Research Blog : legal

The Health Care Reform Act turmoil

SuDocQueen@evpl — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:33:00 GMT

Opinions and concerns abound about this issue, sometimes to the point that the facts get obscured. Can I separate all the facts from the fiction? Nope, I can be duped and sucked in as easily as the next person. But I can tell you where to go to form your own opinions undiluted by anyone else with an agenda. Thomas from the Library of Congress is an excellent site for following legislation and the workings of Congress. As a matter of fact, Thomas has made it easy for people right now. You don't even have to search for the House's health care bill. They've put up a direct link on the very front of their website. From that link, you can then read a summary of the bill, see what Committees it's been referred to, see who is sponsoring it, and read the bill word for word yourself. Be warned, the bill's over 1,000 pages long and very dense to read! That doesn't mean I think it's not worth reading; I'm just saying don't expect to skim through it on your lunch hour unless you belong to Mensa. :)

You can also get some very useful links from Congressman Brad Ellsworth's "Online Office." He has the PDF of the full bill, just as Thomas does, but he additionally has links to the committee work being done on the bill.

And while we're talking Congressmen, if you want to share your opinion, do you know who to share yours with? Indiana's Senators are Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar, while Evansville's Congressman is Brad Ellsworth.

Lastly, here's on other place I like to go when I'm inundated with opinions, http://factcheck.org/. They appear non-partisan to me. They've debunked pro and con statements surrounding the health care debate. And, their website/services don't exist solely for the health care debate (it just looks that way right now :). Take a look at their Archives or Ask Factcheck to see some of the other political issues they address.

Hardship license information

googler@evpl — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:17:00 GMT

It often happens that customers are told to go to the library to get a legal form of some kind. Unfortunately, we often have to tell them that we don't have preprinted forms that can be filled out and filed. Today's question concerned the "hardship license form," which is not exactly a form, and not officially called a "hardship license." The Indiana Code says that an "individual may file a verified petition for a restricted driving permit for the sole purpose of driving to and from work and in the course of employment during the period of the driving license suspension." The Code also outlines the information that the petition needs to include, but doesn't show a form for the petition.

The places we check for things like this include legal forms books (these are useful for some types of forms, but not others), our database of legal forms (under "Law and legal sources" here) (which has a sort of guidebook on the hardship license, but no filing information), forms on the Indiana Courts website, and websites like FindLaw referenced here.

We also highly recommend the Indiana Justice Center, which we have used before for the many informational (and printable) PDFs on popular law topics. In their hardship license guide, there is no mention of a form. In fact, they say "Contact a private attorney or your local legal services provider if you want help in getting a hardship license...."

Could a person type up the petition himself, following the guidelines in the Code, and file it? As far as I know, that may well be possible. And the Library is happy to provide access to that section of the Code. But the answer to the question, "Do you have the hardship license form?" is, unfortunately, no.

For those Illinois legal questions ...

myzticrhythmz@evpl — Sat, 23 May 2009 17:25:00 GMT

Here at the Information Desk we get a number of Indiana legal questions, and we are glad to direct people to the Law and Legal Sources - Indiana section of the Useful Websites portion of our Web page for guidance.

Recently I was asked for legal information for the State of Illinois. The University of Southern Illinois School of Law has a Self Help page with information, free forms and links to cover a variety of legal issues. If you have questions about the do-it-yourself legal process in Illinois, this is a very helpful site.

Legal Aid

T-ref@evpl — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:50:00 GMT

In Legal Reference at Central Library we have a display featuring many brochures prepared by Indiana Legal Services, Inc. which provides representation and advice in family law, consumer law, senior law, housing issues and public benefits. We also have information about Legal Aid Society of Evansville, Inc. which provides free civil legal advice and representation for low income Vanderburgh County residents. Information about Talk To A Lawyer is also available. Call 434-4836 on the 1st Thursday of the month, lawyers answer general legal questions for free from 4:30 pm to 7 pm. There is also information about the Family Law Clinic for Self-Represented Litigants, call 434-4886 for an appointment. If you can afford to hire an attorney, see The Evansville Bar Association's Lawyer Referral Service.