SW 340 Advocacy for Policy Change: Agency Implementation

Search across Federal and State Websites

USA.gov
The USA.gov website allows you to search multiple federal and state agency website and reports.
Directory of Federal Agencies

Oregon State Agencies

State Agency Directory
Links to each Oregon state agency
Department of Corrections
Department of Human Services
Assistance services for people with disabilities, seniors, and children; services related to domestic violence, adoption and foster care.
Oregon Health Authority
The Oregon Health Authority is the organization at the forefront of lowering and containing costs, improving quality and increasing access to health care in order to improve the lifelong health of Oregonians.
Oregon Housing and Community Services
Information on state sponsored programs related to homelessness, community capacity building, food assistance, etc.

Washington State Agencies

Think like a Bureaucrat

Once a bill becomes a law, the responsibility for implementing the law or regulation is assigned to an office or agency. When you identify which agency is responsible for policy or program, it becomes easier to find information on

how the program was implemented;
how funding is distributed;
and how performance is evaluated.

Research Tip

Having trouble searching the Oregon.gov website? Try searching Google with your keywords, and include the following: site:oregon.gov

For example: site:Oregon.gov mandatory minimum sentencing

This will retrieve results from Oregon government websites.

Or search usa.gov and add Oregon as a search term

Accessing Web Pages from Prior Administrations

Web sites for agencies of the executive branch reflect the policies of the current presidential administration. As the administration changes, the information from the previous administration is replaced. Access information from previous administration executive branch web sites with archived web site captures.

End of Term Web Archive - The End of Term Web Archive (EOT) captures and saves U.S. Government websites at the end of presidential administrations. Beginning in 2008, the EOT has thus far preserved websites from administration changes in 2008 and 2012, and is currently preparing the 2016 electoral season. Use the End of Term Web Archive to search for full text, search by agency, or search by date of presidential administration.

Wayback Machine - The Wayback Machine from the Internet Archive captures historic web sites from across the Internet, including the United States government. To use the Wayback Machine:

1. Go to the Wayback Machine on the Internet Archive (archive.org).

2. Enter the URL for the agency, program, or initiative into the search box. You can also search by key word instead of URL in Wayback Machine, but the results can be overwhelming.

3. Select the relevant time period for your search terms. The size of the circle represents how much data was preserved on that date. Choose the year first and then click on a specific date to see the historic snapshot of that webpage on that specific date.