A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress established the child support enforcement program in 1975 to ensure that parents financially supported their children. State agencies administer the program and the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) in the Department of Health and Human Services oversees it. In 2002, state agencies collected over $20 billion in child support, but $657 million in collections from 2002 and previous years were undistributed--funds that were delayed or never reached families. One method used to collect child support, intercepting federal tax refunds, involves all state agencies, OCSE, and two Department of the Treasury agencies--the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Financial Management Service (FMS). GAO was asked to address (1) how the total amount of undistributed collections changed over the years, (2) the causes of undistributed collections, (3) states' efforts to reduce these funds, and (4) OCSE's efforts to assist states. GAO analyzed OCSE data, administered a survey, visited 6 state agencies and interviewed officials."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Because the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) can inspect only a fraction of 7 million U.S. worksites each year in its efforts to ensure safe and healthy working conditions, the agency has increasingly supplemented enforcement with "voluntary compliance strategies" to reach more employers and employ its resources most effectively. GAO assessed the types of strategies used, the extent of their use, and their effectiveness. GAO also obtained suggestions from specialists for additional voluntary compliance strategies."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act (P.L. 107-273) requires GAO to report on how investigation and arrest statistics are reported and used by federal law enforcement agencies. This report provides information on (1) the guidance and procedures followed by federal law enforcement agencies regarding counting investigations and arrests, (2) how investigation and arrest statistics are used, and (3) whether multiple agencies are counting and reporting the same investigations and arrests. GAO selected six agencies for review: the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the U.S. Marshals Service, the former U.S. Customs Service, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS)."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the 1990s, states sued major tobacco companies to obtain reimbursement for health impairments caused by the public's use of tobacco. In 1998, 46 states and four of the nation's largest tobacco companies signed a Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) that requires the tobacco companies to make annual payments to the states in perpetuity as reimbursement for past tobaccorelated health care costs. The MSA commits the tobacco companies to pay the states approximately $206 billion over the first 25 years. Some of the states have arranged to receive upfront proceeds based on the amounts that tobacco companies owe by issuing bonds backed by future payments. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 requires GAO to report annually on the amount of MSA payments states receive through fiscal year 2006. This third report provides information on the payments the 46 states received in fiscal year 2003 and expect to receive in fiscal year 2004, and states' allocations of these funds to various program categories and changes from prior years. To conduct this study, GAO surveyed the 46 states."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To protect species that are at risk for extinction, the Endangered Species Act requires that federal agencies consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service (the Services) to ensure that activities they authorize, fund, or conduct will not jeopardize endangered species or adversely modify their critical habitat. While federal agencies recognize that consultations benefit species, some are concerned about the time and resources consumed. In this report, GAO (1) assesses the federal data on consultations, (2) identifies steps by federal agencies to improve the process, and (3) discusses lingering concerns of federal and nonfederal parties about the process. GAO limited this study to consultations with the Forest Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Bureaus of Land Management and Reclamation in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Having invested billions of dollars in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, the federal government has a major interest in protecting its investment and in ensuring that future assistance goes to utilities that are built and managed to meet key regulatory requirements. The Congress has been considering, among other things, requiring utilities to develop comprehensive asset management plans. Some utilities are already implementing asset management voluntarily. The asset management approach minimizes the total cost of buying, operating, maintaining, replacing, and disposing of capital assets during their life cycles, while achieving service goals. This report discusses (1) the benefits and challenges for water utilities in implementing comprehensive asset management and (2) the federal government's potential role in encouraging utilities to use it."

This report discusses the debate surrounding the Davis-Bacon Act (1931, as amended), which requires, among other things, that not less than the locally-prevailing wage be paid to workers employed in federal contract construction. Through recent decades, the Act has become a continuing source of contention, particularly regarding its impacts, whether it should be modified, strengthened, or repealed, and if it is being administered effectively.

Manual/guide providing information/instructions about revisions to the standards and guidelines for school library programs, including the six major components of school library programs, strategies for librarians, output measures, and outcome-based evaluations.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.