Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress passed the Chemical Safety Information, Site Security and Fuels Regulatory Relief Act after a number of testimonies expressing concerns about the vulnerability of chemical facilities to criminal and terrorist attacks. According to the Attorney General's interim report, chemical facilities visited generally had safety and emergency response measures that could mitigate the consequences of a terrorist attack. The report further stated that the level of security at chemical facilities is roughly equivalent to standard security practices found in most industries. The interim report also contains nine preliminary findings that cumulatively address the other required reporting elements--the vulnerability of facilities to criminal and terrorist activity, current industry site security practices, and the security of chemicals being transported. These findings address the extent to which 11 facilities conducted facility security assessments, had the capability to respond to armed attacks, conducted emergency response exercises, conducted routine pre-employment background investigations, had secure process control systems, had secure chemical transportation containers, had adequate security measures over transportation of hazardous chemicals, received meaningful threat information, and had effective facility security systems."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy is required to establish a technology infrastructure pilot program to improve technology partnership activities. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), in April 2002, reported that it was unable to implement the technology infrastructure pilot program in fiscal year 2001, because of other programming priorities. NNSA also said that it did not have any immediate plans to implement the pilot program in fiscal year 2002. Although it has not funded the pilot program, NNSA stated that it supports technology partnerships with private entities that fulfill mission requirements and agreed that the "cluster" type of infrastructure that the pilot program would promote is important for its facilities because community and economic development are enhanced."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This letter answers several questions that arose from a recent GAO testimony (GAO-02-528T) on human capital management. GAO discusses (1) early retirement and early separation incentives, (2) expanded management flexibilities, (3) federal financial management, (4) hiring processes, (5) what federal managers must do to motivate and empower their employees, and (6) what the federal government must do to be competitive as an employer of choice."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Improperly defined intellectual property rights in a government contract can result in the loss of an entity's critical assets or limit the development of applications critical to public health or safety. Conversely, successful contracts can spur economic development, innovation, and growth, and dramatically improve the quality of delivered goods and services. Contracting for intellectual property rights is difficult. The stakes are high, and negotiating positions are frequently ill-defined. Moreover, the concerns raised must be tempered with the understanding that government contracting can be challenging even without the complexities of intellectual property rights. Further, contractors often have reasons for not wanting to contract with the government, including concerns over profitability, capacity, accounting and administrative requirements, and opportunity costs. Within the commercial sector, companies identified a number of specific intellectual property concerns that affected their willingness to contract with the government. These included perceived poor definitions of what technical data is needed by the government, issues with the government's ability to protect proprietary data adequately, and unwillingness on the part of government officials to exercise the flexibilities available concerning intellectual property rights. Some of these concerns were on perception rather …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant makes $16.5 billion available to states each year, regardless of changes in the number of people receiving benefits. To qualify for their full TANF allotments, states must spend a certain amount of state money, referred to as maintenance-of-effort funds. As states implemented work-focused reforms during the strong economy of the 1990s, welfare caseloads dropped by more than 50 percent. GAO found that most former welfare recipients were employed at some point after leaving welfare, typically with earnings that did not raise them above the poverty level. Under welfare reform, spending shifted from monthly cash payments to services, such as child care and transportation. This shift reflects two key features of reform. First, many states have increased spending to engage more welfare families in work-related activities and to provide more intensive services. Second, many states have increased their efforts to provide services to low-income families not receiving welfare. Services for these families include child care, case management, and job retention and advancement services for families who have recently left welfare for employment as well as other low-income working families. Although …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Education has a history of financial management problems, including serious internal control weaknesses, that have affected the Department's ability to provide reliable financial information on its operations. GAO found that significant internal control weaknesses in payment processes and poor physical control over its computer assets led to fraud, improper payments, and lost assets. GAO also identified instances of grant and loan fraud and pervasive control breakdowns and improper payments in other areas, particularly involving purchasing cards."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Under welfare reform, American Indian tribes have the option to run Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs either alone or as part of a consortium of other tribes rather than receiving benefits and services from state TANF programs. Because of the difficult economic circumstances on many reservations, the law also gives tribal TANF programs more flexibility to design their programs than it gives to states. Tribes have used various strategies to stimulate economic development; however, unemployment and poverty rates remain high on reservations, and prospects for economic growth are limited. Nationally, the number of American Indian families receiving TANF assistance has declined significantly in recent years. On some reservations, however, caseloads have remained the same or increased. American Indians represent an increasing proportion of the total TANF caseload in some states. To date, 172 tribes, either alone or as part of a consortium, have used the act's flexibility to design and administer their own TANF programs. Tribes face challenges in implementing tribal TANF programs, including a lack of (1) reliable data on the number of American Indian TANF recipients; (2) infrastructure support, such as information systems; and …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO discussed the condition of culverts on fish-bearing streams in Oregon and Washington and the federal efforts to identify and restore culverts that are impeding fish passage on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service lands. This testimony is based on a November 2001 report (GAO-02-136), which described (1) the number of culverts that may impede fish passage on BLM and Forest Service lands in Oregon and Washington, (2) the factors affecting the agencies' ability to restore passage through culverts acting as barrier culverts, and (3) the results of the agencies' efforts to restore fish passage."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The terrorist attacks of September 11 underscored the critical importance of a safe and adequate supply of blood for transfusions. In recent years, an average of 8 million volunteers have donated more than 14 million units of blood annually, and 4.5 million patients per year have received life-saving blood transfusions, according to the American Association of Blood Banks. Ninety percent of the U.S. blood supply is collected by two blood suppliers, the American National Red Cross and the independent blood banks affiliated with America's Blood Centers. Within the federal government, the Food and Drug Administration is responsible for overseeing the safety of the nation's blood supply. The surge in donations after the terrorist attacks added an estimated 500,000 units to annual collections in 2001. The experience illustrated that large numbers of Americans are willing to donate blood in response to disasters. However, because very few of the units donated immediately after September 11 were needed by the survivors, this experience has also raised concerns among blood suppliers and within the government about how best to manage and prepare the blood supply for emergencies. Data indicate that the blood …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) authorization act for fiscal year 2000 limits expenditures for space station development to $25 billion and for shuttle launches to $17.7 billion. The act also requires NASA to (1) account for and report amounts obligated to date against the cost limits, (2) identify the amounts needed for future development and completion of the space station, and (3) arrange for GAO to verify the accounting within 60 days after submission of the budget request. Last year, GAO reported that NASA, as part of its fiscal year 2002 budget request, did not comply with the act's requirement to use obligations as its basis for reporting against the cost limits but instead used budget authority. The agency was also unable to provide detailed support for the amounts obligated against the limits for evaluation within the 60 days, but said that it could have provided the information if given more time. After a protracted effort, NASA has acknowledged that its systems cannot provide the data needed to support amounts obligated against the limits. NASA's inability to provide detailed data is due to its lack of …

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Authority of the Texas Funeral Service Commission to regulate cemetery and crematory owners or operators (RQ-0476-JC)