This article was originally posted on Bloomberg Government. Bloomberg Government regularly publishes insights, opinions and best practices from our community of senior leaders and decision makers. This column is written by Tim Woodbury, Director of Government Relations for Accela.  “Move fast and break things.” Silicon Valley’s approach to innovation coined by Mark Zuckerberg is disrupting industries once thought untouchable. In less than a decade, Uber and Lyft have upended the taxi industry; Airbnb has turned people’s homes into an attractive alternative to hotels; and drones are circling our skies in record numbers. These are just a few of the many technology-driven innovations promising to improve our lives and making the hearts of investors flutter. Yet, these market disrupters are also on a collision course with government regulators. Debates on how best to regulate these innovations are raging from the largest cities to the smallest towns. Even, the bastion of disruption, San Francisco, the hom......

This article was originally posted on Forbes.com. Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska, frustrated by the “red tape” of regulatory bottlenecks, has made federal permitting reform a focus of both his legislative agenda and a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed. The senator wants to limit new regulations, put a time limit on federal permit reviews, and create a “one-stop shop” for processing them as well. On these issues, Sullivan seems to have the ear of President Trump, as the president has moved swiftly with an executive order mandating that federal agencies repeal two regulations for every new one instituted. It’s not surprising that a hotel developer would be well acquainted with permitting delays and the impact regulatory reform could have on the success of his much-trumpeted infrastructure and jobs plans. In his victory speech last November, Trump said, “We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals. We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure.” While Sullivan and the Trump Administration ......

Presidential politics has the tendency to drown out all other electoral storylines. If you're in need of proof, consider this: marijuana was legalized for either recreational or medical use in eight of nine states in which it was on the ballot, including the big one – California. Cannabis is now legal in some form in 28 out of 50 states, yet that headline has barely been discussed in the mainstream media. This is just one of several public policy issues that will challenge government officials in 2017. Another is the sharing economy. State and local government officials throughout the U.S. have been trying to figure out how to handle the rise of Airbnb and ridesharing services Lyft and Uber for some time. In San Francisco, Airbnb hosts are now required to register and pay fees to the city. But of the 7,000+ residents who rent out their homes, only a little over a......

The below is an excerpt of my guest post on National League of Cities’ Cities Speak blog last week. You can read the full post here. Municipal laws and codes have been forged over decades and are currently facing challenges keeping up with emerging and rapidly expanding regulatory issues such as solar/clean energy and the legalization of marijuana and initiatives like the White House’s Startup in a Day challenge. Even with the best-intentioned legislation, public policy initiatives can stall without the proper tools to enable easy and efficient compliance. So how do governments balance the additional workload required to address these emerging issues with limited staff resources? How can cities keep up with the demands and expectations of their citizens? Fortunately, civic technology, which provides targeted solutions for governments to solve real problems, is experiencing exponential growth, reaching not just urban cities, but also suburbs, farm towns and remote resort villages. In ......

Several of my Accela colleagues and I recently spent the better part of a week in Nashville, Tennessee, for the annual National League of Cities conference. Compliments to the staff at NLC and the Nashville Host Committee for throwing a fantastic conference, and to the City of Nashville for being such a welcoming place to spend a few days in early November. It was a busy conference for Accela, with numerous presentations to give, an expo booth to run, educational sessions to attend, perhaps a few honky tonk bars to check out… but most importantly, thousands of customers to speak with. Here’s a quick run-through of Accela’s high points for the week. Reinventing the Business of Government panel Maury Blackman, our President and CEO, joined Stonly Baptiste, co-founder of Urban.us, Peter Pirnejad, Palo Alto’s Development Services Director, and moderator Aimee Rawlins, Startup & Innovation Editor for CNN Money, to discuss the current......

I recently spent a hot and humid few days in Charlotte (Mecklenburg County!), North Carolina, which was hosting the National Association of Counties (NACo) annual convention. Vince Nicoletti, the Building Chief from one of our great customers, San Diego County, was asked to share his department’s experience around online solar permitting at NACo’s Technology & Innovation Summit. Vince was also part of the San Diego County team that was being honored by NACo with an award for its Process Improvement Team (“The PIT crew”). San Diego County might be a leading indicator for the rapid growth that we’re expecting to see for residential solar in the coming years — the County has seen a 300 percent increase in requests for solar permits in five years and expects to issue 6,000 in 2015. Many attribute this spike to the ownership arrangements now available that clear away the hefty upfront costs of installation. Sure, it’s ......