GovBlog: UC Berkeley » environment

United States Congressional Serial Set Now Available through LexisNexis Congressional

Jesse Silva — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:38:56 +0000

UC Berkeley has recently acquired full-text access to the United States Congressional Serial Set (1789-1969) through LexisNexis Congressional. The Serial Set contains the legislative history of United States, and also includes many historic agency annual reports, House and Senate Reports, and many other official government documents (for a more complete summary of what is contained in the Serial Set, click here). Prior to this acquisition, citations to the Serial Set found in LexisNexis Congressional had to be searched in the Readex United States Congressional Serial Set database. With this purchase, you can now search LexisNexis Congressional for all your congressional research needs. Off-campus access to LexisNexis Congressional is restricted to current UCB student, faculty and staff, though anyone in the Library may access the database.

New Little Hoover Commission Reports

Susana Hinojosa — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:09:18 +0000

The Little Hoover Commission has published three reports of interest since the start of 2009. These are:

A Review of the Governor’s Reorganization Plan to Consolidate Information Technology Functions: Recommendations to the Legislature (March 26, 2009)

Clearer Structure, Cleaner Water: Improving Performance and Outcomes at the State Water Boards (January 2009)

First Year Checkup: Strategies for a Stronger Public Health Department (January 2009).

The Little Hoover Commission is an independent state oversight agency. By statute, the Commission is a bipartisan board composed of five public members appointed by the Governer, four public members appointed by the Legislature, two senators and two assemblymembers. The Commission empanels advisory committees, holds public meetings and visits government operations in action. Its conclusions are submitted to the Governor and the Legislature.

MTC Draft Transportation 2035 Plan: Change in Motion

Susana Hinojosa — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:44:33 +0000

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is the transportation, planning, and financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. The MTC has released the Draft Transportation 2035 Plan: Change in Motion which is the Bay Area’s transportation blueprint over the next 25 years. The companion, Draft Environmental Impact Report is also available for comment. View the documents online and get the deadlines for comments.

New Database: LexisNexis Statistical Datasets

Jesse Silva — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:25:29 +0000

The Library has just subscribed to LexisNexis Statistical Datasets. The database provides fast and easy one-stop shopping to more than 5.3 billion (and growing) data points from licensed and public domain datasets. Sources of data include local, state and international governments and organizations. Datasets allows you to customize the data by selecting subjects, variable(s) of interest, and the ability to view your data in side-by-side tables, charts and even maps. Datasets also provides quick graphs and chats for statistics in the news, and when you download or print, you are given citation information from where the data originated. Anyone may access LexisNexis Statistical Datasets from the public computers in the Library, however, off-campus access to is restricted to current UCB faculty, staff and students through the proxy server or VPN.

California Water: An LAO Primer

Susana Hinojosa — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:31:11 +0000

This Legislative Analyst’s report is a “quick reference” guide giving a snapshot of California’s water delivery system and the series of challenges being faced by weather conditions, legal requirements, and system operation. The report (at 77 pages) includes charts and information such as, “An Overview of California’s Water Governance”, “How Do We Finance Water Projects”,”What Drives the Cost of Water?”,”Water Supply, Source and Delivery”, and “Issues for Legislative Consideration”.

Databank on Indigenous Legislation

Susana Hinojosa — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:33:29 +0000

The Inter-American Development Bank offers on its website various links to ’statistics and tools’ and one such tool is the Databank on Indigenous Legislation. The databank has three sections which in different ways make available legal texts, legislation at various levels and also case law. The National Legislation by Country section contains legal rules, text from constitutions, laws and case law. The section, National Legislation by Theme offers 20 themes such as cultural diversity, territories, health, environment, and indigenous women and within the themes lists legal rules in constitutions, laws and legislation. The third section, International Legislation includes the text of international conventions such as the American Convention on Human Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, also includes international case law by country, and Inter-American Court of Justice rulings.

California Energy Consumption Database

Susana Hinojosa — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:02:21 +0000

The California Energy Commission has created the online California Energy Consumption Database that reports electricity and natural gas consumption data. Users can generate reports showing the amount of energy consumed by geographical area, sector (residential, commercial, industrial) classifications. The database allows for easy downloading of the energy consumption data into Microsoft Excel and comma-separated values (CSV) file formats.

Global Perspectives and Regional Results: Science and Management in the Bay-Delta System

Susana Hinojosa — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:01:00 +0000

The 5th Biennial CALFED Science Conference, Global Perspectives and Regional Results: Science and Management in the Bay-Delta System, is scheduled October 22-24, 2008, at the Sacramento Convention Center, 1400 J St., Sacramento, CA. This Biennial conference is a forum for presenting scientific information and ideas relevant to the California Bay-Delta, its watersheds, and the adjacent coastal ocean. The conference program will feature plenary talks, and poster presentations on themes of interest, ie such as climate change science and water resources management. Check the conference information, and schedule online.

Climate Change Draft Scoping Plan: A Framework for Change

Susana Hinojosa — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:33:21 +0000

The California Air Resources Board will hear on June 26, 2008, the ARB staff presentation on the initial draft of the Climate Change Draft Scoping Plan, a framework for change. The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32) requires the Board to prepare a Scoping Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California to 1990 levels by 2020. This Scoping Plan is the state’s guide for how to achieve these emission cuts mandated by the 2006 law. The plan is now available for public comment and review. The Proposed Plan will be released in October 2008, taking into consideration all recommendations and will have a 45 day comment period before the Air Resources Board considers adoption at its November 2008 meeting.

House Clears Energy Bill Boosting Fuel Efficiency Standards

Glenn Gillespie — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 23:58:46 +0000

The House on Tuesday sent President Bush a streamlined energy bill that would make the first statutory increase in fuel economy standards in 32 years and require billions more gallons of biofuels to be blended into gasoline over the next 15 years.