Washington, D.C. – The National Metropolitan Business Alliance (NMBA), a coalition of regional business associations spanning the country, has announced its endorsement of Startup Act 3.0.

In a letter last week to U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), who introduced Startup Act 3.0 along with U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), the NMBA said “Startup Act 3.0 would strengthen America’s innovation ecosystem by addressing three critical pieces of the startup ecosystem – capital, talent and commercialization of research – while also strengthening our regulatory structures to better facilitate startup formation and growth.”

“America has long been seen as the land of opportunity for innovators and entrepreneurs. We must do everything possible to make certain that remains true,” Sen. Moran said. “At a time when our government should be facilitating economic growth and innovation, America’s archaic policies have us falling behind. We are losing talent and jobs by the day to countries like Canada, Chile, and the United Kingdom that are aggressively courting the world’s best and brightest. We must pass smarter policies, like Startup Act 3.0, or we risk losing the next generation of great entrepreneurs and the jobs they will create to countries that welcome these innovators.”

“Virginia and America must fight to remain competitive in the global marketplace by enacting smart, commonsense policies like Startup 3.0,” Sen. Warner said. “This bipartisan legislation would allow us to more effectively compete for talented innovators and entrepreneurs, as well take steps toward reforming our tax and regulatory policies to help promote investment and job creation.”

Startup Act 3.0 creates both Entrepreneur and STEM Visas for highly-educated and entrepreneurial immigrants to stay in the United States where their talent and new ideas can fuel economic growth and create American jobs. The legislation also modifies the tax code to encourage investment in new businesses, accelerates the commercialization of university research that can lead to new ventures, and seeks to improve the regulatory process.

Click here to read the full text and signatories of the letter.