Laws and regs

Close reading, episode 2

“not less than 48 hours or 2 business days, whichever is greater”* Let’s see here. 48 hours is two days. There’s no getting around that one. Two business days might be longer if there’s a weekend or a holiday (or…

Close reading

It’s time for another installment of “random things Becky discovered while reading laws much more closely than anyone ever should.” Today we have the Water Pollution Control Act of 1984, effective March 16, 1985 (D.C. Law 5-188; D.C. Official Code…

Laws and Copyright

Some time ago, long enough that I don’t remember even a general time frame, I saw a link posted on Twitter about copyright and the D.C. Code. Yesterday I came across this post from Prism Legal on the same subject (note…

Nativity

Today’s question of minimal consequence: Why do we say “Native Hawaiian” but “Alaska Native”? (See, e.g. 20 U.S.C. s 7265e.)

Stowaways

Got distracted while working today and came across a very useful piece of information: stowing away on a ship or aircraft is a federal crime. So, you know, don’t do it. That trip in your friend’s suitcase just isn’t worth…

Missed opportunity

While a coworker has been on maternity leave, I’ve been doing the pre-publication review of agency rulemakings. It’s been fun. And sometimes there are really great errors. Like “diffuse a fight” instead of “defuse a fight.” It keeps my mind…

Taxis

I’ve been pondering taxis all day, since I read about cab drivers protesting proposed legislation that will require them to have newer cars, etc etc. (Yes, the “etc etc” is because I haven’t actually read the bill.) Then there was…

Fines and imprisonment

As I’ve been skimming the DC Code, I’ve started keeping track of provisions that call for “a fine of no more than $387 or imprisonment for not longer than 14 days, or both.” Numbers obviously changed to protect the innocent.…