You Don't Need a Library Card for These Libraries

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham,

Can you tell me where he's gone?

He freed a lotta people,
but it seems the good die young

But I just looked around and he's gone.

Has anybody here seen my old friend John,

Can you tell me where he's gone?

He freed a lotta people,
but it seems the good die young

But I just looked around and he's gone.

~Abraham, Martin and John
Dion DiMucci

As a teenager in Springfield, Illinois, I spent many hours at the Lincoln Library--it was the public library, which was located next to my dad's office in the Municipal Building. So, when I heard that the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum was being built in my hometown, I was a little confused. Were they building a new public library? No. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum would document the life of President Abraham Lincoln. Springfield's public library is still called Lincoln Library.

Abe is not the only U.S. President to have a library dedicated to him. In fact, out of 44 past Presidents, 26 have libraries, with another in the works. Every President from Herbert Hoover to George W. Bush has a Presidential Library administered by the Office of Presidential Libraries, which is a part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). President Obama's library will be handled a little differently (more about that later).

Like Abraham Lincoln, Presidents who preceded Herbert Hoover do not have Presidential Libraries administered by the NARA. Lincoln is one of 13 Presidents (see table below) who have libraries that are not sanctioned and maintained by the NARA. Some are managed by private foundations. Some are managed by state governments. For the first father-son combination of Presidents, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, the library is part of the the National Park Service at Adams National Historical Park.

Whether under the purview of NARA or not, these are not traditional libraries. They are repositories for preserving and making accessible the papers, records, and other historical materials of U.S. Presidents. The museum portion of a Presidential Library is open to the general public, and provides a way for everyone to learn more about a particular President.

If you're traveling this summer, you might want to check out one or more of the Presidential Libraries and Museums listed below. I highly recommend the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

The Presidential Library System (Hoover to present)

Before the advent of the Presidential Library system, Presidents or their heirs often dispersed Presidential papers at the end of the administration. Though many pre-Hoover collections now reside in the Library of Congress, others are split among other libraries, historical societies, and private collections. Unfortunately, many materials have been lost or deliberately destroyed.

The Presidential Library system formally began in 1939, when President Franklin Roosevelt donated his personal and Presidential papers to the Federal Government. At the same time, Roosevelt pledged part of his estate at Hyde Park to the United States, and friends of the President formed a nonprofit corporation to raise funds for the construction of the library and museum building. 

Roosevelt's decision stemmed from a belief that Presidential papers are an important part of the national heritage and should be accessible to the public. He asked the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to take custody of his papers and other historical materials and to administer his library.

In 1950, Harry S. Truman decided that he also would build a library to house his Presidential papers and helped to spur congressional action. In 1955, Congress passed the Presidential Libraries Act, establishing a system of privately erected and federally maintained libraries. The Act encouraged other Presidents to donate their historical materials to the government and ensured the preservation of Presidential papers and their availability to the American people.

Until 1978, Presidents, scholars, and legal professionals believed that the records created by the President or his staff while in office remained the personal property of the President and were his to take with him when he left office. The first Presidential libraries were built on this concept. NARA successfully persuaded Presidents to donate their historical materials to the Government for housing in a Presidential library managed by NARA.

The Presidential Records Act of 1978 established that the Presidential records that document the constitutional, statutory, and ceremonial duties of the President are the property of the United States Government. After the President leaves office, the Archivist of the United States assumes custody of the records. The Act allowed for the continuation of Presidential Libraries as the repository for Presidential records.

The Presidential Libraries Act of 1986 also made significant changes to Presidential libraries, requiring private endowments linked to the size of the facility. NARA uses these endowments to offset a portion of the maintenance costs for the library.

For more information on the Presidential Libraries System, see Frequently Asked Questions.

When a President Leaves Office

For the Presidents through President George W. Bush, new libraries followed the model of the Roosevelt Library. The libraries are constructed with private and other non-federal funds. A private, nonprofit organization is formed to coordinate fundraising and construction of the library-museum and to provide support for programs. Meanwhile, NARA establishes a Presidential project until a new Presidential Library is built. Once completed, the private organization turned over the libraries to the NARA to operate and maintain.

The Obama Library

The Obama library will follow a different model. NARA will not administer a museum or a traditional "Presidential Library" building. Instead records from Barack Obama's presidency will be digitized to the greatest extent possible, making Presidential records available to researchers regardless of location. NARA will still be responsible for the records and storing the original documents, but the new facility in Chicago will be run by the Obama Foundation and The University of Chicago. The Obama Presidential Center will be a privately operated, non-federal organization located in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago. 

Presidential Library Locations

No.	President	Library Name and Operator	Location
1	George Washington	Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon	Mount Vernon, Virginia
2	John Adams	Stone Library at Adams National Historical Park	Quincy, Massachusetts
3	Thomas Jefferson	Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Kenwood	Charlottesville, Virginia
5	James Monroe	James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library	Fredericksburg, Virginia
6	John Quincy Adams	Stone Library at Adams National Historical Park	Quincy, Massachusetts
16	Abraham Lincoln	Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum	Springfield, Illinois
17	Andrew Johnson	President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library	Tusculum, Tennessee
18	Ulysses S. Grant	Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library	Starkville, Mississippi
19	Rutherford B. Hayes	Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center	Fremont, Ohio
20	James Garfield	James A. Garfield National Historic Site	Mentor, Ohio
25	William McKinley	William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum	Canton, Ohio
28	Woodrow Wilson	Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library	Staunton, Virginia
30	Calvin Collidge	Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum	Northhampton, Massachusetts
31	Herbert Hoover	Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum	West Branch, Iowa
32	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum	Hyde Park, New York
33	Harry S. Truman	Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum	Independence, Missouri
34	Dwight Eisenhower	Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum	Abilene, Kansas
35	John F. Kennedy	John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum	Boston, Massachusetts
36	Lyndon B. Johnson	Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum	Austin, Texas
37	Richard M. Nixon	Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum	Yorba Linda, California
38	Gerald Ford	Gerald R. Ford Museum Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library	Grand Rapids, Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan
39	Jimmy Carter	Jimmy Carter Library and Museum	Atlanta, Georgia
40	Ronald Reagan	Ronald Reagan Presidential Library	Simi Valley, California
41	George H.W. Bush	George Bush Presidential Library & Museum	College Station, Texas
42	Bill Clinton	William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park	Little Rock, Arkansas
43	George W. Bush	George W. Bush Presidential Center	Dallas, Texas
44	Barack Obama	Barack Obama Presidential Center	Chicago, Illinois

Wayfair, You've Got to Charge Tax on Me

Oh, these are my girls, hello girls

Hello, Max, nice outfit

There are many different ways we pay what we owe

Ladies if you'll form a lovely tableau

Income, property, sales, utility, candy bars in my show

Licenses for dogs and cats, and that's not all you know

Out of almost every dollar a person can make

City, State and Federal governments take . . .

Take what?

What they think is fair you giving your share

Now and then there's a break

~Tax Man Max

School House Rock

Back about 10-15 years ago, when the Internet was young and online shopping was new, it didn't take long for people to realize that if you bought online, you wouldn't be charged sales tax. By the same token, state revenue departments realized that goods that were purchased from out-of-state vendors and not taxed affected the states' ability to raise money for state services. 

Lawyers who specialize in state taxation have been debating whether an out-of-state seller can be held responsible for collecting sales taxes on purchases made within a state for years. It really wasn't a matter of if the Supreme Court would take on this issue, but when.

The U.S. Supreme Court and the Constitution

For a case to get to the U.S. Supreme Court, it must have already been considered by lower courts. Lower courts may include Federal Courts of Appeal or State Supreme Courts. That's an over-simplification, but it works for our purposes. 

Once the parties have gone through the required lower courts, they may file a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court. Don't worry about the Latin, just know that the losing party asks the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case.

The U.S. Supreme Court is the final authority in matters involving interpretation of the U.S Constitution. In Article I, Section 8, Clause 3, the Constitution grants Congress the power “[t]o regulate Commerce . . . among the several States.”  This is known as the Commerce Clause.

The Commerce Clause has been interpreted over the years to mark the boundaries of a state's authority to regulate interstate commerce. This means that state regulations may not discriminate against interstate commerce, and states may not impose undue burdens on interstate commerce. The Due Process Clause is also in play. Basically, due process requires that the government can't deny an individual the opportunity to have a hearing.

Because the Supreme Court is the final authority on the Constitution, other U.S. courts (whether state or federal) must follow its decisions. The Supreme Court generally must follow its own decisions, but there are occasions when the Supreme Court rules that they got it wrong or that the previous decision doesn't work anymore.

Sales Tax

Before there was online shopping, there was catalog and mail order shopping. The U.S. Supreme Court last considered whether an out-of-state seller is liable for the collection and remittance of state sales tax to the state where the buyer is located in 1992. In that case, Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, the Court held that the key for answering this question depended on whether the seller has a physical presence in the buyer's state. Further, the mere shipment of goods into the buyer's state, following an order from a catalog, did not constitute physical presence. Quill followed a 1967 case, National Bellas Hess, Inc. v. Department of Revenue of Ill.

As I mentioned above, lawyers who specialize in state taxation have been waiting for the Court to accept a case that could revisit the state taxation issue in light of the increase in online shopping. Finally, the Court accepted a case involving online retailers Wayfair, Overstock.com and Newegg Inc.

In South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., the Court overruled Quill and National Bellas Hess. The Wayfair  Court found that a retailer could have nexus with a state without having a physical presence. Thus, states can now require online retailers to collect taxes on online purchases, whether or not the retailer has any physical  connection to the state.

What the Wayfair Decision Means

More than most Supreme Court decisions, this ruling will impact just about everyone.

• It "levels the playing field" for brick-and-mortar retailers. In other words, a customer will be charged tax whether they purchase that book from Barnes and Noble or order it from amazon.com. Actually, Amazon is already collecting taxes on online purchases, but the example illustrates my point.
• States will now be able to collect tax from their residents who purchase items online, whether or not the retailer has a store, an office, or any other type of physical presence in the state. States have been scrambling to come up with ways to tax online sales, since they were losing revenue.
• In the short-term, stocks of online retailers, such as Amazon, Etsy, Overstock and Wayfair are also taking a hit, but within a few hours of the decision, stock prices for these companies seem to be creeping up again.
• For companies that use third-party online sellers (like Amazon), the ruling likely will open the door for retailers to be responsible for collecting tax from those third parties, too. This is already required in Washington and Pennsylvania.

Dissent

Justice Kennedy wrote the opinion for the majority. Justices Thomas, Ginsburg, Alito and  Gorsuch joined in the majority opinion. Chief Justice Roberts wrote a dissent, which Justices Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan joined. However, the dissent didn't disagree with the result as much as they thought it was a matter for Congress to settle.

They say that the only things that are certain are death and taxes. I guess that makes free shipping all the more important!

Precious Cargo

Photo Credit: T. Schlangen 2018 

If we took a holiday

Took some time to celebrate

Just one day out of life

It would be

It would be so nice

Everybody spread the word

We're gonna have a celebration

All across the world

In every nation

It's time for the good times

Forget about the bad times

One day to come together

To release the pressure

We need a holiday

If we took a holiday

Took some time to celebrate

Just one day out of life

It would be

It would be so nice

~Holiday
Madonna

It's summer vacation time! Time for excursions to the beach, amusement parks, national parks, historic sites and to see family. While some will be taking road trips, many others will be flying. If you're traveling with a child under the age of two on an airplane, chances are that the child will be sitting on your lap unless you purchase a ticket for your child. Or at least that's the way it should work. In an incident last summer, a flight attendant insisted that the mother of a toddler hold her child even though she had purchased a ticket for the child. Just in the last couple days, another mother and child have been in the news as a flight attendant with the same airline insisted that a mother traveling with her 8-month-old daughter place the car seat so that the child was facing forward, which is not recommended for children weighing less than 35 pounds.

Child's Seat Given to Adult Passenger

In the first incident, a woman traveling with her two-year-old son was flying from Hawaii to Boston. They boarded a plane for the last leg in Houston and found their seats. According to the mother, a flight attendant came to check if the child was present before a standby passenger showed up with a ticket corresponding to the toddler's seat number. When the mother alerted a flight attendant, she was told that the flight was full. The mother said that she continued the flight with her son on her lap, because she was afraid of a physical confrontation (as was depicted by the infamous video showing a doctor being dragged down the aisle of a plane) if she spoke up further.

The airline indicated that it had "inaccurately scanned the boarding pass of [the child]. As a result, [his] seat appeared to be not checked in, and [United] released his seat to another customer and [the mother] held her son for the flight."

Forbes Magazine reported that, according to an FAA spokesperson, "the FAA will work with [the airline] to investigate the facts of the event and determine if a violation occurred." That's the rub--Federal Aviation Regulations specify that during the takeoff, in flight, and upon landing, there must be available to each passenger who has reached his or her second birthday an approved seat or berth and an approved safety belt. In this case, the child was 27 months old (according to his mother, and there's no reason to doubt that she knows her son's age). Consequently, if a 27-month-old child was not properly restrained in his own seat, the airline could be subject to a significant fine.

Beyond the regulations, however, there is a basic safety issue at work. Although the regulations permit children under two-years-old to fly on a parent's lap, the FAA acknowledges that the safest place for your child on an airplane is in a government-approved child safety restraint system (CRS) or device (i.e., a car seat). The agency explains that a parent's arms aren't capable of holding a child securely, especially during unexpected turbulence.

Improperly Installed Car Seat

Just as in a car, the CRS must be properly installed. In the most recent incident making the news, a mother flying home to California from Denver with her 8-month-old daughter, reports that she was told by an airline employee to install her daughter's CRS so that her daughter was facing forward. The mother said she had researched everything, and she knew that the CRS should be facing backward. A baby's neck isn't strong enough to withstand the force of bumps or jolts. That's the reason that CRSs should face backward in cars, too.

The mother initially placed the seat facing backward, as suggested for children under two. However, an airline employee told her the plane would not take off until she turned the CRS around. The mother says she felt like she was pressured to turn the seat facing forward, because she knew they would be kicked off the plane if she didn't comply. When the plane encountered turbulence, the mother said she held her child's head back to the car seat to protect her.

About 20 minutes before landing, the mother said that a flight attendant reviewed the policy and let her fix the seat. The airline has acknowledged the mistake and apologized.

FAA Recommendations vs. Regulations

In 1989, a United Airlines jet crashed in Sioux City, Iowa. One of the flight attendants from that flight wants the FAA to require all children to be belted into seats on commercial airliners. She recalls telling the parents of the four lap babies to put them on the floor and hold them. Afterwards, she encountered one of the mothers who said, "you told me to put my baby on the floor and he would be ok, and now he's gone." More than 25 years later, she continues to lobby for children under the age of two to be belted into a CRS. 

Still, the agency is not likely to change its regulations anytime soon. In August 2005, the FAA announced that it would not mandate the use of child safety seats on airplanes because of the increased safety risk to families. Huh??? The agency said its analysis showed that, if forced to purchase an extra airline ticket, families might choose to drive, a statistically more dangerous way to travel. Statistically, the risk of fatalities and injuries is significantly greater on highways, it said.

In May 2012, in preparation for the summer travel season, the FAA launched an education campaign to help parents make informed choices about their child's safety when they fly. They developed a new website that included tips and a video demonstration on how to properly install a child safety seat on an airplane.

Do an internet search, and it's easy to find incidents where children have been saved by being in a CRS and incidents where a parent was unable to hold onto his or her child. Tests have been conducted to demonstrate the inability of parents to hold onto children. It's sobering, particularly when you don't have the money to pay for an extra ticket. It's been more than 19 years since I had a child under the age of two. I wasn't aware of the dangers when my first daughter was under two, but with my younger daughter, I would check to see if there were empty seats on the flight and ask if we could use the car seat. After all, we needed to travel with the car seat anyway. A couple times, I was able to do it. And, if not, I could gate-check the car seat. 

For more information, see the car seat blog: Airplanes, Carseats, and Kids—What You Need to Know Pt. 1 and Airplanes, Carseats, and Kids—What You Need to Know Pt. 2.

The safest way to fly with a child is to purchase a seat for them, regardless of age. I remember being glad when each of my children hit their second birthday because I no longer had wrestle with the question of whether to purchase a ticket or gamble with their safety. 

The European Union and Our Privacy

Historically, privacy was almost implicit, 

because it was hard to find 

and gather information. 

But in the digital world, 

whether it's digital cameras or satellites

 or just what you click on, 

we need to have more explicit rules - 

not just for governments 

but for private companies.

~Bill Gates

Have you noticed the recent barrage of privacy policy emails? Or maybe you've had to click to accept a website's privacy policy before you can login to your email or make an online purchase. Here's a copy of an email I received just last night:

What does the EU have to do with privacy regulations in the United States?

Simply put, not a lot. While some companies have announced that they will have one uniform privacy policy for the entire world, there is no requirement that data collection in the United States abide by the rules of the European Union (EU). In the US, we have laws protecting data privacy for health and financial records, and and for children. That, of course, leaves a lot of unprotected data. 

For more information on the GDPR, check these article: 3 Things You Should Know About Europe's Sweeping New Data Privacy Law, and Everything you need to know about a new EU data law that could shake up big US tech.

What is the GDPR?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a directive that was approved in April 2016. European authorities gave companies two years to comply and it came into force on May 25, 2018. It applies to residents of the EU, i.e., anyone living in an EU country, including Americans, is included in the new law. Moreover, all companies that have an Internet presence in the EU, including large American companies (Google, Facebook, Microsoft) are affected by the GDPR.

Under the GDPR, personal data includes what a person posts on social media, electronic medical records, mailing addresses, IP addresses, and GPS locations. The regulation requires permission from individuals to collect their personal data. The company clearly must ask for permission to collect personal data, and for the most personal data, the ask must be even clearer. If an individual does not want a company to keep personal data, then the company must delete the data without delay or face a penalty.

Under GDPR, consumers also has the following rights:

• the right to access the personal data being stored by companies and find out where and for what purpose it is used;
• the right to ask whoever is controlling their data to erase it and potentially stop third parties processing it; and 
• the right to take their data and transfer it to a different service provider.

The regulation addresses data breaches, too. Under the GDPR, companies must notify their data protection authority about a data breach within 72 hours of first becoming aware of the breach, and customers must be notified of the breach "without undue delay." For more about the requirements of the GDPR, click GDPR, The Checklist For Compliance.

Companies could face steep penalties for failure to comply--As much as 10 million euros ($12.4 million), or 2% of annual worldwide revenue, which ever is higher. In cases of negligence or violating the conditions of consent and infringing on data subject rights, the fines can go as high as 20 million euros ($24.8 million), or 4 percent of annual worldwide revenue, whichever is higher.

Too Soon to Tell

The law has been in effect for just over two weeks, so its affect on the people it aims to protect and the companies operating in the EU remains to be seen. How much it influences policies in countries not in the EU, such as the United States, is also an open question.

Another unknown is how Brexit will interact with the GDPR. Brexit, England's withdrawal from the EU, is complete on March 29, 2019. Until then, England is subject to the GDPR just as any other EU country. Afterwards, British companies will still have to observe the GDPR for EU residents.

Will the United States ever follow suit and strengthen our privacy laws? Probably not. In the meantime, check GDPR: Why Privacy Is Now Stronger in EU Than U.S. for a discussion on how privacy laws compare.

Protecting What's Mine

But you were up to your old tricks 

in Chapters Four, Five and Six.

And I'm giving you a longing look...

The way you walk

The way you talk and try to kiss me

And laugh in four or five paragraphs.

All your compliments 

and your cutting remarks

Are captured here in my quotation marks.

And I'm giving you a longing look...

Everyday I write the book.

Don't tell me you don't know the difference

Between a lover and a fighter.

With my pen and my electric typewriter

Even in a perfect world 

where everyone was equal

I'd still own the film rights 

and be working on the sequel.

~Every Day I Write The Book

Elvis Costello

Have you written a book? Or taken a picture you want to distribute? Maybe designed software? When you expend the time and energy to put your thoughts to paper, create a piece of art, or create some sort of computer application, you want to make sure that you get credit for your work, right? That's where copyright law comes into play.

Along with patents and trademarks, copyright is a way to identify the ownership of certain types of "intellectual property." The U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 grants Congress the power "To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."  This clause is the source of Congress' power to enact legislation governing copyrights and patents, and it is often referred to as the "patent and copyright clause." Copyright laws are found in Title 17 of the United States Code.

Chances are that you've seen a copyright notice. In books, it's the © with the author's name and year of publication that you see on one of the inside pages of a novel. In magazines, it's often buried in the fine print. In fact, there are eight categories of works that can be copyrighted:

1. Literary, musical and dramatic works.
2. Pantomimes and choreographic works.
3. Pictorial, graphic and sculptural works.
4. Sound recordings.
5. Motion pictures and other AV works.
6. Computer programs.
7. Compilations of works and derivative works.
8. Architectural works.

A work becomes copyrighted when it is fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Since March 1, 1989, works no longer require a copyright notice. Copyright registration is also no longer required. However, many authors and publishers still affix a copyright notice to works so that the owner of the copyright can be easily identified.

Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation. One of my favorite examples is that you cannot copyright the phone book. You can copyright the presentation of data, but you can't copyright the listings. Facts (scientific, historical, biographical or current events) that an author discovers through research or observation are in the public domain.

A copyright does not protect an author's ideas, although it may protect the way ideas are expressed. If a simple idea could be protected, it would actually prevent more substantial creative works from being created. It is the implementation of an idea that’s protected, e.g., how the idea is presented in a novel, a movie or some other media. 

How long does a copyright last? According to the U.S. Copyright Office website, the term of copyright for a particular work depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication. 

As a general rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years. For an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first. 

For works first published prior to 1978, the term will vary depending on several factors. To determine the length of copyright protection for a particular work, consult chapter 3 of the Copyright Act (title 17 of the United States Code).

When you put your idea to paper, it becomes "fixed to tangible media." With or without the © symbol, your work product is protected by the copyright laws. Check the Copyright Office's web page for more information.

No Child Left Behind, Every Student Succeeds, and Now Choices in Education

I'm just a bill.
Yes, I'm only a bill.
And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill.
Well, it's a long, long journey
To the capital city.
It's a long, long wait
While I'm sitting in committee,
But I know I'll be a law someday
At least I hope and pray that I will,
But today I am still just a bill

~I'm Just a Bill
Schoolhouse Rock

Last week, I saw a post on Facebook. It read as follows:

It drew my eye because it discusses pending legislation and it concerns education, particularly education of children with disabilities.

"ESSA" refers to the "Every Student Succeeds Act," which is a 2015 amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. ESSA was enacted to replace No Child Left Behind. NCLB, enacted in 2002, required schools receiving federal funds meet certain benchmarks. If a school did not meet the benchmarks, students might be given the option of attending a school that did meet the progress goals. 

On January 23, 2017, Rep. Steve King and other Republican Congressmen introduced H.B. 610, which they are calling, "The Choices in Education Act." The bill, if enacted would do some of the things that the Facebook post claims. According to information provided on Congress.gov:

• The bill repeals the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and limits the authority of the Department of Education (ED) such that ED is authorized only to award block grants to qualified states.
• It also establishes an education voucher program, through which each state shall distribute block grant funds among local educational agencies (LEAs) based on the number of eligible children within each LEA's geographical area. From these amounts, each LEA shall: (1) distribute a portion of funds to parents who elect to enroll their child in a private school or to home-school their child, and (2) do so in a manner that ensures that such payments will be used for appropriate educational expenses.

The post is incorrect, however, when it says that H.B. 610 will abolish the No Hungry Kids Act. It does, amend the Act and water down the effect of the Act. Under the No Hungry Kids Act, lunches served by schools must meet minimum nutritional requirements, except that the minimum nutritional requirements do not prohibit the substitution of foods to accommodate medical or other special dietary needs of individual students. The new bill adds that the nutritional requirements cannot establish a calorie maximum for individual school lunches or prohibit a child from eating a lunch provided by the child's parent or legal guardian.

Before you pick up your phone to call your Congressman or start typing that email, there are some things you should know:

• When the bill was introduced in January, it was referred to Committee (as is done with any proposed legislation) and no further action has been taken, except that one of the four sponsoring Congressmen withdrew his sponsorship.
• The Committee, in this case the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, must consider the legislation before it can be sent to the House floor. Most likely, before it would be considered by the whole committee, it would first fall under the purview of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education. The Subcommittee is comprised of seven republicans and six democrats whose job it is to explore the implications of the bill, the cost of the bill, and maybe hold hearings on the bill.
• The bill could also die in Committee. In fact, it is likely it will die in Committee. According to USHistory.org, more than 90 percent of congressional bills die in committee.
• With only three sponsors, this bill doesn't appear to be viable. If members of the House of Representatives thought the bill would succeed, they would be jumping on the bandwagon to sponsor it.

If you've been watching the news, you know that Congress has been busy trying to create a replacement for the Affordable Care Act (also known as "the ACA" or "Obamacare"). After that, there is talk of tax reform, so for now, education reform appears to have been put on the back burner, but it is likely to return to the forefront before long. When it does, it could be H.B. 610 or it might be another bill. It might also be a combination of bills. Either way, this is unlikely to be the last we hear about education reform. 

Stay tuned for further developments.

Beware of Wolves in Government Agents' Clothing

They headed down to, ooh, old El Paso

That's where they ran into a great big hassle

Billy Joe shot a man while robbing his castle

Bobbie Sue took the money and run

* * *

Bobbie Sue, whoa, whoa, she slipped away

Billy Joe caught up to her the very next day

They got the money, hey

You know they got away

They headed down south and they're still running today

Singin' go on take the money and run

~Take the Money and Run
The Steve Miller Band

Telemarketers have been a thorn in the side of the average person for years. They are known to interrupt dinner and won't take no for an answer. However, there are some callers who are beyond annoying, they are dangerous because they want to get you to give personal information they can use to steal from you.

The advent of the computer, and more recently iPads, tablets and smart phones, has brought these intruders into our houses in another way. They're lurking in the shadows waiting to get us to give up information online.

Telephone.  You come home from work after a rough  day and play the voice messages on your land line (yes, there are people who still have land lines). Your heart starts pounding when you hear a caller identify himself as an IRS agent. They inform you that you owe back taxes and demand that you pay it immediately. They tell you to make the payment on a prepaid debit card. Before you start transferring money, STOP!!

The IRS will never:

• Call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.
• Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.
• Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.
• Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
• Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.

Every year, the IRS puts out a list of its Dirty Dozen scams to help taxpayers avoid being tricked.

Another common phone scam is solicitations for charity. There are several sites to check whether a charity is truly a charity. Two of the best known are Charity Navigator and GuideStar. Another common scam is solicitations for your local police and fire department (see Solicitations for Police and Firefighters).

Computer.  You're surfing the internet when a pop-up or a locked Internet browser alerts you that you have violated the law and/or are being monitored by the NSA. You have 24 hours to pay the fine or all your files, passwords, financial information, etc. The message even throws in a couple of official looking citations from the U.S. Code (the laws enacted by Congress) to convey the gravity of the situation. And, they know where you live. Your town is listed right there on the message.

The NSA

• gathers information America's adversaries wish to keep secret and protects America's vital national security information and systems from theft or damage by others; and
• does not take control of the computers of the average American and prevent the individual from accessing the internet until a ransom is paid.

For more on computer security (probably more than you ever wanted to know), check out Guide to Malware Incident Prevention and Handling. One helpful thing in this 101-page document is the Glossary of different computer security and scam terms.

I've just scratched the surface here. Scammers are becoming more sophisticated all the time, and you must remain vigilant to protect yourself. 

Caveat Emptor

Let the buyer beware. Here are a couple of common sense rules for avoiding being a victim. 

(1) Don't give out personal information to people who call you on the phone or email you without you first initiating contact. Be especially careful about credit card, social security and bank account numbers. Ask the caller if they will send you information in the mail about their organization or cause. If they won't, or if they say that you have to make a decision immediately, then end the call.

(2) Don't click on links in unsolicited emails. Scammers are good at making up websites that mimic legitimate websites. If I'm interested in something in an email that has a link, I will google the organization and go to the website that way. I can look for whatever I'm interested in once I get to the website.

(3) Don't allow someone on the phone (or on the computer) to push you into making a decision right away. If they can get you off-balance so you make a snap decision, they have a better chance of separating you from your money.

(4) Research the organization or the cause before you give them money. I can't think of any situation where a legitimate organization would not give you time to find out more about them.

(5) Government agencies will contact you via U.S. mail for routine matters. They won't call (at least for an initial contact) and they won't hold your computer for ransom.

(6) There's this pesky thing called the U.S. Constitution. Of course I'd find a way to work that in here, but it's relevant. Due process means that the government can't deny a citizen of his or her rights. Remember the idea of being innocent until proven guilty? If there's a dispute over you owing money to the government or criminal allegations against you, then you have a right to a trial. The government can't say you're guilty of a crime and require you to pay a penalty without a trial. That would be a denial of due process.

(7) Forget your manners! Most of us have had etiquette drilled into us for as long as we can remember. However, if you have a solicitor who is unwilling to end a phone conversation when you try to end it, then it's time to hang up the phone. Remember that their goal is to keep you on the phone until they make a sale or get you to make a "payment." 

Lastly, I found information on the FTC Consumer Information webpage regarding scams. You can even sign up for scam alerts. Click here to check it out.