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Category Archives: Legislation

Global Registry of Fossil Fuels

Global Registry of Fossil Fuel Emissions and Reserves: “The Global Registry is the first open-source database of oil, gas and coal production and reserves globally, expressed in CO2-equivalent. By increasing transparency and accountability around fossil fuel production, the Registry aims to improve understanding of extraction impacts on the remaining carbon budget and ultimately to inform… Continue Reading

Manufactured Uncertainty in Constitutional Law

Waldman, Ari Ezra, Manufactured Uncertainty in Constitutional Law (September 6, 2022). Fordham Law Review, Vol. 91, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4211548 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4211548 “Civil rights litigation is awash in misinformation. Courts find that abortion causes cancer, that adolescent hormone therapy is irreversible, that in-person voter fraud is a growing problem. Except none of that is… Continue Reading

Privacy-Focused Technology Companies Call for a Floor Vote on Antitrust Legislation

Spread Privacy: “On Tuesday September 13th, 13 privacy-focused technology companies representing more than 100 million users in the United States published a letter to U.S. Congressional Leadership imploring them to support the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) and bring it to a floor vote as soon as possible. Incessant data collection and tech… Continue Reading

LobbyingData.com Launches First-Ever Publicly Available Real-Time View of American Lobbying

“LobbyingData.com (LobbyingData) today announces the official launch of Daily Lobbying Data, the first-ever 100% free real-time view into American Lobbying. With LobbyingData, anyone can easily know which companies are lobbying, how much was spent, and-most importantly-the issues being lobbied for. LobbyingData is the only platform of its kind that provides insight into why companies choose… Continue Reading

GAO: Congress Should Enact Comprehensive Privacy Legislation

EPIC.org: “The Government Accountability Office yesterday released a snapshot of its recent work on consumer data. The GAO’s work shows that (1) consumer scores pose risks; (2) facial recognition technology raises consumer privacy and accuracy concerns; and (3) additional federal authority over internet privacy could enhance consumer protection. The GAO recommended that Congress implement consumer… Continue Reading

The Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits are confusing, so the White House launched a website to help

The Verge: “The Biden administration launched a new website — CleanEnergy.gov — aimed at helping Americans navigate the new green energy tax credits contained in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). That could especially be useful for people looking to buy a new electric vehicle but finding themselves confused by the litany of new… Continue Reading

Congress may force election deniers to get a lot more creative

Vox: “The human mind is ingenious. It can create towering works of art and make remarkable scientific discoveries. It is, as we saw in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, also capable of inventing new ways to undermine American democracy by abusing our existing election laws, and turning orderly presidential elections into anarchy and… Continue Reading

Introducing the Congress.gov API

In Custodia Legis – September 6, 2022 by Margaret Wood and Andrew Weber. “Congress.gov is a fantastic source of legislative information, and a marvelous source for investigating specific legislation and exploring the legislative history of a bill. Congress.gov also contains large amounts of data and various users have expressed interest in having additional access to… Continue Reading

Another Step Toward Better Broadband Maps

FCC: “On June 30, the Federal Communications Commission opened the first ever window to collect information from broadband providers in every state and territory about precisely where they provide broadband services. I announced the opening of the window with a Note to put this milestone in context and to explain in detail the Commission’s work… Continue Reading

American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Launches New Legal Information Resource

AALL: “The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) is offering a new resource for information professionals—law librarians, legal information professionals , and public librarians—and members of the public to easily locate online primary legal materials. The new Online Legal Information Resources (OLIR) includes information for U.S. states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, the U.S.… Continue Reading

Before the Presidential Records Act of 1978, presidents owned their papers

Washington Post: Now all presidents, including Donald Trump, must turn them over to the National Archives. “Until the 1970s, former presidents could do pretty much whatever they wanted with their presidential papers. That often was a problem. Some papers “were purposely destroyed, while others fell victim to chance destruction,” concluded a 1978 congressional study. “Others… Continue Reading

A new US data privacy bill aims to give you more control over information collected about you – and make businesses change how they handle data

Via LLRX – A new US data privacy bill aims to give you more control over information collected about you – and make businesses change how they handle data – With rare bipartisan support, the American Data and Privacy Protection Act moved out of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce by a… Continue Reading