The Affordable Care Act takes effect for many small businesses over the next two years.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on Monday started a website to help small businesses understand the set of choices they face.

It's www.sba.gov/healthcare.

It includes online tools to gather up information provided by agenices that will be responsible for implementing the law, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The act specifies a set of choices that affect how business owners deal with premiums and access to insurance plans.  The new site breaks down some of the act's provisions for businesses in different sizes — such as, self-employed, fewer than 25 employees, fewer than 50 employees and more than 50 employees. 

As the holiday shopping season looms, let's look local:

Starting on Thanksgiving, Spokane city meters will be a little less costly.  Parking is free all-day on Thanksgiving, then through Jan. 1, the city is cutting us a break, requiring meters to be plugged through 5 p.m., instead of 7 p.m.

Also of interest is the Nov. 24 recognition as Small Business Saturday, which invites us all to call attention to  small businesses in Spokane that deserve our patronage.

Everyone says it — that small business is the heart of the economy. Let's help by focusing on those small area businesses over the next several weeks.

The SBA's Small Business Saturday website is at http://www.sba.gov/saturday. The site provides tips for holiday marketing, hiring temporary workers and gearing up for the holiday season. It also includes information for participating in Small Business Saturday.

The American Independent Business Alliance claims money spent at local small businesses generates 3.7 times more direct local economic benefit than spending at chains.

Research done by Civic Economics, an economic development consulting firm, also suggests that cities or towns that help local and independent businesses prosper tend to have a more vibrant community.