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Public Policy

Public Policy. Public Policy. Policy is a social construct for effecting behavior Defines goals, establishes a reasons for changes in behavior Defines, promotes, and rewards certain types of behavior

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Public Policy

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  1. Public Policy

  2. Public Policy • Policy is a social construct for effecting behavior • Defines goals, establishes a reasons for changes in behavior • Defines, promotes, and rewards certain types of behavior • Defines, prohibits, and penalizes – implicitly or explicitly – other types of behavior • Provides a context in which individuals, corporations, and governments decide to behave and subsequently act

  3. The Paradigm • The US Government Manual (National Archives) • Ben's Guide to the US Government (GPO) • University of Minnesota Government Publications • University of Minnesota Law Library

  4. A decision made by the federal government can be given a name • Legislation, Statute, Act • Judicial Opinion • Rule, Regulation

  5. Public Policy • The legislature defines and establishes broad social goals, outlines what behavior is needed to achieve those goals, delegates authority necessary to change behavior, appropriates revenue • The executive creates (promulgates) rules that are designed to implement legislation and change behavior • The judiciary examines claims by individuals, organizations, even governments, that specific legislation or specific regulation violates their constitutional rights and cause some harm

  6. The Various Paths of Public Policy

  7. The Problem • Understanding the outcomes of the various debates that lead to • Statutes, legislation, acts – the legislative process, cumulation and codification • Rules, regulations – the regulatory process, cumulation and codification • Judicial opinions, case law – litigation, written opinions, finding aids • Understanding the databases in which these outcomes, and the debates themselves, are published – official publications • Statutes at Large, US Code • Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations • Supreme Court, Appeals Court, District Court • There may not be a single book/database that can answer all your questions • Not every book/database is useful – each has good and bad points

  8. Particular Official Statutory Law - Legislative BranchAdministrative Law -Executive BranchCase Law - Judicial Branch UnofficialLegislative BranchExecutive BranchJudicial Branch Cumulative, Coded and Current Official Legislative Branch Executive Branch Unofficial Legislative Branch Executive Branch Judicial Branch Policy Outcomes

  9. Characteristics of Legal Materials • Chronological publications • legislatures enacts statutes on variety of subjects in a legislative session • regulatory agencies promulgate rules on a variety of subjects • courts consider cases involving a variety of subjects • Subject access - finding aids • Official and unofficial publications • official - published by the government authors of the material • unofficial - published by a commercial publisher

  10. The Problem (simplified) • The objective of all dedicated employees is to thoroughly analyze all situations, anticipate all problems prior to their occurrence, have answers for these problems, and move swiftly to solve these problems when called upon. • However, when you are up to your ass in alligators, it is difficult to remember that your initial objective was to drain the swamp

  11. Federal Legislation

  12. Databases - All are useful, each has some irritating deficiencies • Official • FirstGov.gov • Thomas (Library of Congress) • GPO Access (Government Printing Office) • Unofficial • Legal Information Institute (Cornell University) • LexisNexis Congressional (Elsevier) • LexisNexis Academic (Elsevier)

  13. LexisNexis Congressional • <Legislative History, Bills and Laws> • <US Code> • Search term <Endangered Species> • <16 USCS § 668dd TITLE 16. CONSERVATION, CHAPTER 5A. PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION OF WILDLIFE, ENDANGERED SPECIES OF FISH AND WILDLIFE, § 668dd.  National Wildlife Refuge System, UNITED STATES CODE SERVICE> Nb Unofficial version of US Code • Text of current Statutory Law • Amendments • Regulations • Court Cases

  14. Following the paper trail is still a very convenient way to travel

  15. General Resources - Statutory Law, Statute, Legislation, Act, Public Law • Researching Federal Legislation (University of Minnesota) • Legislative Sourcebook(Law Librarians' Society of Washington DC) • Legislative Histories United States Congress (University of Michigan)

  16. Objective for Project 3 • Find and describe a particular piece of legislation – an act, a statute • The Clean Air Act – there are several – The Safe Drinking Water Act, The Toxic Substances Control Act • Find and describe the materials produced as the legislation was debated – the legislative history • Find and describe how the legislation has changed through time • Describe the consequences of legislation

  17. Key First Step • Choose a public policy context for the chemical you have chosen • Many products/chemicals fit into several contexts – production worker safety, consumer safety, product safety, safe disposal, transportation of waste products

  18. Find a particular piece of legislation – an Act • You must find a Public Law first • Popular names (Legal Information Institute) • Agency web site • Court case • You cannot start with the US Code

  19. Public Law • Legislation (act, statute) is called a Public Law • Published as part of volumes containing all legislation from a particular Congress • Each Public Law is cited in two ways • according to chronology in a particular Congress (P.L. 106-324) • by the volume and page number in the Statutes at Large (105 Stat. 556) • Legislation enacted in the 106th Congress • is superimposed on legislation enacted by the 1st-105th Congresses that are still relevant (not repealed or amended) • may be amended or repealed by legislation enacted by subsequent Congresses • Often legislation amends previously enacted legislation

  20. Public Law • The actual statutory law in force at a particular time may comprise several statutes, or parts of statutes, enacted at various times – cumulations of statutes • The statutory law in force is divided into various subjects – U S Code • The US Code is a codified cumulation of the statutory law of the United States

  21. Structure of the Legislative Branch • Senate • House of Representatives • Legislative Agencies & Commissions • Library of Congress • Congressional Research Service. Reports (National Council for Science & the Environment) • 2Act • General Accountability Office • Government Printing Office • Congressional Budget Office

  22. Outcome - Statute enacted by Congress and signed into law by the President • Every Session of Congress • Statutes-at-Large • Public and Private Laws - 108th Congress (GPO) • LexisNexis Congressional • Popular Names of Acts (Cornell University)

  23. Statutes at Large • When a bill becomes law it is published in the Statutes at Large • Published by the United States Government Printing Office, it is slow to be produced • Commercial publishers, on the other hand, publish them much faster • The Statutes at Large contain public laws, private laws - usually applying to a particular party - proclamations, and resolutions • A record of all the statutes that have been passed during a particular congressional session • The statutes are arranged chronologically with a subject index

  24. The process of making legislation (Legislative History) • Enactment of a law (Senate) • How our laws are made (House) • House Committee on Rules • Congressional Research Service reports on the legislative process (House)

  25. Specific kinds of documents are produced at each stage of the legislative process • Introduced bills • Congressional Record • Committee Hearings • Committee Prints • Committee Reports • House and Senate documents • Presidential messages

  26. Committee Hearings • Transcripts of testimonies from witnesses and other related materials • Congressional Bibliography (North Carolina State Univ.) • LexisNexis Congressional (LexisNexis) • GPO Access • Congressional Hearings on the Web (Univ. of Michigan)

  27. Committee Prints • Committee Prints are informational and research publications produced by committees or parts of committees • Committee prints often are the most useful publications to examine for situation reports, statistical or historical information, and legislative analysis • Congressional Committee Prints (GPO) 

  28. Committee Reports • U.S. Serial Set comprises a series of bound volumes containing the texts of House and Senate Reports and Documents, Senate Treaty Documents, and Senate Executive Reports • Older issues contain House and Senate Journals, agency reports to Congress, and varies other publications • Congressional Reports (GPO) • US Congressional Serial Set (GPO) • Serial Set (Readex) Access via UMN Libraries • <Government Publications> • <United States> • <U.S. Congressional Set – Digital Edition>

  29. U. S. Code - Statutory Law Cumulation and Codification • GPO Access • Office of the Law Revision Counsel (House) • Cornell University Legal Information Institute • LexisNexis Congressional (Elsevier)

  30. The Process of Cumulation • Part of a statute enacted in 1945 amended in 1950 - thus the statutory law after 1950 was a compilation of statutes enacted in 1945 and 1950 • The statutory law was amended in 1978 in legislation that amended part of the 1945 legislation and part of the 1950 legislation • After 1978, the statutory law was a compilation of statutes enacted in 1945, 1950, and 1978 • The US Code in 2000 reflected the existing statutory law -  1945 + 1950 + 1978 • The statutory law was amended in 2001 • The US Code 2001 supplement will show the amended statutory law

  31. Other Sources of Legislative Information • National Journal (National Journal Group Inc.) • Congressional Quarterly Weekly (Congressional Quarterly Inc) • CQ Researcher • CQ Almanac • Congress and the Nation • Government Information Quarterly (TC Internet Resource Online Resource) • National Library for the Environment • Statistical Resources on the Web (University of Michigan Documents Center) • News Media – newspaper, journals, television • Law review articles

  32. Notes for Project 1 • All legislation found in the U S Code has been published as a Public Law in a Statutes at Large volume (or the electronic equivalent) • Not all legislation published as a Public Law in a Statutes at Large volume will be published in the US Code • Each Public Law has a legislative history • A Public Law published in a Statute at Large volume is often divided into sections • A Public Law, when codified and compiled in the U S Code, usually retains its structure, and thus is divided into sections • Each section in the US Code is a section in a Public Law. It is not the entire statute or act enacted by Congress • Choose a statute that was enacted after 1970 but not very recently

  33. LexisNexis Academic • <Legal Research> • <Federal Code> • <Endangered Species> • <16 USCS § 668dd TITLE 16. CONSERVATION, CHAPTER 5A. PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION OF WILDLIFE, ENDANGERED SPECIES OF FISH AND WILDLIFE, § 668dd.  National Wildlife Refuge System, UNITED STATES CODE SERVICE> Nb Unofficial version of US Code • Text of current Statutory Law • Amendments • Regulations • Court Cases

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