National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): FY2020 Budget Request and Appropriations
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) mission is to understand and predict changes in weather, climate, oceans, and coasts; to share that information with others; and to conse...
The Cable Franchising Authority of State and Local Governments and the Communications Act
Companies that provide cable television service (cable operators) are subject to regulation at the federal, state, and local levels. Under the Communications Act of 1934, the Federal Communications Co...
Campaign and Election Security Policy: Overview and Recent Developments for Congress
In the United States, state, territorial, and local governments are responsible for most aspects of selecting and securing election systems and equipment. Foreign interference during the 2016 election...
Dairy Provisions in USMCA
On November 30, 2018, the leaders of the United States, Canada, and Mexico signed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The legislative bo...
Religious Speech and Advertising: Current Circuit Split and its Implications for Congress
On September 17, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Third Circuit), in a divided decision, held that a transit system’s policy banning ads with religious and atheistic messages vio...
Supreme Court Criminal Law Decisions: 2019
In 2019, the Supreme Court issued a sizeable number of criminal law decisions, which addressed several topics, including sentencing, pretrial, statutory construction, and ineffective assistance of cou...
The CASE Act of 2019: Establishing a Small-Claims Process for Copyright Disputes
On October 22, 2019, the House passed H.R. 2426, the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act of 2019 by a vote of 410-6. Several Members have introduced an identical bill (S. 1273...
Shipping Under the Jones Act: Legislative and Regulatory Background
The Jones Act, which refers to Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (P.L. 66-261), requires that vessels transporting cargo from one U.S. point to another U.S. point be U.S.-built, and owned ...
Applicability of Federal Requirements to Selected Health Coverage Arrangements: An Overview
Introduction
A majority of individuals in the United States have private health insurance coverage. In general, health plans sold in the private health insurance market (i.e., individual coverage, sma...
Applicability of Federal Requirements to Selected Health Coverage Arrangements
Federal health insurance requirements generally apply to health plans sold in the private health insurance market in the United States (i.e., individual coverage, small- and large-group coverage, and ...
Congressional Participation in Litigation: Article III and Legislative Standing
Houses, committees, and Members of Congress periodically seek to initiate or participate in litigation for various purposes, such as advancing their legislative objectives, challenging alleged transgr...