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Category Archives: Legislation

Archive, Historians, CREW Sue White House, Seek to Preserve Presidential Records During the Transition

National Security Archive – “The National Security Archive, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, the American Historical Association, and the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington today filed suit against President Donald Trump in his official capacity, seeking to enforce the Presidential Records Act and prevent any destruction of records during the… Continue Reading

Rep. Johnson’s Bipartisan Bill Making Federal Court Records Free to Public Passes House

“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

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

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

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

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

Why Two Decades of Pandemic Planning Failed

Medium – The Cicero Institute: “At the commencement of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the United States government flailed and then failed in its attempt to respond to the crisis. Americans couldn’t help but ask why the government didn’t have a plan for this situation, a situation that was not only predictable, but which many scientists… Continue Reading

Federal Regulators Increase Focus on Patient Risks From Electronic Health Records

Pew -“As part of a federal program to routinely publish data on the capabilities of electronic health record (EHR) systems, the government recently finalized a component that will help collect information from doctors, nurses, and other clinicians about the effects of these technologies on patient safety. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information… Continue Reading

Bills, Resolutions, Nominations,and Treaties: Characteristics and Examples of Use

CRS report via LC: Bills, Resolutions, Nominations,and Treaties: Characteristics and Examples of Use – November 16, 2020. “In each chamber of Congress, four forms of legislative measures may be introduced (or, in the case of resolutions, submitted) and acted on: bills, joint resolutions, concurrent resolutions, and resolutions of one house (“simple resolutions”). In addition, under… Continue Reading

Presidential Transition Act: Provisions and Funding

CRS report via LC – Presidential Transition Act: Provisions and Funding, November 13, 2020: “The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 (PTA) authorizes funding for the General Services Administration (GSA) to provide suitable office space, staff compensation, and other services associated with the presidential transition process (3 U.S.C. §102 note). The act has since been amended… Continue Reading