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Severe Cold Weather Events & Critical Infrastructure in Texas

Feb 17

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights

February 15, 2022, marks the one-year anniversary of the severe winter event that struck Texas. Our librarians have pulled together a collection of resources related to Winter Storm Uri and other severe cold weather events in Texas, including the storms' effect on the state's critical infrastructure, the impact on Texans, and the response of state agencies and the Texas Legislature.

 

Independent System Operator:
Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)

 

State Agencies:
Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC)

 

Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC)

 

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (CPA)

 

Texas Department of Insurance (TDI)

 

Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)

 

 

Federal Agencies:
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) / North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)

 

Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, U.S. Department of Energy

 

Other Resources:

 

 

The tile image, "electricity pylon" by fsse8info, is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. / Resized from original.

This entry was posted on February 17, 2022 at 12:25 PM and has received 1716 views. Print this entry.

2020 General Election: Voting Resources

Sep 29

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, Election

This year the general election will be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Texas Secretary of State's website, VoteTexas.gov, has a listing of other important 2020 elections dates, including the last day to register to vote, the last day to apply for a ballot by mail, and the dates for early voting.

 

In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published recommendations for election officials, poll workers, and voters on their webpage, Considerations for Election Polling Locations and Voters (updated June 10, 2020).

 

Below we've also compiled a list of resources from Texas state officials and other organizations related to the upcoming election, voting by mail, and voting and holding elections during a pandemic. Please use the contact information on the respective agencies' websites for any questions specific to their purposes.

 

Texas state resources:

  • Office of the Governor
    • General Proclamation (Ordering a general election on November 3, 2020), August 26, 2020
    • General Proclamation (Related to early voting by personal appearance and delivery of a marked mail ballot), June 27, 2020

Additional resources related to voting by mail and elections during a pandemic:

 

The tile image, "I Voted" by Ian Aberle, is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 / Resized from original.

 

This entry was posted on September 29, 2020 at 9:15 AM and has received 2083 views. Print this entry.

** UPDATED ** COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Texas Informational Resources

Sep 18

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, COVID-19

This post is an update of blog posts dated March 17, 2020, and April 7, 2020.

 

Below is an updated list of resources from Texas leadership and Texas state agencies on the response to COVID-19 (coronavirus). Please use contact information on the respective agencies' websites for any questions specific to their purposes.

 

From Texas leadership:

 

Texas state agency resources:

 

Information on this page is provided as a public service by the Legislative Reference Library. The Legislative Reference Library makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy and makes no warranty in regard to its use. Users assume all risk of reliance on the information included on this site.

 

This entry was posted on September 18, 2020 at 8:30 AM and has received 1350 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: LAS Additional Search Feature Added

Jul 1

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights

 
The Legislative Archive System (LAS) advanced search has recently been updated to include sections affected as a search parameter. This new feature allows users to search for bills by an affected article or section of the Texas statutes. Currently, index to sections affected data is only available going back to the 74th Legislature (1995). Users can combine multiple search terms, such as authors, sponsors, subjects, caption keywords, etc., along with this newly added search feature.
 
To begin your search, select the "Sections affected" link under the "Additional searches" heading. This will cause a pop-up box to appear. From here you can select the code and the section or article you would like to use in your bill search.
 
Leave a message for a librarian at (512) 463-1252 if you require further assistance with this new feature.
 
 

This entry was posted on July 1, 2020 at 12:00 PM and has received 1392 views. Print this entry.

**UPDATED** COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Texas Informational Resources

Apr 9

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, COVID-19

This post is an update of a blog post dated March 17, 2020

 

Seeking information on COVID-19 (coronavirus) and how it may affect different aspects of life in Texas? We've compiled this list of resources from various Texas leaders, agencies, and other organizations. Please use contact information on the respective organizations' websites for any questions specific to their purposes.

 

From Texas leadership:

Texas state agency resources:

From other Texas organizations:

National organizations:

And federal resources:

 

Information on this page is provided as a public service by the Legislative Reference Library. The Legislative Reference Library makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy and makes no warranty in regard to its use. Users assume all risk of reliance on the information included on this site

This entry was posted on April 9, 2020 at 12:00 PM and has received 1945 views. Print this entry.

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) – Database and Portal Resources

Apr 1

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, COVID-19

Seeking information on COVID-19 (coronavirus)? We've compiled a list of databases and portals from various organizations that are providing free, temporary access to their resources during the COVID-19 pandemic including: books, journals, news, and research. Please use contact information on the respective organizations' websites for any questions specific to their purposes.

 

Association of American Publishers Directory of Open Access Journals

  • DOAJ
    Community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals.
EBSCO

  • Covid-19: Updates & Information (Portal)
    Compiles updates related to COIVD-19, including news and information from the CDC, WHO and other U.S. government agencies. Includes a list of maps related to the outbreak.
  • For Researchers
    COVID-19 research portal that includes open-access to research resources.

Elsevier

Fastcase
  • COVID-19 Resources
    A resource hub, bringing together free legislative and government updates and COVID-19 content across leading news media sources.  

Govinfo, United States Government Publishing Office (GPO)

  • Coronavirus (COVID-19)

    Provides legislative, presidential, and regulatory documents relating to Coronavirus (COVID-19).

In Custodia Legis (blog), Law Library of Congress

  • Coronavirus Resource Guide
    A guide to laws, regulations, and executive actions in the United States, at both the federal and the state level, and in various countries related to COVID-19 and its spread.

JSTOR

LexisNexis

  • Law360 COVID-19 News
    News, in-depth features, and expert analysis and commentary related to COVID-19 and the law.

National Library of Medicine

  • Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

    • LitCovid
      Provides central access to COVID-19 articles in PubMed. Updated daily.
    • Public Health Emergency COVID-19 Initiative (PubMed Central)
      Free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature, includes a list of publishers that have made their coronavirus-related articles accessible.
      (See Discovering Coronavirus-Related and COVID-19-Related Articles insert for search queries examples.)

Project Muse

  • Free Resources on MUSE during COVID-19
    Temporarily-free vetted research in the humanities and social sciences from a variety of distinguished university presses, societies, and related not-for-profit publishers.

SSRN

  • Coronavirus
    Coronavirus-related research available for free. Note that these papers are not peer-reviewed.

Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Welch Medical Library, Johns Hopkins University & Medicine

Wiley Online Library

World Health Organization

 

Information on this page is provided as a public service by the Legislative Reference Library. The Legislative Reference Library makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy and makes no warranty in regard to its use. Users assume all risk of reliance on the information included on this site.

This entry was posted on April 1, 2020 at 3:00 PM and has received 2901 views. Print this entry.

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) – Municipal and County Informational Resources

Mar 30

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, COVID-19

Seeking municipal and county information on COVID-19 (coronavirus)? We've compiled a list of current declarations, orders, and supplemental resources. Please use contact information on the respective organizations' websites for any questions specific to their purposes. 

 

National Association of Counties:  

National League of Cities:

Texas Association of Counties:

Texas Health and Human Services:

Texas Judicial Branch:

 

Information on this page is provided as a public service by the Legislative Reference Library. The Legislative Reference Library makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy and makes no warranty in regard to its use. Users assume all risk of reliance on the information included on this site.

 

This entry was posted on March 30, 2020 at 8:50 AM and has received 2059 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: Governor's Statements on COVID-19

Mar 19

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, Governor, COVID-19

Under the authority of Texas Government Code Chapter 418 and the state of disaster proclamation, Governor Abbott has worked with various agencies to waive regulations and guide Texas' response to COVID-19 (coronavirus).

 

You can access all of these proclamations and statements in our governor's database, where we have a link to COVID-19 documents listed with our "popular searches." The most recent additions are today's Governor's Executive Order No. GA-08 and the declaration of a public health disaster. The LRL will continue adding documents to the database as they are released.

This entry was posted on March 19, 2020 at 2:25 PM and has received 1879 views. Print this entry.

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) – Texas Informational Resources

Mar 17

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, COVID-19

Seeking information on COVID-19 (coronavirus) and how it may affect different aspects of life in Texas? We've compiled this list of resources from various Texas leaders, agencies, and other organizations. Please use contact information on the respective organizations' websites for any questions specific to their purposes.

 

From Texas leadership:

Texas state agency resources:

From other Texas organizations:

And national organizations:

Information on this page is provided as a public service by the Legislative Reference Library. The Legislative Reference Library makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy and makes no warranty in regard to its use. Users assume all risk of reliance on the information included on this site.

This entry was posted on March 17, 2020 at 10:30 AM and has received 3585 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: 78th Legislature Committee Minutes

Nov 12

posted by TexasLRL in Legislation, Resource highlights, Committees, Legislative process

Committee minutes from the 78th Legislature have been scanned and are available in the LRL's committee minutes database. 

 

House and Senate committee minutes are a valuable resource for understanding the work that goes into crafting legislation. Scanned minutes may also include other committee documentation, including agendas, exhibits, hearing notices, press releases, rules, testimony, transcripts, and vote sheets.

 

Of particular interest as the Legislature prepares for the next round of redistricting is the 78th's Redistricting committee records (with Texas Legislative Council plans, maps, and court documents). More court documents that are not in the minutes can be found here: https://lrl.texas.gov/legis/redistricting/redistrictDocs.cfm. 

 

Below are some other interesting items that can now be found in our database:

 

House

Corrections (H)  (with testimony 2/18/2003)

Licensing and Administrative Procedures (H)  (with a statement of intent for HB 2689 by Keffer, 4/3/2003)

 

Senate

Criminal Justice (S)  (transcript 1/4/2005, testimony 3/10/2004)

 

Joint

Long-Term Care, Legislative Oversight (J)  (testimony/exhibits both dates)
Nutrition and Health in Public Schools (J)  (testimony/exhibits both dates)
Public School Finance, Select (J)  (testimony/exhibits 9/10/2003, 3/4/2004)

 

The LRL database also allows users access to committee documents from House, Senate, and Joint committees, 63rd–77th Legislatures (1973–2001), as well as to search for minutes from the 78th–85th Legislatures that are available through Texas Legislature Online.

This entry was posted on November 12, 2019 at 10:25 AM and has received 1130 views. Print this entry.

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