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“Good Samaritan” Tort Reform: Three House Bills

Description: This report discusses three 108th Congress tort reform bills: the Volunteer Pilot Organization Protection Act (H.R. 1084), the Good Samaritan Firefighter Assistance Act of 2003 (H.R. 1787), and the Nonprofit Athletic Organization Protection Act of 2003 (H.R. 3369).
Date: September 15, 2004
Creator: Cohen, Henry
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Proposed Change to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) under S. 113

Description: This report discusses S. 113, a bill to extend the coverage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ("FISA") to non-U.S. persons who engage in international terrorism or activities in preparation for terrorist acts, without a showing of membership in or affiliation with an international terrorist group.
Date: August 9, 2004
Creator: Elsea, Jennifer
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Semiautomatic Assault Weapons Ban

Description: This report focuses on the use and interpretation of firearms trace data produced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
Date: December 16, 2004
Creator: Krouse, William J.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Copyright Law: Digital Rights Management Legislation

Description: Digital Rights Management (DRM) refers to the technology that copyright owners use to protect digital media. This report surveys several of the DRM bills that were introduced in the 107th Congress and those that are pending in the 108th Congress. Generally, the bills are directed at two separate goals. One goal is to increase access to digitally-protected media for lawful purposes. The other attempts to thwart digital piracy and would do so by enhancing civil and criminal sanctions for digital … more
Date: August 2, 2004
Creator: Jeweler, Robin
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Copyright Law: Digital Rights Management Legislation

Description: Digital Rights Management (DRM) refers to the technology that copyright owners use to protect digital media. This report surveys several of the DRM bills that were introduced in the 107th Congress and those that are pending in the 108th Congress. Generally, the bills are directed at two separate goals. One goal is to increase access to digitally-protected media for lawful purposes. The other attempts to thwart digital piracy and would do so by enhancing civil and criminal sanctions for digital … more
Date: May 28, 2004
Creator: Jeweler, Robin
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Copyright Law: Digital Rights Management Legislation

Description: Digital Rights Management (DRM) refers to the technology that copyright owners use to protect digital media. This report surveys several of the DRM bills that were introduced in the 107th Congress and those that are pending in the 108th Congress. Generally, the bills are directed at two separate goals. One goal is to increase access to digitally-protected media for lawful purposes. The other attempts to thwart digital piracy and would do so by enhancing civil and criminal sanctions for digital … more
Date: October 1, 2004
Creator: Jeweler, Robin
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Highway and Transit Program Reauthorization Legislation in the 2nd Session, 108th Congress

Description: This report discusses significant legislative provisions in the two principal bills that are likely to be the subject of congressional discussion in the coming weeks and months to reauthorize federal highway, highway safety, and transit programs.
Date: February 26, 2004
Creator: Fischer, John W.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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9/11 Commission: Current Legislative Proposals for U.S. Immigration Law and Policy

Description: This report briefly discusses some of the major immigration areas under consideration in comprehensive reform proposals suggested by the 9/11 Commission, including asylum, biometric tracking systems, border security, document security, exclusion, immigration enforcement, and visa issuances. It refers to other CRS reports that discuss these issues in depth and will be updated as needed.
Date: December 6, 2004
Creator: Garcia, Michael John & Wasem, Ruth Ellen
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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9/11 Commission: Legislative Action Concerning U.S. Immigration Law and Policy in the 108th Congress

Description: From Summary: "This report discusses some of the major immigration areas that were under consideration in the above-mentioned comprehensive reform proposals, including asylum, biometric tracking systems, border security, document security, exclusion, immigration enforcement, and visa issuances."
Date: December 21, 2004
Creator: Garcia, Michael John & Wasem, Ruth Ellen
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Holocaust-era Insurance Claims: Federal Court Decisions and State Statutes and Federal Legislative Proposals

Description: This report will discuss in detail the Supreme Court case and the lower court decisions that preceded it, providing only so much information on the background and history of the issue as us necessary to an appreciation of the litigation.
Date: June 21, 2004
Creator: Weimer, Douglas Reid & Rubin, Janice E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, H.R. 1036 and S. 659, 108th Congress: Legal Analysis

Description: This report examines H.R. 1036, 108th Congress, as ordered to be reported by the House Committee on the Judiciary on April 3, 2003, and passed by the House without amendment on April 9, 2003. H.R. 1036, titled the “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act,” would prohibit lawsuits, except in specified circumstances, against a manufacturer or seller of a firearm or ammunition, or a trade association, for damages resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse of a firearm or ammunition.
Date: March 1, 2004
Creator: Cohen, Henry
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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House Committee Organization and Process: A Brief Overview

Description: This report provides a brief overview of the six features of the committee system in the House: organization, hearings, markup, reporting, oversight, and publications. Committees in the House have four primary powers: to conduct hearings and investigations, to consider bills and resolutions and amendments to them, to report legislation to the House for its possible consideration, and to monitor executive branch performance, that is, to conduct oversight.
Date: April 20, 2004
Creator: Schneider, Judy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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A Sketch of Supreme Court Recognition of Fifth Amendment Protection for Acts of Production

Description: This report discusses privilege under the Court Recognition of Fifth Amendment Protection for Acts of Production. The privilege covers an individual’s actions rather than his speech or writing, yet many incriminating actions such as providing a blood sample or a handwriting sample are ordinarily not protected because they are not testimonial.
Date: January 6, 2004
Creator: Doyle, Charles
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Water Act Issues in the 108th Congress

Description: This report discusses issues regarding the Clean Water Act. Prospects for legislative initiatives to comprehensively amend the Clean Water Act (CWA) have stalled for some time over whether and exactly how to change the law, and Congress has recently focused legislative attention on narrow bills to extend or modify selected CWA programs, rather than taking up comprehensive proposals. For example, the 108th Congress enacted one bill amending the CWA, legislation to reauthorize the National Estuar… more
Date: December 6, 2004
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Soil and Water Conservation Issues

Description: This report discusses soil and water conservation, which were prominent farm policy topics in the 108th Congress as the Administration implemented provisions in the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171). This farm bill increased spending and expanded the scope of the conservation effort by reauthorizing and amending most existing conservation programs and enacting new ones through FY2007.
Date: November 24, 2004
Creator: Zinn, Jeffrey A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2004 (S. 2290, 108th Congress)

Description: This report provides an overview of S. 2290, 108th Congress, the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2004 (or FAIR Act of 2004). The bill is a revised version of S. 1125, 108th Congress, and would create the Office of Asbestos Disease Compensation to award damages to asbestos claimants on a no-fault basis. Asbestos claims could no longer be filed or pursued under state law, except for the enforcement of judgments no longer subject to any appeal or judicial review before the date of en… more
Date: April 14, 2004
Creator: Cohen, Henry
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Visa Issuances: Policy, Issues, and Legislation

Description: This report opens with an overview of visa issuances, with sections on procedures for aliens coming to live in the United States permanently and on procedures for aliens admitted for temporary stays. It includes a discussion of visa screening policies, including inadmissibility, databases, an analysis of visa refusals, biometric visas and other major visa policy procedures. Summaries of key laws revising visa policy enacted in the 107th Congress follows. The final section analyzes selected issu… more
Date: February 11, 2004
Creator: Wasem, Ruth Ellen
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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