Category «Legislation»

Casey Tree Report – DC

“Last year Casey Trees reported that DC lost 550 acres of canopy—an area roughly the size of the National Mall—largely to development. While we recognize that a growing DC is a healthy DC, development that does not preserve existing trees and replace those that are lost makes neighborhoods hot, unhealthy, and unsustainable. In response, this …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Housing, Legal Research, Legislation

Threat of TikTok ban has creators scrambling to build followings on Instagram, YouTube

CNBC: “With U.S. officials threatening a nationwide TikTok ban, creators and small business owners who rely on the app are growing concerned. “They’ve captured the lightning in the bottle that other platforms just haven’t been able to do yet,” said Chad Spangler, who uses his large TikTok following to promote his art. Creators have been turning …

Subjects: Congress, Internet, Legal Research, Legislation, Social Media

The Luring Test: AI and the engineering of consumer trust

FTC – Michael Atleson, Attorney, FTC Division of Advertising Practices: “In the 2014 movie Ex Machina, a robot manipulates someone into freeing it from its confines, resulting in the person being confined instead. The robot was designed to manipulate that person’s emotions, and, oops, that’s what it did. While the scenario is pure speculative fiction, companies …

Subjects: AI, E-Commerce, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Has AI hacked the operating system of human civilization

The New York Times: ‘The Godfather of A.I.’ Leaves Google and Warns of Danger Ahead – For half a century, Geoffrey Hinton nurtured the technology at the heart of chatbots like ChatGPT. Now he worries it will cause serious harm. Gizmodo – AI Will Make Our Society Even More Unequal, Economists Warn – AI threatens …

Subjects: AI, Economy, Education, Financial System, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Legislation

Federal Reserve Board announces the results from the review of the supervision and regulation of Silicon Valley Bank

“The Federal Reserve Board on Friday, April 28, 2023 announced the results from the review of the supervision and regulation of Silicon Valley Bank, led by Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr. The review finds four key takeaways on the causes of the bank’s failure: Silicon Valley Bank’s board of directors and management failed …

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

The FDIC’s Report on the Failure of Signature Bank

FDIC Releases Report Detailing Supervision of the Former Signature Bank, New York, New York – April 28, 2023 “Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chief Risk Officer Marshall Gentry released FDIC’s Supervision of Signature Bank, an internal review evaluating the agency’s supervision of Signature Bank, New York, New York, from 2017 until its failure in March …

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

GAO Report on SVB, NY Fed Report on SVB

Bank Regulation – GAO-23-106736 – Preliminary Review of Agency Actions Related to March 2023 Bank Failures – Report to the Committee on Financial Services, House of Representatives, April 2023. Released April 28, 2023: “Risky business strategies along with weak liquidity and risk management contributed to the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. …

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

Mapping Attacks on LGBTQ Rights in U.S. State Legislatures

“In the last few years states have advanced a record number of bills that attack LGBTQ rights, especially transgender youth. The ACLU is tracking these attacks and working with our national network of affiliates to support LGBTQ people everywhere. While more states every year work to pass laws to protect LGBTQ people, state legislatures are …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Nearly a Year After Roe’s Demise, Americans’ Views of Abortion Access Increasingly Vary by Where They Live

Pew Report: Nearly a year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs ruling overturned the Roe v. Wade decision that had guaranteed a national right to abortion, overall public support for legal abortion remains largely unchanged. However, a growing share of Americans living in states where abortion is prohibited say abortions are hard to obtain in their …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Health Care, Legal Research, Legislation, Privacy

Change in Monthly Abortions Since Roe v. Wade Overturned

Data is Beautiful – this statistic is for legal abortions. See also Washingtonian – The Abortion Battle on Virginia’s Border. When Roe fell, an abortion clinic moved from Tennessee to Virginia. Providing care has been complicated, but the staff won’t back down…Bristol is a twin city, half in Tennessee and half in Virginia, bisected by …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Health Care, Legal Research, Legislation, Privacy

Big Tech Lobbyists Explain How They Took Over Washington

reThink Trade: “An amazing research paper unearths how the tech industry invented the concept of digital trade and sold it to government officials. Progressive trade advocates continue to express confusion over the Biden administration’s trade policies. Despite a U.S. trade representative (USTR) in Katherine Tai who has prioritized a worker-centered trade vision that breaks with …

Subjects: Congress, Digital Rights, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Florida school district bans dozens of books based on proposed bill

Judd at Popular Information: “Schools in Clay County, Florida, are withholding dozens of books from students, citing legislation that has been proposed but not approved by the state legislature or signed into law.  In a spreadsheet published by the Clay County school district listing the status of challenged books, 55 titles were categorized as “Pending …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Free Speech, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation, Libraries