Federal news
Federal funding legislation for U.S. science agencies has been signed by President Trump. Despite a request for budgetary cuts from the President, Congress generally approved small to moderate budgetary increases. The NIH would see a slight increase (5% or $2 billion, to increase the total budget to $39 billion). Research priorities include: research grant integrity, the 21st Century Cures initiatives, the Research Policy Board, research transparency, data science, and early-career investigators. See more on the FY19 NIH budget on the American Institute of Physics’ budget tracker.
To catch your Congressperson’s ear on scientific legislation, try these tips: focus on their constituents, address both sides of the issue, disclose potential conflicts of interest, talk with their staff, catch them when they’re in session, and talk across the aisle. To see a more detailed outline of these tips, read the full story in Science.
From Kaiser Health News:
Congress Squares Off With Pharma CEOs In Showdown Over High Drug Prices (2/26/19)
and the follow-up Pharma Execs Dig In For A Fight Against Outraged Senators (2/26/19)
HHS Finalizes Rule Seeking To Expel Planned Parenthood From Family Planning Program (2/22/19)
State news
As many of you have already heard, a new minimum wage regulation was signed into law in February. To find out how this might effect your library’s budget and personnel, you can read a Chicago Tribune article (https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-illinois-minimum-wage-pritzker-signs-bill-20190219-story.html) or access the law itself (Public Act 101-0001 http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=0001&GAID=15&GA=101&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=113573&SessionID=108&SpecSess=).