Category «Legislation»

Interactive visualization allows you to explore actual patterns of lawmaking in Congress

Legislative Explorer or LEG/EX © University of Washington Center for American Politics and Public Policy. A data-driven discovery tool for learning about how bills become law. “Researchers at the University of Washington’s Center for American Politics and Public Policy are applying data-driven discovery methods popular in the natural sciences to visualize and learn about lawmaking. Legislative Explorer, or LegEx, …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legislation

EPIC – White House Publishes Report on “Big Data and Future of Privacy”

“The White House has released a report on big data and the future of privacy. The report “Big Data: Seizing Opportunities, Preserving Values” makes several recommendations to the President: “(1) advance the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights; (2) pass national data breach legislation; (3) extend privacy protections to non-U.S. persons; (4) ensure data collected on students in schools is …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Economy, Education, Health Care, Internet, Legal Research, Legislation, Privacy

Report Highlights Status of Independent Foreclosure Review Payment Agreement

News Release, April 30, 2014: “The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today released a status report on Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR) Payment Agreements that required the large mortgage servicers to provide $3.9 billion in payments to 4.4 million eligible borrowers and $6.1 billion in other loss mitigation and foreclosure prevention assistance. Because servicers …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee Mark Released

“The House Armed Services Committee today released legislative language scheduled to be considered by the Subcommittee on Readiness at their markup tomorrow. By releasing the legislative language ahead of the mark, Chairman McKeon is complying with House disclosure rules and overseeing the most transparent process in Congress for composing national security legislation. Read the Readiness Subcommittee Mark. …

Subjects: Congress, Defense, Government Documents, Legislation

CRS – Declarations of War and Authorizations for the Use of Military Force

Declarations of War and Authorizations for the Use of Military Force: Historical Background and Legal Implications. Jennifer K. Elsea, Legislative Attorney. Matthew C. Weed, Analyst in Foreign Policy Legislation. April 18, 2014 “From the Washington Administration to the present, Congress and the President have enacted 11 separate formal declarations of war against foreign nations in five different wars. Each declaration …

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

Estimates of illegal and unreported fish in seafood imports to the USA

“Illegal and unreported catches represented 20–32% by weight of wild-caught seafood imported to the USA in 2011, as determined from robust estimates, including uncertainty, of illegal and unreported fishing activities in the source countries. These illegal imports are valued at between $1.3 and $2.1 billion, out of a total of $16.5 billion for the 2.3 …

Subjects: Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

First-ever public domain database for submitting emails to members of Congress launched

“EFF and Sunlight Foundation published an open call for help testing a tool and populating an open data format that would make it easier for everyday people to contact members of Congress. We already had a prototype, but we needed volunteers to conduct tests on each and every Congressional website. We expected the project would take about two …

Subjects: Congress, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legislation

2010-2014 Cetacean Unusual Mortality Event in Northern Gulf of Mexico

NOAA news release: “Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (as amended), an Unusual Mortality Event (UME) has been declared for dolphins and whales (cetaceans) in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Texas/ Louisiana border through Franklin County, FL) from February 2010 through the present.These numbers are preliminary and may be subject to change. As of April 13, 2014, the UME involves …

Subjects: Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legislation

Updated Estimates of Effects of Insurance Coverage Provisions of Affordable Care Act

“CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) have updated their estimates of the budgetary effects of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that relate to health insurance coverage. The new estimates, which are included in CBO’s latest baseline projections, reflect CBO’s most recent economic forecast, account for administrative actions …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Health Care, Legislation

Investigative Report Highlights Google as Washington Lobbying Powerhouse

Tom Hamburger, Matea Gold, Washington Post: “…Google — once a lobbying weakling — has come to master a new method of operating in modern-day Washington, where spending on traditional lobbying is rivaled by other, less visible forms of influence. That system includes financing sympathetic research at universities and think tanks, investing in nonprofit advocacy groups across the political …

Subjects: Congress, Internet, Legal Research, Legislation, Patriot Act, Privacy

Policy Center: New Recommendations to Streamline U.S. Financial Regulatory Structure

“The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) today published a new report through its Regulatory Architecture Task Force with recommendations to make better sense of the fragmented U.S. financial regulatory system. The report is authored by the task force’s co-chairs Richard H. Neiman, former New York State Superintendent of Banks and member of the congressional Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) oversight panel; and Mark Olson, former …

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

Big Step for Public Access to Legislation

Via Daniel Schuman at CREW – “Earlier today, the House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee made a major move towards improving public access to legislative information. In layman’s terms, the committee said that by the beginning of the next Congress information about the disposition of bills—where they are in the legislative process and who authored or …

Subjects: Congress, E-Government, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Legislation, Libraries

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