FDsys: Free Federal Resources

With legal employers looking for cost-efficiency in their new employees, an official government website with free documents in PDF is one you'll want to bookmark and remember.  FDsys, the U.S. Government Printing Office's Federal Digital System, provides easy access to Congressional bills, hearings, and reports, the U.S. Code, the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations, as well as Presidential documents and other materials.  Some of the materials on FDsys are not available on HeinOnline, and all of them are accessible to anyone with internet access. Be sure to note the date coverage for each of the resources, which varies.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Celebrating THOMAS

This week begins a new semester and a new U.S. Congress (the 114th). THOMAS, the popular Library of Congress web site named for Thomas Jefferson and providing free online legislative research and other factual information about Congress and its work, is also celebrating its 20th anniversary this week.  Launched January 5, 1995, and soon to be replaced by the new federal public information site, Congress.gov, THOMAS has seen many changes reflecting the dramatic growth and progress of online information delivery in the past two decades. Check out "Twenty Years of Thomas," a fascinating retrospective of this pioneering site, posted yesterday on In Custodia Legis, the blog of the law librarians of Congress. 

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Current State Statutes now online

Most of us look online for state statutes anyway.  Now it is official - to get the current statutes for states*, you should look either on Lexis Advance, Westlaw Next, Bloomberg Law or the web.

On the web, you can find links to all of the states' statutes at http://statelaws.findlaw.com/state-codes.html .   For states that provide their authenticated official code, see the web site for the states that have adopted the Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act.  

*The Library still has current state statutes in print for NY, NJ, FL, TX and CA . 

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

International Labor Laws: NATLEX

How do countries around the world protect disabled workers, provide for social security and family leave, and restrict child labor?  Labor Day weekend is a great time to discover NATLEX, an International Labour Organization (ILO) database of labor and related human rights legislation covering 196 countries. Users can browse by country or topic to produce citations and descriptions of relevant laws, often with a link to the full text in English, French, or Spanish, ILO's three official languages. NATLEX makes every effort to keep current with new legislation. The "New in NATLEX" feature locates new legislation added this month and  each previous month for the past year, by country and topic. NATLEX is a key resource for comparative labor law research.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Snow Law Update: Driving with Accumulated Snow

Some of us are still digging out from the two "snow days" earlier this week.  Have you ever wondered if anything could be done (legally, of course), about those drivers flying down the highway the day after a storm with mounds of snow still burying their hood, top, and most of the windows?  Drivers of cars and trucks who leave this snow and ice to dislodge and crash into other people's windshields, blocking visibility and causing distraction, damage, and sometimes personal injury? For an increasing number of states, the answer is yes--pass a law.

In New Jersey, for example, a Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulation statute (39:4-77.1) imposes an affirmative duty "to make all reasonable efforts to remove accumulated ice or snow from exposed surfaces of the motor vehicle prior to operation."  If a law enforcement officer believes that the accumulation poses "a threat to persons or property," the driver may be stopped and incur a fine of between $25 and $75. If the dislodged snow or ice actually "strikes another vehicle or pedestrian causing injury or property damage," fines increase to $200 to $1000 for cars, with higher penalties for commercial vehicles. In Connecticut, a law with very similar provisions went into effect on the last day of 2013.

What about New York?  Two bills have been introduced in both the New York Assembly and Senate during the current legislative session.  Assembly Bill 3687/Senate Bill 395 would impose steeper fines than either New Jersey or Connecticut for operating such a vehicle on a "public street or highway" more than three hours after the "snow, sleet or hail" stopped falling.  Assembly Bill 4680/Senate Bill 841 has similar provisions, with increased penalties for causing physical injury or property damage. The text of both bills can be read at the New York State Legislature's public information site.  

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Wealthiest Members of Congress

This week Roll Call, one of the most respected publications covering Congress and now a free site, posted "50 Richest Members of Congress," a run-down of the financial worth of the 50 wealthiest members of the legislative branch and the sources of their wealth.  The results of this latest study, an annual project of Roll Call since 1990, includes a break down of financial assets and member profiles, with recent news coverage, for each of the 41 men and 9 women in this exclusive group. While the source of their wealth ranges from tech entrepreneurship to family trust funds, 18 of them hold a J.D.

Beyond this special report, Roll Call is a great source for law students and attorneys on the latest developments on Capitol Hill, unique news coverage of Congress, fundraising and seniority charts, and policy updates, with Roll Call blogs and free registration to receive daily updates on legal areas or policy issues of interest to you.   

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Open States: Transparency Report Card

Earlier this month, a brand new Sunlight Foundation site called Open States, containing free legislative information from all 50 states, caught my eye (see previous post).  Just nine days later, the same folks announced a byproduct of all their work on Open States: a "Transparency Report Card" that grades the states on how online-accessible their legislative data is to the general public.  As explained here, the grades are based on six criteria: completeness, timeliness, ease of access, machine readability, use of commonly owned standards, and permanence.  Being the Hofstra Virtual Library Cat, I was happy to note that New York has been given an "A."  Check out how other states fared, and bookmark the New York legislature's public information site, a great resource for law school research and legal practice.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Open States

Sunlight Foundation, the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that has been a leader in providing open government resources, including OpenCongress, recently launched its latest free site, Open States.  Well-designed and easy to use, Open States provides "searchable legislative data for all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico" in one place.  Users can find state legislators and their sponsored legislation, voting records, committee assignments, campaign contribution records, and related news articles.  For each legislator, the site also provides easy links to Influence Explorer and similar resources with more detailed campaign donation analysis.

Open States lists the sources of its data at the bottom of each page, and provides a helpful video tutorial. Those wishing to follow a bill, legislator or issue can create a free Open States account and receive email alerts. Four years of work by Sunlight Labs collecting and organizing the legislative data has paid off in an extremely useful tool for students, researchers and interested citizens.   

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

New York Gun Laws

Governor Cuomo recently signed into law a new gun control measure for New York State.  It was signed on January 15, 2013 after the State Assembly approved it by a 104-to-43 vote and a 43-to-18 vote by the State Senate.  The gun control laws will take effect immediately and has several key provisions.  To learn more about this legislation and its key provisions click here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA)

Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) Passes the House of Representatives

CISPA is headed for the U.S. Senate.  So, what is CISPA and how did it get to the Senate?  "CISPA’s designed to let private business share information about cybersecurity threats with one another and with the U.S. federal government."

(Read more about the CISPA controversy here: http://mashable.com/2012/04/29/where-cispa-stands-now/)

Although the cybersecurity legislation has many supporters, there are others who do not believe that citizens' privacy is adequately addressed.  "In a statement, Michelle Richardson, [the American Civil Liberties Union] ACLU legislative counsel, said that “CISPA goes too far for little reason. Cybersecurity does not have to mean abdication of Americans’ online privacy. As we’ve seen repeatedly, once the government gets expansive national security authorities, there’s no going back. We encourage the Senate to let this horrible bill fade into obscurity.”"

(For more information about CISPA supporters and critics, see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/cispa-whos-for-it-whos-against-it-and-how-it-could-affect-you/2012/04/27/gIQA5ur0lT_story.html)
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Tracking Congress

Wonder what Congress is doing (or not doing) about Food Safety, on the health reform law or two of my interests, cybersecurity and claiming pets as dependents for tax deductions? Govtrack.us is your answer.

On Govtrack.us, you can set up email alerts or RSS feeds to track particular bills in congress, subject areas, members of Congress or general trackers for the activity of the whole Congress. Use the Trackers link to set these up.

By the way, the bill to deduct pet care expenses died in Congress last year, but I have set up my tracker for Animal protection and human-animal relationships . Know any good lobbyists?

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

C-SPAN Video Library

While looking forward to Spring Break, you may have missed the recent news that all of C-SPAN's programming from 1987 forward--on all three C-SPAN networks--is now available free online in the just launched C-SPAN Video Library. This site is well organized, with a great browse page, and searchable to provide easy access to material such live and unedited Congressional debates and speeches actually made on the House and Senate floor and videos of Congressional committee hearings. In addition, hundreds of C-SPAN public affairs programs from the "America and the Courts" and "Newsmakers" series provide valuable background material on issues, legislation, and people for law school research papers. You'll find more about this constantly growing resource and how to use it to best advantage in this helpful article from Information Today.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Ballot Measures Database

Law students tracking public policy issues across the states for research papers often rely on the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and their superb web site. But they may not know that beyond 50-state surveys of state legislation on a wide range of topics, NCSL also has a Ballot Measures Database. This database makes it easy to locate and track past and upcoming state ballot initiatives by providing background and descriptions, along with passage or failure status or when these initiatives are scheduled for a vote. Users can search four types of of measures: the legislative referendum, popular referendum, and the initiative, as well as ballot measures from other sources, such as state commissions, back to 1902. A clear explanation of the distinction between an initiative, a referendum, and a recall can be found here.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

CBO: Charting the Cost of Federal Laws

The user friendly web site of the Congressional Budget Office is a goldmine of background information and data for papers, law journal notes, and legislative research. The CBO, established by law in 1974 and today operating with a staff of over 200 mostly economists and public policy experts, has an important mandate: to provide Congress with "objective, nonpartisan and timely analysis" to aid in economic and budgetary decisions, including enacting new legislation and funding federal programs.

The news media and political bloggers routinely refer to CBO reports as authority or to make their case when reporting or discussing hot legislative topics. At the CBO site you can easily find the full reports in PDF, as well as economic forecasts and Congressional testimony for student and faculty research. As a bonus, the Director's Blog at the site posts the very latest data and puts testimony and reports in context. Search the site for particular titles, or locate CBO publications (with related Director's Blog links) by subject area, document type, or currency.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Prescriptions

One of the best sources for keeping up with health care reform issues and related legislation is the New York Times blog, Prescriptions. Here you can read the latest legislative developments and access full-text Congressional documents, statistics, interviews, and comparative health system information. This site combines currency with a wide range of information from diverse sources. The "Health Care Navigator" section features links to other blogs, statements of advocacy groups on opposing sides of health care reform issues, and articles from a cross-section of the media, in addition to budgetary and other background information.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

The Compassion Index from the Animal Welfare Institute

Naturally, I am always interested in legislation affecting me and my friends. Thus, I was happy to find the Compassion Index from the Animal Welfare Institute. The Compassion Index rates U.S. Senators and Representatives based on their positions on animal protective measures. Tracked bills and issues are chosen based on their potential impact on animals. The Compassion Index is updated daily
In order to find out how you own representatives fare, simply enter your state or zip code or enter the name of the representative here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat