science and tech expenditures…

The Administration’s FY 2006 budget request for the Department of Education (ED) is $56 billion, a 0.9 percent decrease ($529.6 million) from the FY 2005 appropriation. The most positive news in the request concerns the popular Pell Grant federal student loan program. Already lauded in a joint statement from the nation's six leading higher education associations, the ED FY06 budget request for the Pell Grant program of $13.7 billion (a $1.3 billion increase) includes funds allowing an increase in the maximum Pell Grant award by $100 annually over the next five years, from $4,050 to $4,550. In addition, the FY06 budget request includes a one-time $4.3 billion in mandatory funding to retire the Pell Grant shortfall accumulated from 2002 to 2005. The Pell Grant increase and deficit payoff come at a cost, however -- the termination of 48 existing programs, such as the Educational Technology State Grants ($496.0 million in FY05), Community Technology Centers ($5 million in FY05), Projects with Industry ($21.6 million), the Regional Educational Laboratories ($66.1 million),…