Category «Legislation»

Common Core State Standards: Frequently Asked Questions

CRS Report – Common Core State Standards: Frequently Asked Questions. Rebecca R. Skinner, Specialist in Education Policy; Jody Feder, Legislative Attorney. September 15, 2014. “Over the last two decades, there has been interest in developing federal policies that focus on  student outcomes in elementary and secondary education. Perhaps most prominently, the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 …

Subjects: Congress, Education, Government Documents, Legislation

Twitter – Taking the fight for #transparency to court

Twitter news release: ” As part of our latest transparency report released in July, wedescribed how we were being prohibited from reporting on the actual scope of surveillance of Twitter users by the U.S. government. Our ability to speak has been restricted by laws that prohibit and even criminalize a service provider like us from disclosing …

Subjects: Blogs, Civil Liberties, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Legislation, Patriot Act, Privacy

Temporary Professional, Managerial, and Skilled Foreign Workers: Legislation in the 113th Congress

CRS – Temporary Professional, Managerial, and Skilled Foreign Workers: Legislation in the 113th Congress. Ruth Ellen Wasem, Specialist in Immigration Policy. September 30, 2014 “The admission of professional, managerial, and skilled foreign workers raises a complex set of policy issues as the United States competes internationally for the most talented workers in the world, without adversely effecting U.S. workers …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Legislative Research for Congressional Staff: How to Find Documents and Other Resources

CRS – Legislative Research for Congressional Staff: How to Find Documents and Other Resources. Ada S. Cornell, Information Research Specialist. Michael Greene, Information Research Specialist; Laura A. Hanson, Information Research Specialist. September 25, 2014. “During the legislative process, many documents are prepared by Congress and its committees. Governmental and non-governmental entities track and record congressional activities, and many more entities chronicle and analyze …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Minimum efficiency standards for electric motors will soon increase

“Nearly half of the electricity consumed in the manufacturing sector is used for powering motors, such as for fans, pumps, conveyors, and compressors. About two thirds of this machine-drive consumption occurs in the bulk chemicals, food, petroleum and coal products, primary metals, and paper industries. For more than three decades the efficiency of new motors has been regulated by …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Energy, Government Documents, Legislation

Congress.gov: Removing the Beta Label and New Enhancements

Via Emily Carr – Andrew Weber‘s news: The Library of Congress launched Congress.gov in beta two years ago.  Today, I’m happy to announce we officially removed the beta label. That’s roughly three years quicker than Gmail took to remove its beta label, but we won’t give you the option of putting it back on Congress.gov.  URLs that …

Subjects: Congress, E-Government, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Systemically Important or “Too Big to Fail” Financial Institutions

CRS – Systemically Important or “Too Big to Fail” Financial Institutions. Marc Labonte, Specialist in Macroeconomic Policy. September 19, 2014. “Although “too big to fail” (TBTF) has been a perennial policy issue, it was highlighted by the near-collapse of several large financial firms in 2008. Financial firms are said to be TBTF when policy makers judge that their failure would …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legislation

New GAO Reports – Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Prisons, CFPB, ID Theft, Oil and Gas Transportation, Affordable Care Act

ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: The Corps Needs to Take Steps to Identify All Projects and Studies Eligible for Deauthorization, GAO-14-699: Published: Aug 21, 2014. Publicly Released: Sep 22, 2014. BUREAU OF PRISONS: Management of New Prison Activations Can Be Improved, GAO-14-709: Published: Aug 22, 2014. Publicly Released: Sep 22, 2014. CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU:Some Privacy and Security Procedures for Data Collections …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Cybercrime, E-Records, Energy, Government Documents, Health Care, ID Theft, Legal Research, Legislation, Privacy

H.R.1232 – Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act

Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act – Title I: Management of Information Technology Within Federal Government – (Sec. 101) Modifies the current framework governing the management of information technology (IT) within the federal government to require presidential appointment or designation of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in the following federal agencies: Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Legislation

Legislative Actions to Repeal, Defund, or Delay the Affordable Care Act

CRS – Legislative Actions to Repeal, Defund, or Delay the Affordable Care Act, C. Stephen Redhead, Specialist in Health Policy; Janet Kinzer, Information Research Specialist. September 12, 2014. “Congress is deeply divided over implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), the health reform law enacted in March 2010. Since the ACA’s enactment, lawmakers opposed to specific provisions …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Health Care, Legislation

H.R. 4387, FSOC Transparency and Accountability Act

CBO – As ordered reported by the House Committee on Financial Services on June 20, 2014 “H.R. 4387 would allow all members of the governing bodies of certain agencies that are represented on the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC)—the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Board of Governors of …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Internet, Legislation