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115068 1 (1981-03-25)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacuuw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: /76 / ~Y. / J~4I I ONLINE ACCESS TO LEGISLATIVE INFORMATIONJ M. Sallee Garner, U.S. General Accounting Office Keywords: Online, Legislative Information, Data Bases, United States Congress, State Legislatures. Abstract: The coverage and adequacy of various online sources of legis- lative information are discussed. Five types of legislative information are examined: publications, proceedings, voting records, current legis- lation, and members' activities. Information regarding the United States Congress is emphasized; however, sources of information on State legis- latures are also discussed. For each type of information, data bases providing significant information are described and evaluated. In the case of Congress, major data bases include CIS, CRECORD, VOTES, LEGI- SLATE, and FEDERAL INDEX; others provide additional access to infor- mation. For State legislative information, useful sources include STATE PUBLICATIONS INDEX, PAIS, LEGISLEX, LIBCON, and the various news data bases. In conclusion, the adequacy of online coverage of legis- lative information is assessed. The question of the need for any addi- tional online information sources is considered, and the types of infor- mation such sources might provide is discussed. 1. INTRODUCTION The term legislative information covers a variety of meanings, including, first, information emanating from a legislature; second, information about a legislature's activities or those of its members; and third, information available to a legislature to assist in conducting its businest. In this paper'I will address only the first and second types of legislative information, which are the ones most generally available to the public. Similarly, in discussing online access to this infor- mation, I will confine myself to those online systems which are publicly available, excluding internal systems available only to members of a legislature. Information about, or emanating from, a legislature may be divided into five types: first, publications, such as the hearings, reports, documents, and committee prints published by Congress; second, legislative proceedings, such as the Congressional Record; third, legis- lation and its status; fourth, members' voting records; and fifth, general information about members and their activities. 233 N': 0A

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