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States across the country are working to develop Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) exchanges—online marketplaces where small businesses can purchase health insurance. An opinion survey released today provides important new insights into what small businesses in California are looking for from the state exchanges being created under the Affordable Care Act. Topping the list are allowing employees to choose among multiple insurance carriers and more disease prevention and wellness programs. The survey also found interest in the SHOP exchange is high, and awareness among owners of small business tax credits is low.

Ohio small business owners strongly support government investments in clean energy and believe such investments have an important role in creating jobs and boosting the economy, according to an opinion poll released today by Small Business Majority.

With the Supreme Court set to announce the fate of the healthcare reform law this month, the news today that 4,400 California small firms with 36,000 employees will get $3.5 million back from one of the nation’s biggest insurers—all thanks to the law—is strong evidence that its provisions are working for small employers. These rebates emphasize how important it is that high court justices uphold the Affordable Care Act so small businesses across the country can continue reaping its benefits.

Our nation’s smallest businesses—those with 1-49 employees—continue to outpace large businesses in the race to put America back to work. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees created more than half of all new jobs last month, and, from April to May, they boosted the actual number of jobs they generated by 16 percent, according to data released Thursday by Automatic Data Processing, Inc (ADP). Small businesses overall accounted for more than 93 percent of all new jobs last month, while large businesses created just 6.8 percent of new jobs.

As 2012 progresses, the political heat in Washington is climbing faster than summertime temperatures, and small business is becoming increasingly central to policy debates in Congress. Entrepreneurs make up a core constituency in the United States. With National Small Business Week having recently ended, now is a better time than ever for legislators to reflect on these individuals’ needs and work to address them — one of which is tax relief. Luckily, Congress will have a chance to do just that when the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act of 2012 comes up for a vote in June.

May 20-26 marks National Small Business Week, and over the next several days, Small Business Majority is joining a host of small business advocates and government agencies for events, conference calls and online seminars to honor our leading job creators—small business owners.

Colorado small business owners strongly believe the preservation of the state’s natural assets is essential to their financial success and that of local economies, and they support the president’s ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy to develop new energy resources, particularly if it includes provisions to protect public lands, according to opinion polling we released this week and reflected in an ad airing in the Denver metro area.

More than 2.4 million California workers are employed by the more than 375,000 small businesses in the state eligible for $1.8 billion in tax credits in the federal healthcare reform, according to a new report released today. The tax credit helps small businesses pay for health coverage for their employees. A major obstacle to coverage, the report notes, is that many small business owners are unaware of these tax credits because of the noisy—and often misleading—debate over healthcare reform.

More than 19 million U.S. workers are employed by the 3.2 million small businesses eligible for $15 billion in tax credits in the federal healthcare reform, according to a new report released today. The tax credit helps small businesses pay for health coverage for their employees. A major obstacle to coverage, the report notes, is that many small business owners are unaware of these tax credits because of the noisy—and often misleading—debate over healthcare reform.