Risen from the dead

One of the less known but nevertheless important bills has passed the Texas Legislature on the last day of the special session. House Bill 79, which seeks comprehensive judicial reforms, is based on the findings of the State Bar Court Administration Task Force and stresses a more simplistic, flexible and productive court system.

The history of this bill is quite interesting. Having made its (unsuccessful) debut in 2007 and then again in 2009 as Senate Bills, the bill was once again introduced in 2011 as Senate Bill 1717. It failed on the last day of the regular legislative session but lawmakers were able to convince Governor Rick Perry to put the bill on the agenda for the special session. This time it went through and was sent to the Governor for final approval.

Link of the Month: Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL)

It's not often that one has to research homeland security issues, but if that is the case, the homeland security digital library is the place to go. Having just recently opened to the public, it contains the nation’s premier collection of documents related to homeland security policy, strategy, and organizational management collected from a wide variety of sources. The library is divided into eight key sections, ranging from national strategy documents to theses and research reports from the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security, including an exhaustive collection of executive orders and key legislation.
Open access to over 47,000 documents is available for anyone interested and access to more than twice the amount of information will be made available upon request and approval.

Link of the Month: National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

Established by Congress in 1935 as an independent federal agency, the NLRB's primary function is to administer the National Labor Relations Act, the primary law that governs relations between unions, employees and employers in the private sector.
This website offers a wide variety of rules and regulations, guides, and manuals in English as well as in Spanish. In addition its research section allows access to legal-related documents, specifically NLRB Board decisions and memos, the weekly summary of NLRB cases, and Appellate Court briefs and motions filed by the NLRB General Counsel.

Link of the month: National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)

The NCHS is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and considered the Nation's principal health statistics agency. The Center is a public resource for health information with the main purpose to compile statistical information to guide actions and public health policies.
The website allows access to the NCHS factsheets through the so-called “FastStats” site, covering the wide range of information and data made available by the NCHS; “data briefs”, statistical publications that provide information about current public health topics, and the Center’s extensive library of online and print publications.
In addition two links are worth mentioning – one that leads to the data systems and surveys where it is possible to retrieve data that is being collected on an ongoing basis, and another one named “librarians”. The “resources for librarians” is a sub site that conveniently lists numerous resources that are of interest for information professionals, namely tutorials, which guide you through preparing an analytic dataset, and explaining the nuances of the survey design, medical coding classifications, listservs and the Research Data Center.

NCHS Research Data Center (RDC)

This website was developed by the NCHS with the goal to allow researchers access to data that does not appear in the public use files of data collected by the Center. Restricted variables are those that could compromise the confidentiality of survey respondents like geography, genetic data, and detailed race/ethnicity, and access to this data requires the researcher to submit a proposal to the RDC and comply with the process.

Link of the month: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)

The OCC was established in 1863 as a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is headed by the Comptroller, who is appointed by the President.
The main purpose of the OCC is to provide regulations and supervision of the charters to all national banks. Therefore the website allows the researcher not only to access pending and recently enacted legislation, but to explore law and licensing documents providing guidance, establishing precedents and court documents of interest. In addition one may check if any national bank or foreign branch has ever been under scrutiny by the OCC.

Link of the month - Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)

With the latest salmonella scare out in the media I had to look for reliable information to appease the hypochondriac inside me; and I found it in the Food and Safety Inspection Service, the public health agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

This website is a one-stop-shop for anything food safety related and it is responsible for ensuring the safety of the nation's commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products. The site not only contains all regulations, directives and notices in this area, but as well recalls, fact sheets covering everything from safe food handling to advice for at-risk population groups, and the possibility to sign up for an emails alert for future recalls.

Germany’s Federal Convention to elect new President

On Wednesday, June 30th, the German Federal Assembly is going to elect a new President. The election comes after the previous President, Horst Koehler, unexpectedly resigned in late May. President Koehler was very popular among German citizens, but had received growing criticism from the reigning conservative government for his remarks about the involvement of the German armed forces in Afghanistan and the status and prestige of politicians. In a climate of unjustified criticism and plain backstabbing he did what he felt was the only thing he could do, resign. That left everyone stunned (including Chancellor Merkel) and presidential candidates had to be found, as according to Art. 54 (4) the Basic Law (commonly referred to as the German Constitution) the new President has to be elected within 30 days after the President leaves office.

The three candidates on the slate are Christian Wulff, Joachim Gauck and Luc Jochimsen. Merkel's governing coalition presented Christian Wulff who is currently minister president of the state of Lower Saxony, as its candidate. Wulff is one of the rather plain and unimpressive career politicians who nevertheless managed to get ahead in party politics (maybe because he is so unimpressive). That he was nominated by the CDU, one of the governing parties, is seen as a strategic move by Chancellor Merkel as she is well aware, that Wulff not only disagrees with her in many areas but more importantly will do anything to discredit her. If he gets elected however he will be “out of the way” and can’t cause further trouble.

His main opponent is Joachim Gauck, a pastor from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), who was once the first Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Archives, and is widely favored by the public as well as the opposition. To nominate Gauck was a surprising move by the Socialdemocratic Party as well as the Greens. While he is a well known human rights activist, he described himself as a “liberal conservative” and would have wanted to be the candidate of the CDU.

The third candidate is Luc Jochimsen. Before her retirement in 2002 she was an accomplished journalist and documentary director. Since then she became an outspoken proponent of the GDR and declared that it was not “a state of injustice”. Jochimsen never lived in the GDR and why she believes she can voice such an opinion is a miracle (not only to me).

The German people have no say in Wednesday's vote; the federal president will be elected by a federal assembly, which includes 1,244 lawmakers. Merkel's governing coalition has a slim majority in the convention and usually the members are expected to vote with the party that selected them for participation, but a number of high ranking personalities suggested that no one should be “forced” to vote according to party lines. It is very likely though, that everyone will vote as they are told and Wulff will be elected in the first round.