Category Archives: Legislation

There’s New Stuff at Congress.gov.

28 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by in Legislation, Library of Congress, Research, THOMAS, U.S. Government

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Treaties, Text, and Timely Updates – Congress.gov Spring Cleaning, by Sabrina I. Pacifici via Andrew Weber, BeSpacific Blog

http://www.bespacific.com/library-of-congress-treaties-text-and-timely-updates/

‘Since introducing Congress.gov in September 2012, we have continued to add the databases from THOMAS to the new system.  We launched with legislation, followed soon thereafter by the Congressional Record, Committee Reports, and nominations.  Today, we are releasing treaty documents.  You can select “All Sources” and search across all of these data sets at once, something that was not possible on THOMAS.  With this, all of the data sets in the left hand navigation of THOMAS are included in Congress.gov.  We have one more data set that was on the legacy system to add, Senate Executive Communications….’

Free Access to Federal Law and Resources.

21 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Constitutions, Federal Law, Law Libraries, Legislation, Legislative History, Primary Law, References, Regulations, Research, Secondary Resources, State Law, Statutes, U.S. Government

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Free Public Access to Federal Materials On Guide To Law Online, by Sabrina I. Pacifici, BeSpacific Blog

http://www.bespacific.com/free-public-access-federal-materials-guide-law-online/

There’s more here than you think. Executive, judicial, federal, legislative, state, legal guides, and general sources. Definitely worth a look. -CCE

[Via Emily Carr, Senior Legal Research Specialist, Library of Congress] – this posting by Ann Hemmens, legal reference librarian at the Law Library of Congress: Through an agreement with the Library of Congress, the publisher William S. Hein & Co., Inc. has generously allowed the Law Library of Congress to offer free online access to historical U.S. legal materials from HeinOnline.  These titles are available through the Library’s web portal, Guide to Law Online: U.S. Federal, and include:

Cool Developments at Congress.gov, including THOMAS. Check It Out.

22 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Government, Legislation, Legislative History, References, Research, Statistics, THOMAS

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Nominations, Accounts, Saved Searches – Congress.gov Continues to Grow, by Andrew Weber, In Custodia Lexis: Law Librarians of Congress

http://tinyurl.com/o3zc7lt

There’s a lot of information here. Take your time, and give it a good look. I think you’ll find it worth it. -CCE

I have been looking forward to this Congress.gov release for several months.  There is now nomination information, accounts, the ability to save searches, an expanded About section, an FAQ section, easy access to Member remarks in the Congressional Record, and more.

With the new updates, you can locate nominations dating back to 1981.  The nominations section allows you to retrieve information via faceted navigation, just as you do throughout the rest of the site.

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On THOMAS, individual accounts were a feature that the system could not support.  Now you will have the option to save your search so you can quickly run it again later.  This is especially useful for those highly complex customized queries.  Adding accounts will enable us to do new things with the system in the future.

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The About section has been expanded with the aim of making Congress.gov more user friendly.  Also with this release, you can now access a Frequently Asked Questions section, which covers:

•Congress.gov Overview

•Learn Congress.gov and the Legislative Process

•Features, Updates and Technology (which includes a link to a page on how to embed the Congress.gov search box on your website)

•Congressional Record

•Committees

•Legislation

•THOMAS Retirement

I highlighted some of these Congress.gov enhancements during my presentation at the 2014 Legislative Data Transparency Conference.  Grant Vergottini, in his write up of the conference, stated that although it was ‘still in beta, this site has now essentially replaced the older Thomas site.’  I would have to agree.

These improvements build upon those added in February: Advanced Search, Browse, and the Appropriations Table. . . .

Legal Research Tutorials.

05 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by in Administrative Law, Case Law, Legal Directories, Legal Encyclopedia, Legislation, Legislative History, Mandatory Law, Primary Law, Regulations, Research, Secondary Resources, State Law, Statutes

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Legal Research and Writing Tutorials, Georgetown Law Library

http://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/research/tutorials/lrw.cfm

This link will lead you to these tutorials. -CCE

  • Administrative Law Research Tutorial
  • Bloomberg Law Tutorials
  • Case Law Research Tutorial
  • Legislative History Research Tutorial
  • Secondary Sources Tutorial
  • Statutory Research Tutorial

LexisNexis® State Net® Offers Free Tool for Legislative and Regulation Research.

06 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by in Apps, Legal Technology, Legislation, LexisNexis, Regulations, Research

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LexisNexis® State Net® has a new—but very familiar—look (January 2014).

http://tinyurl.com/kv96ssz

Use this powerful tool by LexisNexis® to search and monitor legislative and regulatory activity. You do not need a LexisNexis® subscription to use this tool. Even if this is not an subject that you research regularly, please take a look.

Click on http://tinyurl.com/kv96ssz for the State Net Web Page. See more at: http://tinyurl.com/kkut66t. I recommend watching the short, but informative, video for an overview of how to use and get the most out of this resource. Yes, it also provides an App.

Features of this free service include:

Comprehensive Coverage. Access more than 150,000 legislative and 30,000 regulatory measures as they are considered in the United States, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. Confidently assess the impact of proposed measures with enriched resources including full bill text, sponsor biographies and links to affected statutes.

Timely Delivery of High-Integrity Data. Rely on accurate content from the United States, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., with fast-changing information reviewed, verified and reported within 24 hours of public availability. More than 50 editors with expertise in the unique procedures, processes, and document formats of the originating states perform rigorous quality control at every major stage.

Results-Oriented Reporting. Track and segment legislation and regulations you care about to produce customized reports that inform critical business decisions. Manage relevant measures along with supporting details and documents. Know when bills or regulations move and receive advance notice of hearings for measures you are tracking.

Highly Targeted Search Tools. Target relevant text and topics using proprietary search tools and hands-on issue screening.

Strategic Communication. Deliver meaningful and relevant information to your stakeholders. Simplify communication on complex issues with seamlessly integrated, State Net hosted Web content. Enable users to craft self-customized reports or generate updates on the fly.

Exceptional Client Service. Benefit from an entire team of professionals who understand your program, objectives and issues. More than 100 State Net service professionals are connected to your goals and committed to your success.

State Net® Mobile. Get up-to-date information on legislative developments and critical State Net® content while you’re on the go. We offer the ability to access, track and share our most important resources from any mobile device.