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Category Archives: Legislation

Vital Statistics on Congress Data on the U.S. Congress, Updated March 2019

Brookings: “Vital Statistics on Congress, first published in 1980, long ago became the go-to source of impartial data on the United States Congress. Vital Statistics’ purpose is to collect and provide useful data on America’s first branch of government, including data on the composition of its membership, its formal procedure (such as the use of… Continue Reading

Here are the data brokers quietly buying and selling your personal information

FastCompany: “It’s no secret that your personal data is routinely bought and sold by dozens, possibly hundreds, of companies. What’s less known is who those companies are, and what exactly they do. Thanks to a new Vermont law requiring companies that buy and sell third-party personal data to register with the Secretary of State, we’ve… Continue Reading

BillTrack50 is available for everyone to research state and federal legislation and legislators – free

“BillTrack50 is a free service for citizens to look up information about federal and state bills and legislators. Register for a free account to start searching right away. We also provide tools appropriate for professionals to help track bills, and to help organizations share important information on their own website. To see how the free… Continue Reading

Nancy Pelosi: The Rolling Stone Interview

RollingStone – article and video: “Pelosi is at the height of her power, having recaptured the House, dispatched an attempted coup of her leadership, and faced down the president in a very public, extremely high-stakes fight. Her approval rating has risen eight points since November, and now sits higher than it has been in more… Continue Reading

GINA, Big Data, and the Future of Employee Privacy

GINA, Big Data, and the Future of Employee Privacy Bradley A. Areheart & Jessica L. Roberts. Yale Law Journal, Vol. 128 2018-2019, Number 3, January 2019 544-871. “Threats to privacy abound in modern society, but individuals currently enjoy little meaningful legal protection for their privacy interests. We argue that the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)… Continue Reading

Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018

AP: “All the bill needed to become law was President Donald Trump’s signature. It would create a national archive of documents from civil rights cold cases. Students had been working on the project for years, families waiting on it for decades. But time was running out. Legislation dies in the transition from one session of… Continue Reading

AALL Calls on Congress to Improve Access to Electronic Records of Federal Court System

“The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) is advocating for the passage of the Electronic Court Records Reform Act, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives today by House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins (R-Ga.) and Congressman Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), chair of the Congressional Transparency Caucus. This legislation would, for the first time, allow… Continue Reading

Senate passed biggest public lands package in a decade – it is not all positive

The Washington Post – “The Senate on Tuesday passed the most sweeping conservation legislation in a decade, protecting millions of acres of land and hundreds of miles of wild rivers across the country and establishing four new national monuments honoring heroes including Civil War soldiers and a civil rights icon. The 662-page measure [S.47, Natural… Continue Reading

What’s in the Natural Resources Management Act

Outside Magazine – The crucial public lands legislation just might pass the Senate. Here’s what you can do to help—and why you should care. “The Senate will vote on the bi-partisan Natural Resources Management Act next week. It looks like it actually stands a chance of passing, in which case it will go to the House of… Continue Reading

New Electronic Edition of Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook

“ACUS is pleased to announce the launch of the continuously-updated electronic edition of the Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a joint initiative with the Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice of the American Bar Association, which published the most recent editions of the Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is an annotated compilation of the… Continue Reading

Park Service will not use entrance fees to pay for shutdown operations

The Hill: “The National Park Service (NPS) will retroactively pull from congressionally appropriated funds to pay for the park maintenance and other operations the Trump administration authorized during the partial government shutdown, according to an internal NPS memo obtained by The Hill Wednesday. Dan Smith, NPS’s deputy director and its top official, told staff in… Continue Reading