How to find what you are looking for – constructing a search on BillTrack50
05.19.13
Building a search on BillTrack50 is fairly straightforward, however it isn’t exactly like doing a Google search. So there’s a few things you need to keep in mind, which I’ll explain in this post. There’s also a few tips and tricks advanced users might find useful. Any bills that are introduced later and meet your …
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The Contrarians – What is it with South Carolina and Nullification?
05.15.13
The View from the Left by Derek Smith Citizens and legislators in thoroughly red states have been engaging in a exaggerated form of sabre-rattling towards the federal government since Obama’s re-election, implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) suggesting the will of the majority of voters at the 2012 polls does not really reflect the will of the …
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Summary of White House’s new Open Data Policy (by Alan deLevie)
05.13.13
It’s exciting times right now in the government transparency community. Alan deLevie posted this very thorough summary of the recently released Open Data Policy, and it’s reception across the community, in Robert Richard’s wonderful Legal Informatics Research Network google group. I’ve pasted the whole thing below for your enjoyment. Written by Alan deLevie: Today the White House released …
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Is it a Search? Is it Surveilance? Virginia HB1981 and GPS Monitoring (Contrarian)
05.09.13
The View from the Right By Gregory Conterio The school year is winding-down, and parents or not, the minds of many of us are beginning to turn to the summer. But that does not mean legislatures have been idle! Bills of greater and lesser import continue to be introduced at the state and federal level. …
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Hack4Colorado – civic hackathon in Denver on May 31
05.07.13
We are excited to be sponsors of on Hack4Colorado, coming up in a few weeks. I hope you are getting ready for Hack4Colorado on May 31st – Just wanted to give you some more information to make sure your hacking experience is the best it can be. If you are following @Hack4CO on twitter, then you know …
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Minimum Wages: Do They Help the Poor, or Hurt the Economy? (Contrarian)
04.29.13
The Progressive View by Derek Smith In his most recent State of the Union address, President Obama called for raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 per hour by 2015, and Congress has taken up the issue with the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013. This proposal is considerably behind Obama’s 2008 campaign …
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The Ebb and Flow of Session
04.29.13
I learned a new word recently: prorogation. Which got me thinking, an inspired this post. It’s true that the states are all on different calendars. But many start early in the year, and many are done round about now, or recently finished, or will soon finish. As of now, we have 118,000 bills or so …
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NC H494 – The Rowan County Defense of Religion Act of 2013 (Contrarian)
04.26.13
The View from the Right By Gregory Conterio The Rowan County Defense of Religion Act of 2013 does not appear to have much of a future. According to local reporting, North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis has said the bill will never be brought up for a vote. Yet even though the bill likely will …
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Introducing: The Contrarians
04.23.13
We are launching a new blog feature, which I hope you will enjoy. As you may recall, last summer we dubbed “The Summer of Controversy” and picked various hot-button topics to examine. From Gay Marriage and Sex Offender Lists, to Stand Your Ground and Genetically Modified Food, we covered a wide range of topics, and hopefully helped you …
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Gay Marriage vs. Religious Freedom: Redux
04.17.13
With all the media attention at the time the U.S. Supreme Court heard the Prop. 8 and DOMA cases, it would be easy to believe that the fate of same-sex marriage rests in the hands of the Court. But anyone who has followed the Roberts court, or just read or listened to the oral arguments …
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Google, Twitter, & Facebook: We need to know if we can trust you
04.10.13
CISPA is a bill that would make every privacy policy on the web a total joke. These three companies say they’re for their users’ rights. So where do they stand on the law that would END privacy? See this view http://youtu.be/IkuH5ZjEdBw and check out this page for more information: http://www.saveyourprivacypolicy.org/ The internet is ours. Defend it.
Lawrence Lessig: We the People, and the Republic we must reclaim
04.07.13
There is a corruption at the heart of American politics, caused by the dependence of Congressional candidates on funding from the tiniest percentage of citizens. That’s the argument at the core of this blistering talk by legal scholar Lawrence Lessig. With rapid-fire visuals, he shows how the funding process weakens the Republic in the most …
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Social Networking Sites: Public Forum or Playground for Paedos?
03.29.13
While much of the national crime policy debate of this year has focused on gun control, the ever-present fear for our children’s safety has also ensured that state legislatures continue to churn out bills to get tougher on sex offenders [“SOs”]. Bill O’Reilly has been squawking about championing states’ incorporation of the federal version of …
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Word Cloud of Bills Passed in 2013 so far
03.23.13
Out of over 100,000 bills introduced so far this session, around 3,200 have been passed. I thought it would be interesting to make a quick word cloud to see what’s in those bills. Health and education are popular, as always, but also guns, controlled substances, and natural gas make an appearance as well. And many …
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Social Media – Good or Bad? What your state government thinks (and is doing)
03.14.13
I personally am a huge fan of some social media (Twitter, Tumblr) less so of others (Facebook). I certainly do think tools like these are going to be a significant communication tool for a long time to come. Apparently state legislatures agree, and have been introducing an ever growing number of bills involving social media …
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Hydraulic Fracturing – legislative trends
03.07.13
Hydraulic fracutring has been very much in the news lately, and has become a flashpoint for many when talking about the role of the oil industry, and it’s future. With the development of “unconventional” reserves, in particular using horizontal wells producing from shale formations, completion techniques that used to be the domain of petroleum engineers …
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New Webinar Series
02.28.13
We are launching a new feature: legislative round up webinars. They will be short, but interesting, explorations of how one specific topic is being treated across the states. We will do a quick demo setting to show you how to set up your own search, and then take some time to look at legislation across …
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Some nice eye candy from The Atlantic
02.23.13
“What Is It Exactly That Makes Big Cities Vote Democratic?” Some nice maps and graphs looking at how urban areas voted in the last election, and trying to figure out which factors might help explain why some (but not all) cities lean blue. Definitely worth checking out: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2013/02/what-makes-some-cities-vote-democratic/4598/
Has agreeability disappeared in politics?
02.16.13
We all hear about the gridlock in congress. Partisan politics seems the rule of the day. But how do things look at the state level? Do legislators get along better or worse? I previously wrote a post about what percent of bills pass, pointing out that Congress passed fewer bills then every single state last …
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NFL Fan Allegiance During The Playoffs
02.01.13
It’s not political, but it’s football, which is, you know, just as important. Right? Quality eye candy at the very least. Beautiful job by http://io9.com. There’s lots of good stuff in the whole blog post, well well worth checking out. And, if it’s not too late, Go Broncos! (it’s not too late, is it?) Link: …
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Gun control and mental health suddenly interesting
01.30.13
I did another quick word cloud to look at what people have been searching for over the last few weeks (below is the results from the most recent 1,000 searches). Seems that mental health/illness, guns and firearms control have been searched for the most. Along with various health related searches, which have been predominant since …
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New features and some examples
01.24.13
New Home Page Bling for the New Session As you are likely well aware, the sessions have started (or at least are pre-filing) nearly everywhere. We are processing about 3,000 new bills a day. To help you see the sessions unfold we’ve made a couple changes to our home page. First, we have a running …
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2013 Session Kick Off Word Cloud
01.13.13
To celebrate an exciting milestone — passing 1 million bills read on our website — I decided to celebrate by looking at what people are searching for. I took a look at the searches done in 2013 so far and made with word cloud using Wordle.net. There’s a few themes that jump out. Last year …
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Quick look at our users (hi users!)
01.03.13
First, welcome to everyone who is trying to keep up with legislation and recently found our site. We’re glad you’re here! The new influx of users caused me to spend a little time looking at who is using our site, and how. First, it turns out people from nearly every county in the country have …
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New BillTrack50 Features – Just in time for Christmas!
12.23.12
The elves, or maybe our developers — our development elves? — have been hard at work making improvements suggested by our awesome customers. In case you haven’t noticed, here are some new features you might want to check out: 1) It’s old news now, but federal bills are available and return in your results, with …
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How long is too long? Not long enough? Just right? (updated)
12.20.12
A little frivolous confection for your holiday enjoyment: comparing how long bills are in different states. Thanks to Rich for a lovely job on the maps, as usual. As a first comment, the average word length across the country of words in bills is 6.16 letters, vs about 5 letters in common writing. Given the …
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‘Session Starts Soon’ Promotion
12.15.12
Why not subscribe to BillTrack50 for the new year? You’ll find keeping up with legislation can be delightfully easy and affordable. You’ll love our research, tracking, and sharing tools. And for a little extra fun, we’re happy to announce the following pre-session promotion. Choose the item that suits you best: Two hour consultation (can be …
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Legislative Scorecards – A Brief (& Unofficial) History
12.13.12
Legislative scorecards give advocacy groups and associations a quick way to show voters if their own elected official is “with them or against them” on the issues. It is a difficult topic on the Hill or in State Houses where politicians are often accused of voting to get reelected rather than voting their principles. But …
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Stop the Internet Coup – ITU meets Dec 3
11.19.12
An obscure international meeting next week could give a top-down, non-transparent UN body (one with representation from many dictatorships) the power to regulate the Internet. It’s called the ITU. The ITU would literally give dictators like Syria’s Assad (who was trending yesterday for–it seems–cutting Syria off from the Internet) a role in crucial decisions about …
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Voting map by voter, instead of by state
11.13.12
I find this presentation of how people voted across the country to be quite arresting. A wonderful example of political eye candy. Kudos to IDV Solutions and our friends at The Timoney Group on this well conceived and well executed map. Here’s a link to a bunch of versions, or check out IDV Solutions’ blog for …
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My Fair Election – first general results
11.12.12
So the dust has settled. We know the election results. But how did the election itself go? Tracking and quantifying good and bad experiences around the country was the goal of our www.MyFairElection.com project. With a great team and a little luck, we were able to gather over 1000 reviews of polling places on election …
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Top 10 Trending Bills and Legislators on BillTrack50
11.03.12
Our site debuted in March of 2012. Since then tens of thousands of people have been search for and reading bills on our site. We also get a lot of requests for legislator information. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what is most on people’s minds going into the election. …
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Bills about Disasters
11.01.12
LegiNation is based in Denver, which is pretty far inland, so we’ve been entirely out of harms way. But our thoughts go out to those who have been impacted by Sandy. We hope you are safe, and your recovery efforts go smoothly. Since it was on my mind, I decided to take a quick look …
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The prettiest political eye candy ever, by xkcd
10.28.12
This isn’t mine, but I have to share: Click for bigger view, and schedule some time to look, and think, and learn. If this doesn’t wow you, then your eyes just aren’t interested in candy, I guess. Huge kudos to xkcd for this amazing graphic. I feel good that I just bought the first book. …
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Tweet a bill, win a prize!
10.27.12
We are excited to announce a new promotion. We already help you track your bills, now we can help you track your stuff, too. We’ve partnered with Tagster.com to create these fantastic, all American tags. TAGster gives lost objects, people or pets a way back home. If you’d like a tag all you need to …
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Helping College Students in Ohio Deal with Debt That is Higher Than the Average
10.22.12
This is a guest post by Rachel Higgens, who is interested in the shifts in college enrollment that have changed many aspects of the modern higher education experience. Campuses are more diverse than ever before, but in many cases they are also more expensive — a pressing issue addressed in some detail in Rachel Higgins’ post. …
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Wondering where you can get new 2013 legislative maps?
10.16.12
At State Political Maps, we LOVE maps and we LOVE politics, so what better to do but design political maps and make them available to you? We offer gorgeous, full-color, high quality wall maps of Congressional, State House, and State Senate districts. Wall maps have always been useful for lobbyists, legislators, legislative staff, reporters, and …
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Introducing My Fair Election for Election Day Transparency
10.13.12
MyFairElection.com is a crowd sourced election monitoring platform created by faculty at the Harvard Kennedy School with support from LegiNation, Inc. and a group of dedicated citizens. It enables voters to take an active role in monitoring their polling places and in improving the quality of elections and ballot access in the United States. To …
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Can We Lower Our Prison Population?
09.25.12
The United States incarcerates the highest percentage of its citizens of any country in the world. The country has about 5% of the world’s population but almost 25% of its prisoners, with the world’s largest number of inmates and highest per capita rate of incarceration The prison population has tripled since 1987, with now one …
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Today is Internet Voter Registration Day
09.25.12
Every American who cares about the free and open Internet needs to be ready to vote this November. If you want to have your voice heard this election, you need to register by Tuesday in most states. To do so, please go InternetVotes.org and register yourself. If you’re already registered, you can help spread …
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What do we care about?
09.24.12
Perhaps you saw the Stephen Colbert segment about his Super PAC word clouds. Drawing inspiration from that idea, I made a word cloud (thank you wordle) of the top words in all bills, state and federal, for 2011-2012. Take a look: Let’s compare that to bills passed: Pretty similar, with Health and Education slightly larger, …
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How Purple Are We?
09.16.12
This time of year we hear a lot about swing states. But every state is made up of both parties. I thought it would be interesting to look at the distribution of legislators, partisan bills, and especially bipartisan bills. Let’s start with the distribution of legislators. You might expect the count of legislators to be …
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Too Much Spending on Political Ads?
09.13.12
The onslaught of advertisements for the upcoming elections has changed in scope and tact in the sake of the means justifying the ends. Advertisements regarding the November elections have infiltrated much of the available advertising spots across a spectrum of platforms. It has now become an aberration to be unaware of the tides in the …
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PPACA Health Insurance Exchange Tracking
09.05.12
On March 23, 2010 President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Like it or not, this represented the most significant overhaul of U.S. healthcare regulations in over forty years. As Vice President Biden said at the signing, “This is a big f—ing deal.” Its far reaching provisions include a mandate …
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The National Debt Relief Amendment – A Powerful Idea Whose Time Has Come
09.02.12
The National Debt Relief Amendment (NDRA) is a nationwide effort invoking states’ rights under Article V of the United States Constitution to propose an amendment to our Constitution. The proposed amendment is, “An increase in the federal debt requires approval from a majority of the legislatures of the separate states.” This idea was first formulated by …
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Comparing state legislatures by counting bills
08.28.12
On our home page we have a heat map of bills introduced in each state for 2011-2012, which is updated every night. It looks like this: Which is interesting. Hawaii for example, has a surprisingly high number of bills. As does Texas, when you factor in that they only meet every other year, as opposed to …
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Superfund: Helping the environment or hurting business?
08.24.12
Originating in 1980, Superfund was a program designed to implement clean-ups on hazardous sites through the mutual funding of the polluters and the government. In 49 of the 50 states, there are still sites designated as Superfund sites by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). An undertaking this large is bound to be very expensive, and …
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Article V – The Powerful Tool We Never Use
08.12.12
For the last year, it has been my privilege to serve as the National Spokesman for the National Debt Relief Amendment (NDRA). The NDRA is a state-initiated, non-partisan effort invoking the rights of state legislatures to propose and ratify amendments to the United States Constitution using the process our Founding Fathers wisely provided in Article …
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What Can Be Done About an Obesity Epidemic?
08.11.12
David Satcher, US surgeon general from 1998-2002, began his “Call to Action” report with “Overweight and obesity ha[s] reached…epidemic proportions.” In 2004, the new U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, said that childhood obesity is “every bit as threatening to us as the terrorist threat.” A congressionally commissioned report from the Institute of Medicine published in …
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Does the 2nd Amendment Work?
07.30.12
“If you live in America, you are four times more likely to be murdered than if you live in Britain, almost six times more likely than in Germany, and 13 times more likely than in Japan” The tragedy of the mass shootings in Aurora has brought out a new cycle of discussion over gun control …
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The Value of High Speed Rail
07.18.12
“Around the world, high-speed rail is not a pipe dream of the distant future, it’s happening right now, and it’s been happening for decades. And thanks to President Obama’s vision, high speed rail is coming to America.” -Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood In September 2010 President Obama officially announced his plans to improve the transportation …
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Public Funding for Professional Sports
07.05.12
Minnesota just built a new baseball stadium for the hometown Twins. Target Field is luxurious and spacious and the perfect confines for a competitive baseball team. The Minnesota Vikings, however do not play baseball and thus need a stadium of their own, or so they say. The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome housed both teams for …
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Declaration of Internet Freedom
07.02.12
(click read more for graphic) We believe that a free and open Internet can bring about a better world. But to keep the Internet free and open, we must promote these principles in every country, every industry and every community. And we believe that these freedoms will bring about more creativity, more innovation …
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Abstinence Education In Schools
06.29.12
Most American teens will have sex by the age of 19, not unlike their peers in other developed countries. However, the rates of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the U.S. are much higher than other developed nations. The difference may be attributable, in part, to the type of formal sex education provided in …
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Agricultural Animal Welfare Laws
06.26.12
A U.S. House bill introduced early this year to improve conditions for egg-laying hens has received renewed attention recently, as Sen. Diane Feinstein introduced an identical proposal in the Senate on May 24. If implemented, the law would require commercial egg producers to meet minimum standards for caging devices and set caging-related labeling requirements to …
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The Dilemma of the Death Penalty
06.26.12
Recently, Connecticut became the 17th state and the fifth in as many years to outlaw the death penalty. In November, California may join them as well when voters will decide on an initiative about the fate of the death penalty. Retribution for a crime lies in a complex web of factors and laws. For some, …
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Online Sex Trafficking
06.19.12
“Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery where people profit from the control and exploitation of others. As defined under U.S. federal law, victims of human trafficking include children involved in the sex trade, adults age 18 or over who are coerced or deceived into commercial sex acts, and anyone forced into different forms …
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Shifting Stances on Medical Marijuana
06.15.12
Seventeen states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes and seven more have proposed legislation that has yet to be decided on. After Californians, in 1996, voted to passed the first initiative to allow medical marijuana, there has been a gradual shift in states attitudes, as well as laws regarding the subject. Based on a combination …
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Genetically Modified Food Labeling
06.09.12
A high percentage of food staples like corn, soybeans, cotton and sugar beets are genetically engineered, resulting in an astounding seventy percent of processed food on the American grocery shelf containing genetically modified ingredients. Everything from livestock feed to vaccine production has become dependent upon this biotechnological advancement. Even though the dependency on genetically modified …
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The Future of Unions
06.08.12
Governor Scott Walker’s victory in the Wisconsin recall elections has not only cemented his place in the forefront of the Republican Party but has also has shined a light on the state of labor unions. Groups on opposing ends of the spectrum have either been quick to draw conclusions or dismiss the results as a …
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From Perverts to Pranksters: Problems with Sex Offender Registries
06.04.12
(see updated post for 2013 legislation here) Just hearing the term “sex offender” elicits an almost visceral feeling of disgust in most people, so it’s not surprising that laws regarding sex offenders tend to only get tougher. These laws usually have been passed in reaction to a high-profile sex-related crime, often bearing the names of the …
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Affirmative Action in Education
05.28.12
After the monumental Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954 to desegregate schools, the country has seen a radical shift in the racial make-up of the educational system. The days of the Little Rock 9 may not seem prevalent in our discussion of the demographics in public education. However, as a generational …
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Personal Democracy Forum 2012
05.27.12
Sometimes, things just work out. This is one such story. First, some background: According to their website, Personal Democracy Forum (PdF) is “the world’s leading conference exploring and analyzing technology’s impact on politics and government”. The PdF was started back in 2004 by Andrew Rasiej and co-Founder Micah Sifry, and has had quite a history of speakers and ideas. It was …
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Greetings from www.FollowTheMoney.org!
05.24.12
Hello Bill Track 50 users, My name is Kevin McNellis and I am a researcher at the National Institute on Money in State Politics—the only organization that tracks campaign contributions to state-level candidates, political parties, and ballot measure campaigns in all 50 states. After running into the Bill Track 50 team at the Sunlight Foundation’s …
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Abortion Rights Under Attack
05.20.12
In response to the Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, an abundant amount of legislation on the topic of abortion has been presented – mostly in part to a concern that government on any level could potentially fund abortions either directly or indirectly through state insurance exchanges (effective Jan. 2014). A number of bills have …
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The Right to Online Privacy
05.16.12
“One thing should be clear, even though we live in a world in which we share personal information more freely than in the past, we must reject the conclusion that privacy is an outmoded value. It has been at the heart of our democracy from its inception, and we need it now more than ever.” …
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Does Same-Sex Marriage Threaten Religious Freedom?
05.10.12
(For an update about the Supreme Court decisions and 2013 legislation, see this new post) One peculiarity of the marriage equality debate is the fact that the most vocal opponents of laws legalizing same-sex marriage are the people who are arguably the least affected by them. It is easy to understand why some …
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“Peace Corps for Geeks”
05.10.12
I saw Jennifer Pahlka speak at SxSW about Code for America, which she founded in 2009. Here’s anther of her talks, this one for TED, which is well worth watching: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang///id/1381 She got me pretty excited about her ideas. She argued that the government should work more like the internet — permissionless, open, generative. Government as …
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National Smart Grid Starts at State Level
05.08.12
A national smart grid has been at the forefront of Barack Obama’s energy administration, yet it is still struggling to get through the state level. A smart grid replaces the traditional method of energy being transferred from the power station to residential homes and businesses. Instead of a meter on each individual home, the local …
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Fair Pay Laws Create Controversy at State and Federal Level
05.07.12
Election year provides a hot source of contention on a number of political issues. This year’s debate highlights have centered a lot on women, notably policies addressing the gender wage gap. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2008, women make 77 cents on the male dollar as a national average. Many groups attribute the …
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States Consider Changes to Stand Your Ground
04.28.12
Following the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, “Stand Your Ground” or “No Duty to Retreat” laws have received much scrutiny from the media. While most of the attention has been on Florida, many states have similar Stand Your Ground laws, and a large majority of states have No Duty to Retreat laws for more limited …
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Familial DNA Searching
04.26.12
A Violation of Privacy or Another Investigative Tool? On July 7, 2010, alleged California serial murderer Lonnie Franklin, Jr., nicknamed the “Grim Sleeper,” was arrested in connection to ten murders and one attempted murder spanning over three decades (1). DNA evidence found at the crime scenes had failed to turn up a match within California’s …
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Photo Identification at the Polls
04.26.12
The conundrum of how to solve voter identification discrepancies without a blanket exclusion of downtrodden but eligible voters has spread across the United States. The threat of voter fraud has caused over 30 states to enact new voter identification requirements since 2004. The requirements vary by state and in strictness, with six states currently and …
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What it’s all about
04.25.12
Each week we will examine several hot topics that are in the news, from political campaigns, or interesting to us. We will explain both sides of the issue and tie it to the current legislative landscape to show what’s currently going on across the country. If after looking at the relevant bills you are moved …
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