Federal:
FY17 appropriations will proceed through April 28 with the passage of H.R. 2028, the Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act. This bill includes appropriations for the FDA Innovation Account and NIH Innovation Account, as funded by H.R. 34, the 21st Century Cures Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in Dec 2016.
Review the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Exit Memo summarizing the Obama administration’s science and technology policy efforts, including initiatives in precision medicine and broadening public access to federally-funded, peer-reviewed publications.
Copyright Week was Jan 16-20. The Electronic Frontier Foundation drew attention to the following five principles this year: (1) Building and Defending the Public Domain, (2) You Bought It, You Own It, You Fix It, (3) Transparency and Representation, (4) 21st Century Creators, and (5) Copyright and Free Speech.
State:
The 100th Illinois General Assembly inauguration was January 20th, and they will be in session several days this month and next. Some current items of interest on their agenda are: SB0006 (FY17 Appropriations), SB0149 (Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Funding), HB0373 (Amends the Illinois Local Library Act), and HB0482 (Amends the Public Library District Act).
You can watch a recording of the Governor’s January 25th State of the State address on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZTU8anc5N0. The Governor begins his address approximately 24 minutes into the video.