“Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04), chairman of the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, today announced The Open Courts Act of 2020, H.R. 8235, which would modernize the federal judiciary’s court records systems and eliminate the paywall (called PACER) that currently forces the public to pay more than $140 million each year to access… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Congress
Individual Retirement Account Ownership: Data and Policy Issues
CRS report via LC – Individual Retirement Account (IRA) Ownership: Data and Policy Issues December 9, 2020 (51 pages) “…Congress has provided various tax incentives to encourage individuals to save for retirement. Tax incentives exist for employers to offer retirement plans and for employees to participate in these plans, as well as for individuals to… Continue Reading
A Political Obituary for Donald Trump
The Atlantic – The effects of his reign will linger. But democracy survived. “To assess the legacy of Donald Trump’s presidency, start by quantifying it. Since last February, more than a quarter of a million Americans have died from COVID-19—a fifth of the world’s deaths from the disease, the highest number of any country. In… Continue Reading
GPO and Library of Congress Release Ten Years of Legislative Data on Govinfo
Library of Congress: “The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) in partnership with the Library of Congress, U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate has released 10 additional years of bill status XML bulk data on govinfo. Bill status information, created by the Library of Congress and Congress, describes the activities and status steps for each… Continue Reading
COVID-19 Vaccines: Global Health Issues
CRS report via LC – COVID-19 Vaccines: Global Health Issues, December 8, 2020 – “The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to severe health and economic consequences across the globe, with country governments struggling to contain the spread of the disease through physical lockdown and quarantine measures, while working towards vaccines, to prevent further… Continue Reading
Lawmakers are trying to create a database with free access to court records. Judges are fighting against it.
Washington Post – “Leaders of the federal judiciary are working to block bipartisan legislation designed to create a national database of court records that would provide free access to case documents. Backers of the bill, who are pressing for a House vote in the coming days, envision a streamlined, user-friendly system that would allow citizens… Continue Reading
Fixing financial data to assess systemic risk
Economic Studies at Brookings – Fixing financial data to assess systemic risk, Greg Feldberg, Research Scholar, Yale School of Management: “The COVID-19 market disruption again highlighted the flaws in the data that the public and the authorities use to assess risks in the financial system. We don’t have the right data, we can’t analyze the… Continue Reading
Google and Competition: Concerns Beyond the DOJ’s Lawsuit
CRS In Focus – Google and Competition: Concerns Beyond the DOJ’s Lawsuit, December 2, 2020: “On October 20, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and 11 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Google LLC under Section 2 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. §2). The lawsuit alleges that Google unlawfully maintains “monopolies in the… Continue Reading
Free PACER advocates say $2B estimate for new online system is not accurate
FedScoop: “Building a new online system that will make federal court records free to the public will cost far less than a rumored $2 billion, according to former government technologists and IT experts. In a letter sent Tuesday to the Judicial Conference of the United States, representatives from the Free Law Project — a nonprofit… Continue Reading
Legal Issues in COVID-19 Vaccine Development and Deployment
CRS report via LC – Legal Issues in COVID-19 Vaccine Development and Deployment, Updated November 25, 2020 – “Private companies, universities, and governmental entities are working to develop a vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Vaccines are biological products regulated under the Public Health Service Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C… Continue Reading
Consumer Bureau to Decide Who Owns Your Financial Data
DC Report: What Should Banks, Fintechs Be Allowed to Do With All that They Know About You? – “A federal agency is gearing up to make wide-ranging policy changes on consumers’ access to their financial data. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is looking to implement the area of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform… Continue Reading
Foreign Legal Gazettes Database
“On December 8 at 2pm ET, the Law Library of Congress will host a webinar to demonstrate how to use our new Foreign Legal Gazettes Database to explore the Law Library’s vast collection of foreign legal gazettes. The Law Library has been collecting foreign legal gazettes since the mid-19th century. We are one of the… Continue Reading
