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Hawai'`i SmallBiz Week Newsletter from The Business Research Library (BRL) |
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| OF THE HAWAI`I
SMALL BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT CENTER
NETWORK A Partnership Program between the University of Hawai`i at Hilo and the U.S. Small Business Administration | ||
| 17 August 1998 | A Summary of News for Small Business in Hawai`i | Volume 2 - Issue 11 |
HAWAI`I
•Governor Signs Major Business Bills
•High-Tech Trade Mission Scheduled for September
•Hawaii Ranks Among 10 Best States for Child Care
•$800,000 Federal Grant To Help Big Island Farm Workers
NATIONAL
•Small Business Owners' Pension Knowledge Poor, Survey Says
•Gap Between Information "Haves" and "Have Nots" Widening
•Michigan Addresses "Gold Collar" Job Creation Issues
•Teen-agers May Be One Solution To Technology Labor ShortageINTERNATIONAL
•(No International story in this issue)
HAWAI`I
GOVERNOR SIGNS SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY
ACT
On July 14, Governor Ben Cayetano signed a dozen bills into law including
the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Act. This law requires state agencies
to be more responsive to small business needs. The Governor is to appoint
an 11-member small business regulatory review board to consider requests
from small business owners to review any rule or seek a rule change. Every
state department must establish advisory committees on small business. This
Act also establishes a small business defender within the Legislature to
advocate for small business, and to conduct investigations, as needed. Other
enacted laws effect the regulation of marriage and family therapists, exemptions
for traditional Hawaiian healing practices, extention of tax credits for
solar, heat pumpts, wind energe and ice starge systems to 2003, and imposition
of a maximum time period for all state agencies to review and approve all
business or development-related permits and licenses.
(Office of the Governor Press Release, 14 July 1998)
HIGH-TECH TRADE MISSION SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER
The U.S. Department of Commerce is searching for high-tech businesses
to participate in a trade mission to Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines,
and Thailand. The mission is being organized to assist U.S. companies in
pinpointing opportunities in the region, especially in the information technology,
telecommunications, and environmental technology sectors. For more information,
contact Alain de Sarran or Paul Kullman, Foreign Commercial Service; Tel:
(202) 482-2422; Fax: (202) 501-6165.
(DBEDT Trade/Invest Bulletin, July 1998)
HAWAII RANKS AMONG 10 BEST STATES FOR CHILD CARE
Hawaii is ranked this month in Working Mother magazine as one of the
10 best states for child care. The magazine noted: "Hawaii retains
its coveted spot as one of the 10 Best States because it is still one of
the most visionary. Its blueprint for universal care for all children who
need it, and the fact that there is already nearly universal care for school-age
children are quite remarkable." It was also noted that although child
care did not take mauch of a hit as the state budget suffered enormous cutbacks,
there was little momentum for new programs. Instead, the state officials
have worked hard to encourage private businesses to move the agenda ahead.
One such program is the state's Good Beginnings Initiative. More information
can be found can be found at www.workingmother.com/.
(Working Mother Magazine, July/August 1998)
$800,000 FEDERAL GRANT TO HELP BIG ISLAND FARM WORKERS
Governor Cayetano recently announced that Hawai`i is one of only three
states to receive a five-year, $800,000 federal grant to help Big Island
farm workers with disabilities learn new skills and obtain jobs. The grant
will give job seekers many options to receive job training: taking classes
at community colleges, skills training from private organizations, or subsidizing
on-the-job training with employers. Employers can take advantage of three
options to save money and taxes: 1) on-the-job training programs subsidize
employers with a percentage of wages for several months as an incentive;
2) tax credits give employers 25% of the first $6,000 wages, up to $1,500
maximum for one year; and 3) tax credits for employers who make physical
accommodations when hiring a disabled person. For more information, contact
the Department of Human Services; Neil Shim
(808)586-5366 or Cheryl Takaba (808)974-6444 (Big Island).
(Office of the Governor Press Release, 5 August 1998)
SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS' PENSION KNOWLEDGE POOR, SURVEY
SAYS
According to a recent Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) study
entitled "Small Employer Retirement Survey" (SERS), small businesses
feel little pressure from their workers to institute retirement plans, that
uncertain revenue streams for the business and administrative costs and
burdens are major deterrents to establishing a retirement plan. Although
cost issues are a major reason companies decline to establish a plan, in
many cases that concern may be based on misinformation. One-third of respondents
did not know a plan can be set up for less than $2,000 and 40 percent did
not know they can share plan administrative costs with employees. For more
survey details regarding retirement plans and small business, please see
EBRI web site at www.ebri.org/.
(EBRI Press Release, 2 June 1998)
GAP BETWEEN INFORMATION "HAVES" AND "HAVE
NOTS" WIDENING
The Department of Commerce has recently released its second report on
U.S. household penetration of telephones, personal computers, and online
services. The report, "Falling through the Net II: New Data on the
Digital Divide", shows that the gap between the information "haves"
and "have nots" widened in the last three years. Findings of the
report include: African American and Hispanic households lag behind white
American households in computer ownership and on-line access despite signficant
growth in computer ownership and overall computer usage in America. Households
at the lowest income levels are among the least connected. For example,
one in four households earning less than $5,000 per year has no telephone
service.
Computer ownership for households in rural and central city areas is below
the national average of 36.6%. Copies of the report are available at the
National Telecommunications and Information Administrations (NTIA) web site
at www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/net2/.
(NTIA Press Release, 28 July 1998)
MICHIGAN ADDRESSES "GOLD COLLAR" JOB CREATION
ISSUES
Governor John Engler recently released a major, new report to the Michigan
State Legislature entitled "Gold Collar Jobs: The Future of Michigan".
The report outlines the changing nature of work in Michigan and the increasing
need for high-skill, high-wage, high-demand workers -- jobs, which the Governor
calls "gold collar". Short-term solutions to the skills shortage
outlined by Engler include: providing 10,000 new scholarships of up to $2,000
each for the fall of 1998; providing teachers using high-tech teaching methods
with some 200 grants per year of up to $10,000 each; providing funding to
keep schools, libraries and community centers open late so citizens can
use the computers; and providing welfare clients training to enter better
careers. Long-term solutions in Engler's report include: expanding career
preparation education throughout all Michigan
schools; providing local communities up to $30 million to build new technical
training centers; providing $30 million to create the Michigan Virtual University
for education delivered through Internet, CD-ROM, and satellite; and creating
a new non-profit organization called Michigan Technologies, Inc., to oversee
the state's technology plan.
(Partners, Summer 1998)
TEEN-AGERS MAY BE ONE SOLUTION TO TECHNOLOGY LABOR
SHORTAGE
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the number of computer programmers
and systems analysts age 16 to 19 increased from 9,000 in 1996 to 16,000
in 1997. Teen-agers are being hired as programmers, web site designers and
system administrators. Guy Smith, director of the multimedia lab at Santa
Barbara State College in California says that teens are
reading about the labor shortage in the technology industry and seeing the
opportunity to make $30,000 or $40,000 per year without completing college.
To the business owners, there is both an up- and down-side. Although these
young recruits can be lured by $8 to $10 wage rates, it is risky to hire
teens for more than a short-term fix. With their short work experience,
teenagers will likely get bored, and move on to the other jobs.
(Computerworld, 13 July 1998)