Understanding Federal Legislation: A Section by Section Guide to Key Legal Considerations

Understanding Federal Legislation: A Section by Section Guide to Key Legal Considerations. Congressional Research Service. Victoria L. Killion. August 18, 2020.

Federal bills are increasingly complex, making them difficult to understand for the average reader and the seasoned practitioner alike. What a congressional drafter understands to be the import of a given provision could later be discussed and interpreted in committee or on the floor of the House or the Senate. If the bill is enacted, federal agencies may then consider its meaning, either behind the scenes when evaluating their own compliance with the law or through guidance, rules, or agency orders governing third parties. If a litigant challenges an agency’s interpretation of the law, a court may need to resolve the law’s meaning. Although the court’s ultimate goal is to effectuate Congress’s intent, judges may draw on different philosophies or tools to arrive at their conclusions about what the law means.

[PDF format, 87 pages].

Artificial Intelligence Primer: What is Needed to Maximize AI’s Economic, Social, and Trade Opportunities

Artificial Intelligence Primer: What is Needed to Maximize AI’s Economic, Social, and Trade Opportunities. Brookings Institution. Joshua P. Meltzer. May 13, 2019

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform economic growth, commerce, and trade, affecting the types of jobs that are available and skills that are needed. The United States, China, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and others have recognized the opportunity and are supporting AI research and development as well as preparing their workforce.

For AI to develop also requires an enabling environment that includes new regulation in areas such as AI ethics and data access and revisiting existing laws and regulation in areas such as privacy and intellectual property (IP) rights to ensure that they work for AI. In addition, AI development requires an international agenda to avoid unnecessary regulatory heterogeneity that creates barriers to data access and use and impedes the global diffusion of AI products. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 26 pages].

Gun Control Legislation

Gun Control Legislation. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. William J. Krouse. November 14, 2012.

Congress has debated the efficacy and constitutionality of federal regulation of firearms and ammunition, with strong advocates arguing for and against greater gun control. In the wake of the July 20, 2012, Aurora, CO, theater mass shooting, in which 12 people were shot to death and 58 wounded (7 of them critically) by a lone gunman, it is likely that there will be calls in the 112th Congress to reconsider a 1994 ban on semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices that expired in September 2004. There were similar calls to ban such feeding devices (see S. 436/H.R. 1781) following the January 8, 2011, Tucson, AZ, mass shooting, in which 6 people were killed and 14 wounded, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was grievously wounded. These calls could be amplified by the August 5, 2012, Sikh temple shooting in Milwaukee, WI, in which six worshipers were shot to death and three wounded by a lone gunman.

[PDF format, 118 pages, 1.02 MB].