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Category Archives: Legislation

Face Recognition Technology: DOJ and FBI Have Taken Some Actions in Response to GAO Recommendations to Ensure Privacy

Face Recognition Technology: DOJ and FBI Have Taken Some Actions in Response to GAO Recommendations to Ensure Privacy and Accuracy, But Additional Work Remains. GAO-19-579T: Published: Jun 4, 2019. Publicly Released: Jun 4, 2019. “The FBI’s face recognition office can now search databases with more than 641 million photos, including 21 state databases. In a… Continue Reading

Enforcing Federal Privacy Law – Constitutional Limitations on Private Rights of Action

CRS Legal Sidebar – Enforcing Federal Privacy Law—Constitutional Limitations on Private Rights of Action, May 31, 2019: “Over the last two years, the prospect of a comprehensive federal data privacy law has been the subject of considerable attention in the press and in Congress. Some Members of Congress and outside groups have developed many proposals… Continue Reading

Using Lexis Advance’s Legislative Outlook to Predict if a Bill Will Become Law

RIPS Law Librarian Blog – Sarah Gostchall – “…Lexis Advance, with its relatively new (2016) predictive analytics Legislative Outlook feature, was the clear winner. Though Bloomberg Law has a number of statutory tracking features for select areas of law, such as banking, tax, IP, etc., it doesn’t have a Arizona bill tracking database with all… Continue Reading

What’s the state of state public records law?

MuckRock – “Explore our four-part series detailing crucial aspects of state records law.  Over the last nine months, our FOIA Fellow Jessie Gomez has been looking at public records law across the nation through our State of State Public Records Law project. Today, we’ll be exploring the major takeaways from her reporting. Primarily, our coverage… Continue Reading

16-Year-Olds Want a Vote. Fifty Years Ago, So Did 18-Year-Olds

The New York Times – “Stuart Goldstein still has the red-and-white bumper stickers and other artifacts from 1969, when he helped persuade New Jersey lawmakers that 18-year-olds should be able to vote. He was 18 himself then, working with two other college students, David DuPell and Ken Norbe, to build a political network that grew… Continue Reading

OPM-GSA merger plan detailed in legislative proposal – vests power over personnel service in presidential appointee

FCW.com: “The White House is proposing legislation for a dramatic overhaul of human resources inside the government and wants $50 million to execute the plan. The administration is looking to move the Office of Personnel Management’s functions and resources to a service inside the General Service Administration, alongside real estate management and acquisition. A new… Continue Reading

United States Congress Creates AI Task Force

“Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, announced the creation of a Task Force on Artificial Intelligence chaired by Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL).  “I am excited to Chair the Financial Services Committee’s Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and I thank Chairwoman Waters for her foresight in creating this important… Continue Reading

CRS – Congressional Access to the President’s Federal Tax Returns

Congressional Access to the President’s Federal Tax Returns, CRS Legal Sidebar, updated May 7, 2019:  “On April 3, 2019, the Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee sent a letter to the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service requesting the individual income tax returns of President Trump, income tax returns for various business entities… Continue Reading

NY State Senate Passes Bill To Allow Release of Trump’s State Tax Returns

#NYSenate Bill S5072A was passed Wednesday allowing state officials to provide Congress with the state tax returns of President Trump, state and other federal elected officials (and) another bill passed curtailing the impact of Presidential pardons. HuffPo – “The TRUST Act, sponsored by state Sen. Brad Hoylman, would let the New York tax commissioner release… Continue Reading

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA): Historical Overview, Funding, and Reauthorization

EveryCRSReport.com – The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA): Historical Overview, Funding, and Reauthorization, April 23, 2019. “The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA; Title IV of P.L. 103-322) was originally enacted in 1994. It addressed congressional concerns about violent crime, and violence against women in particular, in several ways. It allowed for enhanced sentencing of repeat… Continue Reading

Who Owns the Law? Why We Must Restore Public Ownership of Legal Publishing

LawAr Xiv – Who Owns the Law? Why We Must Restore Public Ownership of Legal Publishing, 26 J. Intell. Prop. L. 205 (2019). Authors – Leslie Street and David Hansen. Created on April 29, 2019. Last edited. April 30, 2019. Supplemental Materials osf.io/9enzr/ “Each state has its own method for officially publishing the law. This… Continue Reading

Administration Proposal to Reorganize the U.S. Office of Personnel Management

CRS Insight via LC – Administration Proposal to Reorganize the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), May 1, 2019. “The U.S.Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal government’s central personnel agency, is an independent establishment in the executive branch. Created by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the agency’s statutory authority is codified in… Continue Reading