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While many states have begun negotiations on budget plans for FY17 and beyond, Pennsylvania has made some progress on FY16 spending. Gov. Tom Wolf signed a partial budget that funded many agencies and programs related to economic development, but that did not include higher education funding and other operations. In the coming months, SSTI will review gubernatorial addresses and budget proposals related to economic development. This week, we highlight developments in Hawaii, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment announced three grants totaling $42 million to boost regional development efforts in 11 counties located in Southwest-Central Indiana with a focus on research and development, workforce and education, and efforts to enhance quality of life.

In late 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released two rule changes that may shape the future of equity investments in startups and small businesses. The two new rules directly address issues related to the accreditation of investors – an important element of the angel investment ecosystem that has long driven early stage investments in startups. In December, the SEC released a report on proposed changes to the definition of accredited investors.

Angel group valuations and deals continued to rise through the third quarter of 2015, according to the most recent HALO Report, a publication of the Angel Resource Institute at Willamette University in Oregon. While median angel-only round sizes were $500,000 in both the first and second quarters of 2015, the third quarter saw this amount increase 45 percent to $725,000.

Around the world, entrepreneurship education continues to permeate schools, nonprofits, economic development organizations, and college campuses. At the root of this momentum is a belief that entrepreneurship can be taught to anybody, regardless of their innate skills. This Recent Research article presents new conclusions that suggest individuals can learn entrepreneurship by being exposed to other entrepreneurs. In other words, both nature and nurture contribute to the likelihood one becomes an entrepreneur.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory recently signed an economic development bill (HB 117) that would expand the operations of the state’s Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) fund. The fund, which offers grants to companies for job creation and expansion, will have a higher annual cap, and a contingency to offer even more funds in years in which a “high-yield project” is supported.

The U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) plans to fund up to two new institutes within the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). NIST's solicitation will be the first in which the funding agency has not predetermined the industry of focus for the institute, however, the agency is particularly interested in topics deemed critical by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) Advanced Manufacturing Partnership. These include manufacturing robotics and biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

As recently reported in the SSTI Digest, Congressional leaders were able to reach an agreement on federal spending that averted a government shutdown. The FY16 omnibus appropriations legislation and an accompanying bill related to tax provisions were signed by President Obama on December 18.

Undergraduate alumni from the top 10 universities for venture capital-backed (VC-backed) entrepreneurs launched over 3,000 companies that were able to attract $33.5 billion in VC funding from 2010 to 2015, according to the third edition of PitchBook’s Universities Report 2015-2016 Edition. Four public research institutions, UC-Berkeley, University of Michigan, University of Texas, and University of Illinois, finished in the top 10.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), located within the U.S. Department of Commerce, announced that their closing deadline to submit nominations for the Digital Economy Board of Advisors has been extended to January 12, 2016.

The California Community College Board of Governors unanimously approved a comprehensive workforce development plan to coordinate efforts across its 113-college system to help California close its considerable job skills gap, which is defined as the state needing one million workers credentialed for middle-skill jobs.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is accepting applications for the FY96 round of the Saltonstall-Kennedy (S-K) Grant Program. The S-K grant program supports research and development projects that address various aspects of commercial and recreational fisheries including harvesting, processing, and marketing. The program focuses on rebuilding U.S. fisheries for sustainable use. The FY96 base funding for this program is approximately $7.0 million.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) this week issued a solicitation for Phase II of its Sustainable Technology Partnerships (STEP) initiative. Phase I of STEP was created in 1994 as a pilot project.

STEP I offered states matching funds to gain access to NREL expertise. During phase I, 14 contracts totaling over $3 million were awarded. Projects focused on several technologies, including wind, biofuels, and alternative fuels.

Funds available for the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program are estimated to top $1.1 billion in FY97 if the President’s budget request is enacted. With FY96 budget appropriations still pending for some agencies, SBIR managers are hesitant to project FY97 set asides for their programs, but in interviews with SSTI staff, the managers provided projections for FY97 based on the President’s budget request.

The State of Illinois recently announced a new World Wide Web site that provides Illinois firms with a means to quickly locate the technical and business assistance available in Illinois.

The West Virginia Legislature recently approved a bill to create the West Virginia Science & Technology Policy Advisory Board.  The 11- member board will be appointed by the Governor and is expected to:

Earlier this month, President Clinton signed legislation designed to ease the transfer of federal technology by providing clarification on intellectual property rights and offering incentives to federal laboratories and their researchers. The National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (H.R. 2196) was sponsored by Rep. Morella (R-Md).

While Congress and the White House continue to try to resolve differences on the FY96 federal budget, the Clinton Administration has released its detailed budget proposal for FY97.

The FY97 budget proposal calls for increasing spending on R&D to $72.3 billion in FY97, up from $71.5 billion in FY96.

Programs of particular interest to the states by federal agency are:

Department of Commerce

Clinton is expected to sign an emergency spending bill later today that will keep the government in operation through next Friday, March 22. Without the bill, parts of the government would have shut down for the third time this fiscal year.

Almost halfway through federal FY 1996, nine government departments are operating on temporary spending authority. Agencies that are affected include the Department of Commerce, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NASA, and the National Science Foundation.

The General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report on the implementation of the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Pilot Program. STTR is closely modeled after the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program with one notable exception: in the STTR Program, a small business must collaborate with a nonprofit research institution, such as a university. This collaboration is permitted but not required under SBIR.

The program began in FY1994 as a 3-year pilot and the authorizing legislation required that GAO report on the implementation of the program.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced $2.25 billion in economic and community development awards as part of the fifth installment of the state’s Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) Initiative. Of this total, $1.5 billion over the next five years will go to the three regions (Central New York, Finger Lakes, and the Southern Tier) that were selected as the winners of the Upstate Revitalization Initiative.

Around the country, states are beginning to feel the fiscal impacts of falling oil prices.  In FY 2016, eight states enacted FY 2016 budgets below their FY 2008 levels, largely as a result of challenges associated with their oil and gas industry, according to the Fiscal Survey of States report by the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO). Similarly, a quarterly update of gross domestic product (GDP) by the U.S.

The National Governors Association’s (NGA) Center for Best Practices launched the 2016 Policy Academy on Scaling Work-Based Learning – a pilot program in six states that blends work experience and applied learning to develop youth and young adults’ foundational and technical skills to expand their education, career and employment opportunities. The goal of the program is to connect 16- to 29-year-olds with middle-skills career opportunities in STEM-intensive industries such as advanced manufacturing, health care, information technology and energy.

Recent doctoral recipients who enter the private sector are more likely to go to firms with high payrolls per worker and other business characteristics associated with high productivity, according to a new report – Wrapping it up in a person: Examining employment and earnings outcomes for Ph.D. recipients.

This week, congressional leaders reached a deal on spending that would prevent a federal government shutdown. The omnibus appropriations bill would fund the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Regional Innovation Program at $15 million, an increase of $5 million over the previous year. The Regional Innovation program is SSTI's highest legislative priority because of the flexible funding it provides for regional innovation activities.