Natural Disasters

With September being National Preparedness Month and storm Gustav approaching the Gulf Coast, it might be prudent to list some government sources for disaster information.

For general information on types of disasters and currently declared disasters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is a good starting point. For general information on disaster preparedness, try Ready.gov.

For information specific to hurricanes, NOAA's National Weather Service operates the National Hurricane Center.

For earthquake specific information, try the Earthquake Center from the US Geological Survey.

For disaster mapping (including fires and hurricanes), check out geodata.gov.

California also offers some information on local disasters and preparedness tips from the Governor's Office of Emergency Services.

Minimum Drinking Age

The Amethyst Initiative, a group composed of college chancellors and presidents interested in re-opening the debate on the minimum drinking age in the United States, has recently generated increased media attention.

The law that effectively established a national minimum drinking age of 21 was enacted in 1984 and can be found in Title 23, Part 158 of the US Code. This statute allows for the withholding of Federal funds from any state that does not have a law in effect that establishes a minimum drinking age of 21.

For some background information on 23 USC 158, take a look at the house report "Minimum Drinking Age" and the congressional hearings "Prohibit the Sale of Alcoholic Beverages to Persons Under 21 Years of Age," "Measures to Combat Drunk Driving," and "National Minimum Drinking Age" (all available in microfiche at McHenry library). Also see these reports from the Congressional Research Service: "Drunk Driving and Raising the Drinking Age" (1983) and "National Minimum Drinking Age: Provisions and Analysis" (1984).

Congress continues to investigate underage drinking and alcohol abuse. For a more recent perspective, watch the webcast of the Senate committee hearing "Oversight Hearing on Effectiveness of Federal Drunk Driving Programs" held in October 2007 and read the hearings "Under the influence : the binge drinking epidemic on college campuses" from 2002 and "Underage drinking : research and recommendations" (also available in print at McHenry library) from 2003.

California established a minimum drinking age of 21 long before this federal legislation; section 25658 of the California Code of Business and Professions was enacted in 1953.

A number of government agencies, ranging from the Department of Justice to the Centers for Disease Control to the Department of Transportation have investigated this issue (see the GAO report: "Underage Drinking: Information on Federal Funds Targeted at Prevention"). Therefore, the following list of publications represents only the tip of the iceberg:

• For a law enforcement perspective, try "Underage Drinking" and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services at the US Department of Justice.


• For a traffic safety perspective, take a look at "Traffic Safety and Alcohol Regulation" and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.


• For alcohol related statistics, see the National Center for Health Statistics and the corresponding links to various surveys on alcohol use.


• For general information on alcohol and alcoholism, see the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism website (particularly the publication "Alcohol Research & Health: Focus on Young Adult Drinking") and the Alcohol Policy Information System for information on State and Federal alcohol policies.

If you're interested in California-specific alcohol policies and statistics, try SafeState from the California Attorney General's Office and the California Alcohol & Drug Programs website where you can browse their publications.

For an international perspective on alcohol policies, check out the World Health Organization's page on Alcohol.

FDA Allows Irradiation of Spinach and Iceberg lettuce

The FDA announced they are close to approving a rule that allows food processors to irradiate fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce. The announcement was issued in the Federal Register for Friday August 22nd 2008. This rule is available both in pdf and html versions.

For a more concise report, take a look at this article in the Washington Post: "FDA Allows Irradiation of Some Produce" and this statement posted by the FDA. This is a new development for fresh food. Previously, the FDA only allowed irradiation of some types of meat (like ground beef, due to E. coli) and a few spices.

Want to share your opinion or other comments about this with the FDA? The comment period is open until September 22, 2008, and may be submitted using the comment form at Regulations.gov. Be sure to include the docket number FDA-1999-F-2405 so the agency will know what rule you are commenting on.

The Federal Register contains a wealth of information about the rules, proposed rules and notices from government agencies. In fact, the Federal Register for this rule includes background information, safety information and summary of comments received to date. If you decide to submit comments, be sure to take a look at the Comment Summary in order to make your comments stronger and more relevant.

Curious about what else the FDA is doing? Take a look at Recalls.gov/food for safety alerts from both the FDA (food, pet food) and the USDA Food and Safety Inspection (meat, poultry, eggs). [Thanks to Laura McClanathan for the link suggestion!]

The California Budget

As we venture into the 2008/09 fiscal year, increasing attention is being paid to our current lack of an approved state budget.

Interested in the budget process? Take a look at this flowchart and explanation from the Department of Finance. You may also want to take a look at these answers to frequently asked questions about the California budget. And if you want to read about the constitutional requirements of the budget procedures (including the "super majority" requirement), start with Article 4, Section 12 of the California Constitution.

If you want to find some of the documents in the aforementioned flowchart and explanation, here is:

• The Governor's proposed and revised budget summaries and details


• The Governor's State of the State address (2009)


• Documents from the Legislative Analyst's Office (including "Analysis of the Budget Bill" and "Perspectives and Issues")


• State Assembly Budget Committee Reports

For other perspectives on the California budget, check out
The California Budget Project: "CBP provides fact-based, nonpartisan analyses of state fiscal and tax policies and their implications for all Californians, especially low- and middle-income residents." For an education-centered perspective, see this overview and this March report from the California Postsecondary Education Commission.

For the latest information on the budget, you can:
Read the Governor's press releases and conferences, watch the California Channel webcasts of legislative floor sessions and press conferences, and read the Sacramento Bee's CapitolAlert

Update: February 3, 2009

The Public Policy Institute of California recently reported survey results indicating that a majority of Californians now support reducing the state budget vote threshold to a 55% majority rather than the current 2/3 super majority (see page 23 of "Californians and Their Government" January 2009). California is among only a handful of states that has a super majority requirement for budget passage. To learn more about budget procedures for the various states, check out the Legislative Budget Procedures page from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

NAFTA and CAFTA Starting Points

Doing some research on free trade agreements such as NAFTA and CAFTA-DR? Here are some good places to start:

Find summaries and the full text of NAFTA and CAFTA-DR agreements (among others), advisory reports, press releases, fact sheets, etc. at the Office of the United States Trade Representative Website.

CQ Public Affairs Collection is a great place to find legislative chronologies and summaries of trade agreements. See Public Affairs Topics: International Trade & Development. (Requires OCA Access)

Interested in the environmental impacts of NAFTA? Check out the Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

For a wealth of resources on trade in the Americas, including links to statistical data sources, research on trade and gender, etc., visit the Organization of American State's Foreign Trade Information System.

Congress has held a great deal of hearings on NAFTA and CAFTA-DR agreements. Find them in electronic and/or print format using the UCSC library catalog Cruzcat. Try the subjects "Free Trade-- North America" and "Free Trade-- Central America." And for information on finding Congressional Research Service reports, check out the Gov Pubs Reference Shelf: Congress & CRS.

For practical business-oriented information on exporting under free trade agreements, try Export.gov.

Keep in mind that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to these trade agreements. For additional assistance in finding information on more specific aspects of these and similar trade agreements, you can visit the reference desk in McHenry library, speak with a UCSC librarian via IM or email, and/or contact the government publications staff.

Offshore Drilling and Oil Exploration

With oil prices hitting record highs (see this May 2008 Economic Newsletter from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas), there seems to be increased discussion about offshore oil drilling.

Here are some recent congressional hearings on the subject of oil drilling, exploration, in/dependence, etc.:
"Energy security and oil dependence : recommendations on policies and funding to reduce U.S. oil dependence"
"The Minerals Management Service’s proposed five-year program for oil and gas leasing on the outer continental shelf" (also available in print at McHenry library).

A number of congressional committees, including the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources and the Senate Committee on Appropriations, are investigating this subject.

The White House has published a Fact Sheet: Allowing Offshore Exploration to Help Address Rising Fuel Costs; also be sure to check out the White House Energy page,.


To get some historical perspective, check out:
Former President George Bush's "Statement on Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Development" on June 26, 1990 and Former President Clinton's "Remarks to the National Oceans Conference in Monterey, California" on June 12, 1998 (both from the American Presidency Project at UCSB)
Public Law 101-512, passed November 5, 1990.
The brief Congressional Research Service report "Outer Continental Shelf: Debate Over Oil and Gas Leasing and Revenue Sharing" published October 2005.

The following government agencies also offer some information on offshore oil drilling and oil exploration:
Energy Information Administration
Minerals Management Service
US Department of Energy
California Coastal Commission
US Commission on Ocean Policy (active 2000-2004)

Also try searching in these library (OCA required) databases:
Lexis Nexis Congressional
CQ Weekly
CQ Public Affairs Collection

And keep watching the news headlines.

Foreclosures and the Subprime Mortgage Market

With as many as one in every 151 homes receiving a foreclosure notice (July 25, 2008 press release from RealtyTrac), much attention is being given to home foreclosure activity and the mortgage market including the subprime mortgage market.

For foreclosure and mortgage statistics, a good starting point is Liber8, from the librarians at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. See "Current Economic Indicators" and "Recent Research."

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has developed Dynamic Maps of Nonprime Mortgage Conditions in the United States.

For a slightly more local perspective, see the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco's website. They've set up a Foreclosure Resource Center page. You can also find a PDF version of "Identifying Issues in the Subprime Mortgage Market: The Bay Area" (a presentation by Carolina Reid, PhD) which includes quite a few charts and some statistics.

Keep in mind that it takes the government some time to compile these statistics, so more detailed statistics may not yet be freely available. For more information on finding statistics, see our guide on How to Find Statistics.

Research publications are continuing to emerge.
"Foreclosures in California" from the California Research Bureau Oct. 2008 (this is also available in print at McHenry library).
"Understanding Mortgage Foreclosure: Recent Events, the Process, and Costs" (Nov. 2007) from the Congressional Research Service (CRS)
"Subprime Mortgages: Primer on Current Lending and Foreclosure Issues" (Mar. 2007) from the CRS
"Information on Recent Default and Foreclosure Trends for Home Mortgages and Associated Economic and Market Developments" (Oct. 2007)from the Government Accountability Office
Turbulence in mortgage markets, implications for the economy and policy options" (Sep. 2007)

Congress is also holding hearings on foreclosures and the mortgage market. Recently published congressional hearings include:
H.R. 5679 : the Foreclosure Prevention and Sound Mortgage Servicing Act of 2008" (Apr. 2008)
Accelerating loan modifications, improving foreclosure prevention, and enhancing enforcement" (Dec. 2007)
"Progress in administrative and other efforts to coordinate and enhance mortgage foreclosure prevention" (Nov. 2007)
"Legislative Proposals on Reforming Mortgage Practices" (Oct. 2007)
"Legislative and regulatory options for minimizing and mitigating mortgage foreclosures" (Sep. 2007)
"Evolution of an economic crisis? : the subprime lending disaster and the threat to the broader economy" (Sep. 2007)
"Possible responses to rising mortgage foreclosures" (Apr. 2007)

How well is congress responding to the crisis? Check out "TROUBLED ASSET RELIEF PROGRAM: Status of Efforts to Address Defaults and Foreclosures on Home Mortgages" from the Government Accountability Office (Dec. 2008).

Many of these hearings are being held before the House Committee on Financial Services and the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. In the state of California, check out the publications from the State Senate Committee on Banking, Finance and Insurance. Transcripts from many of these hearings are also available in print at McHenry library.

The following databases (available on-campus or through OCA access) may also be useful in finding additional information:
Academic Search Complete from Ebsco
Regional Business News from Ebsco Host
EconLit


You can also search our collection of newspaper databases.

November 2009 Update:
Check out this bibliography on the Foreclosure Crisis from the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau: Tap the Power: Foreclosure Crisis