Posted by Sustainable Economies Law Center · June 21, 2013 12:00 PM
Recent legal and regulatory troubles for companies like Airbnb, Lyft and Uber are alerting people to the fact that sharing isn't always rainbows and bunnies.
SELC is supporting AB 1024, An Act to facilitate cooperative ownership of housing in California, along with several other organizations around the state. The bill passed unanimously out of the Committee on Housing and Community Development in the California State Assembly last month and is heading towards the Judiciary Committee. Click here to learn more.
The Sustainable Economies Law Center has been working with an international team (no joke!) to create our new logo that will help shape the look for our eResources websites like Co-opLaw.org, UrbanAgLaw.org, CommunityCurrenciesLaw.org, and more!
Our developer, Timo ten Feld, researched the Sustainable Economies Law Center's efforts, accomplishments, and vision and had this to say about how he came up with SELC's new look: The SELC logo is an "organically grown, vibrant little logo made with a little bit of help from Aotearoa’s beautiful South Island [New Zealand]."
At our recent Think Outside The Boss Workshop in Berkeley, we asked participants to tell us what co-ops meant to them. Check out the slideshow above to see the diversity of faces and answers we received.
Cooperatives aren't some utopian, hair-brained, hippie scheme. They support an incredibly diverse range of people from all over our communities, from families (did you see the baby above?) to young entrepreneurs to faith-based communities to immigrants.
Posted by Yassi Eskandari-Qajar · April 08, 2013 1:26 PM
It’s time for a new kind of energy. Community renewable energy is clean, small-scale, and owned or sponsored by communities. That's why it creates democratic, resilient energy grids with distributed economic benefits. Join the Sustainable Economies Law Center's expert panelists for a conversation about the legal barriers, policy opportunities, and steps to creating this new energy future.
Posted by Sustainable Economies Law Center · April 02, 2013 12:00 PM
If you’re starting (or thinking of starting) a sharing economy company, there’s a very good chance you’ll wonder at some point: ”Is this actually legal?”
Posted by Sustainable Economies Law Center · March 20, 2013 8:13 PM
When it comes to sharing with others, Janelle Orsi practices what she preaches. Orsi, an Oakland solo practitioner, specializes in a new niche: “sharing law.” She even wrote the book on it: Practicing Law in the Sharing Economy (ABA Books, 2012).
Posted by Sustainable Economies Law Center · March 04, 2013 12:00 PM
The so-called sharing economy has been described as being about many things: Millennials rejecting car ownership, the environmentally conscious glomming onto the latest eco-trend, broke urbanites who will want all their own stuff again as soon as the economy recovers...
Posted by Chris Tittle · February 25, 2013 3:25 PM
We believe that a resilient and just economy includes many diverse forms of exchange, allowing all members of a community to meaningfully participate in the economy and have their gifts valued appropriately. Community currencies are one way of strengthening both local economies and our national economy as a whole, by giving more people access to a means of exchange and thus increasing economic activity in ways that support, rather than destroy, local communities and the natural world.
California Corporation Code Section 107
Currently, California is one of only three states (alongside Virginia and Arkansas) in the USA that potentially prohibit the creation and circulation of local currencies. Dating back to 1849, this law is outdated, vague, and serves little purpose in the complex and dynamic economy of the 21st century.
California’s Corporations Code Section 107 reads:
“No corporation, flexible purpose corporation, association or individual shall issue or put in circulation, as money, anything but the lawful money of the United States.”
Along with our many friends and supporters across California, SELC is proposing a bill that would remove CA Corporation Code Section 107 because:
this law is outdated and if actually enforced, would significantly restrict economic activity in our state
there is a growing movement within California, across the country, and around the world to develop more democratic and inclusive means of exchange that will both stabilize and improve our local economies, and
community currencies have the potential to provide many underserved communities with access to capital and meaningful opportunities for work that could increase economic activity (and thus tax revenue) in socially and ecologically responsible ways.
Posted by Chris Tittle · February 16, 2013 11:39 AM
It’s almost that time of year again…
…green shoots of new growth are just emerging as the fragrant blossoms of fruit trees begin to burst forth. At SELC, our programs are also beginning to blossom in a variety of colorful ways. However, this wouldn’t be possible without the strong root system we have been cultivating over the years – our staff, fellows, interns, and volunteers. As our programs burst forth into spring, help us tend the roots of our growing organization – support our Spring Matching Grant Campaign!
Posted by Sustainable Economies Law Center · December 06, 2012 12:00 PM
Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) introduces SELC's The California Homemade Food Act (AB 1616) to create a pathway for the legal sale of safe homemade food products -- helping micro food businesses throughout the state prosper, and ultimately foster the healthy/local food movement.
Posted by Sustainable Economies Law Center · November 08, 2012 12:00 PM
An update on the JOBS Act which was signed into law in April of 2012 and has since been winding its way from general legislation to specific regulation. When finally implemented, the law should make it much easier and cheaper for small ventures to get funding-for-equity from the crowd.
The Sustainable Economies Law Center has been working with an international team (no joke!) to create our new logo that will help shape the look for our eResources websites like Co-opLaw.org, UrbanAgLaw.org, CommunityCurrenciesLaw.org, and more!