Technical-Legal Confluence News

Here is the House of Representatives press release for the “Bailout” announced yesterday. The Short Title of the new bill is “The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008″.

Here is the source complee text for the “Big Bailout” written in an extraordinary weekend session Sunday (Sept 28) at the Capitol, on the House of Representatives website: link.

The bill is an “indirect amendment” to HR 3997 and here is the text in PDF format: link.

Here is the house “executive summary”: link

The Section by Section analysis is here, including a discussion of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), link.

H.R. 3997 is the “Defenders of Freedom Tax Relief Act of 2007”, link here. I am not yet able to find the new addition on govtrack with the additional necessary links.

It is not clear why Congress connected this new Act to HR 3997.

There is an earlier bill, H.R. 6076, the “Home Retention and Economic Stabilization Act of 2008”, introduced by Doris Matsui (D-CA with 44 cosponsors).

The main govtrack reference for that is here.

Nothing in the bill yet seems to affect businesses outside the financial sector directly (such as law and Internet issues), although there could be regulations about Internet trading later. I will keep close tabs on this possibility.

The “Combating Child Exploitation Act of 2008”, S. 1738, was introduced into the 110th Congress by Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), with 19 cosponsors. It is also called the “Protect our Children” Act.

The govtrack link is here.

The bill would set up a Special Counsel for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction within the Office of the Deputy Attorney General and would bolster the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

The summary is here. Note the expansions in what child pornography law would cover, such as expanding the definition of “visual depiction” for purposes of child exploitation crimes to include data capable of conversion into a visual image transmitted by any means, and prohibiting the alteration of a visual depiction of an identifiable minor child so that it depicts child pornography.

The full text is here.

Oprah Winfrey has supported this bill. It is scheduled to vote in the Senate before Sept. 26, 2008.

Filial responsibility laws, on the books in about 28 states, could require adult children to support their parents (and, more rarely, other relatives) in case of impoverishment. The largest practical danger is that states could start enforcing these laws in relation to Medicaid nursing home stays when the adult children have assets.

Although not literally a “technical-legal” topic, it certainly has a bearing on the capacity of adults to run their own lives, so I’m providing a quick rundown here.

Here are some typical state laws:

California:
Family Law: link.

Indiana
Duty to furnish support for parents: link

Iowa:

“Parents and children liable” link

“Remote relatives: link

Maryland:
Family Law: link

Massachusetts:

“Neglect or refusal to support parent” link

Ohio:
“Non Support or contributing to non-support of dependents” link

Pennsylvania:
Position paper by parent: discussion of move from welfare code to family code .

South Dakota:

“Adult child’s duty to support parent when necessary” link

Adult child’s right of contribution from brothers and sisters for support of parent link

Utah:
Order in which relatives are liable: link

Virginia
Support of parents by children: link

There are also some laws that govern how many years back a government can look back when some who goes into a nursing home doles out money in advance. They are pretty complex, and they were tightened recently.

Medicaid Lookback Period: Sect 6011 here, Sect 6011.

The “Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008”, H.R. 4279, has this link on govtrack. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-4279 , introduced in the 110th Congress by John Conyers (D-MI).

The Congressional Research Service gives this summary.

There are multiple provisions, including some strengthening of administrative procedures to protect trademark, establishment of an IP czar (“Executive Office of the President the Office of the United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative (IP Enforcement Representative)”) , providing a “safe harbor” provision in copyright registration, and increasing penalties for introducing instrumentalities into foreign commerce that encourage copyright infringement.

The full text of the bill is here.

The Free Speech Protection act of 2008 is S. 2977, and was introduced by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) in the 110th Congress.

The Govtrack reference is here.

The would allow a publisher or writer in the United States who is sued in a foreign country (like Britain) for a work published in the United States to counter-sue the foreign plaintiff, if the work would not have been considered tortuous or libelous in the United States. This is to counter the practice of “libel tourism.”

The summary is here.

The text is here.

The corresponding bill in the House of Representatives is HR 5814, introduced by Peter King (R-NY) with nine co-sponsors. The link is here.