Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For many years, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) owned and operated the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, located on an island in the Long Island Sound off the coast of New York. Scientists at Plum Island, often with the assistance of scientists from other countries, diagnose the pathogens that cause foreign animal diseases and then conduct research to, among other things, develop vaccines to protect against them. Some of the pathogens maintained at Plum Island, such as foot-and-mouth disease, are highly contagious to livestock and could cause catastrophic economic losses in the agricultural sector if they are released outside the facility. Other pathogens known to have been maintained at Plum Island could also cause illness and death in humans. For these reasons, USDA conducts its work on Plum Island within a sealed biocontainment area that has special safety features designed to contain the pathogens. After the terrorist attacks on the United States, new laws and regulations required officials at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center to further restrict access to the pathogens in order to protect animal health and, thereby, also help reduce the possibility of bioterrorism. In …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "While private-sector pensions help millions of Americans achieve retirement income security, the number of private defined benefit (DB) plans1 has declined substantially over the past two decades. Recently, those concerned with the viability of the private defined benefit pension system point to significant increases in pension contributions plan sponsors must make and to the fact that most plans are currently underfunded. The underfunding of plans, due in large part to the sharp decline in the stock market combined with a general decline in interest rates, has increased substantially. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), whose single-employer insurance program insures the benefits of over 34 million workers and retirees in private defined benefit plans, estimated that the total underfunding exceeded $350 billion as of September 4, 2003. According to employer groups, plan sponsors face inflated and unpredictable pension contributions that have greatly diminished the attractiveness of maintaining DB plans. As a result, employer groups have suggested that plan sponsors may consider freezing their plans rather than confronting the possibility of increased pension contributions. A plan "freeze" could have adverse consequences for the retirement income security of participants because new …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "FPS faces challenges ensuring that contract guards have been properly trained and certified before being deployed to federal facilities around the country. In its September 2013 report, GAO found that providing active shooter response and screener training is a challenge for FPS. For example, according to officials at five guard companies, their contract guards have not received training on how to respond during incidents involving an active shooter. Without ensuring that all guards receive training on how to respond to incidents at federal facilities involving an active-shooter, FPS has limited assurance that its guards are prepared for this threat. Similarly, an official from one of FPS's contract guard companies stated that 133 (about 38 percent) of its approximately 350 guards have never received screener training. As a result, guards deployed to federal facilities may be using x-ray and magnetometer equipment that they are not qualified to use which raises questions about their ability to screen access control points at federal facilities--one of their primary responsibilities. GAO was unable to determine the extent to which FPS's guards have received active-shooter response and screener training, in part, because FPS lacks …

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the founding of the republic and the ratification of the Constitution, the U.S. government has evolved to reflect changing circumstances at home and abroad. At the end of George Washington's presidency in 1797, there were four cabinet-level departments--most run by small staffs of civil servants--and five cabinet-level officials, including the Attorney General. Today, there are nearly 30 major federal departments and agencies with cabinet-level officials in the executive branch, and the federal workforce, including military personnel, now totals in the millions. In 1797, U.S. government spending represented about 2 percent of the U.S. economy and now it represents over 20 percent. A quick look at the federal budget reveals how much we have expanded beyond the Constitution's framers' original thoughts and our modest beginnings. In the coming decades, however, our ability to sustain even the constitutionally enumerated responsibilities of the federal government will come under increasing pressure. Without meaningful act on, by 2040 our government could only have the resources to do little more than mail out Social Security checks and pay interest on the massive and growing national debt. This is obviously an unacceptable …

Receipt acknowledging payment for city taxes from Levi Perryman.

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, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Authority of the El Paso County Juvenile Probation Board to enter into contracts or authorize expenditures without the commissioners court's approval (RQ-939)

Edited speech by John J. Herrera delivered on December 17, 1977, on behalf of Honorable John L. Hill, candidate for governor of Texas. The speech serves to promote the candidate as well as introduce Hill as the keynote speaker and includes handwritten edits by Herrera.

Copy of a speech by John J. Herrera delivered on December 17, 1977, on behalf of Honorable John L. Hill, candidate for governor of Texas. The speech serves to promote the candidate as well as introduce Hill as the keynote speaker.

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, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a county’s single-employer, self-funded medical benefit plan is subject to certain provisions of the Insurance Code, and related questions (RQ-508)

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Legal effects of groundwater conservation district election held in Bosque, Comanche, and Erath counties (RQ-0557-JC)

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Determination of a bail bondsman's bonding capacity with regard to persons held in his county jail on charges from another county (RQ-0560-JC)

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, Crawford Martin, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Reconsideration of Attorney General's Opinion M-30, and/or a clarification of same, in relation to the licensure of an individual under the stated fact situation.

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, Crawford Martin, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether taxing authorities may assess and collect ad valorem taxes based upon the value of leasehold in land against the lessor or lessee, and related questions? RQ 337

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, Crawford Martin, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a milk product containing over 2.0% butterfat but less than 3.25% butterfat is "milk" within the meaning of Article 165-3, Vernon's Civil Statutes, and related questions.

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, Crawford Martin, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Effect of payment of ad valorem taxes on land to one of two adjoining counties when the boundary line between them is not fixed on the ground.

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, Crawford Martin, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Constitutionality of Article 1436b, Section 3, as amended, Vernon's Texas Penal Code, Acts of the 58th and 60th Legislatures

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, Crawford Martin, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether Article 695, Vernon's Penal Code of Texas, operates to make air and water pollution a penal offense, and related questions.

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, Crawford Martin, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification;Appointment of Deputy official shorthand reporter.

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether monies held in trust in a certain sub-account of the state highway fund may be transferred to a regional transport authority (RQ-0721-GA).

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; Whether a Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission rule requiring owners of surface-irrigation on-site sewage facilities to have ongoing maintenance contracts is authorized(RQ-0400-JC).

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; Whether a podiatrist's statutory authority to treat a "disease, disorder, physical injury, deformity or ailment of the human foot," Tex. Occ. Code Ann. § 202.001(a)(4) (Vernon 2001), includes authority to treat "the tibia and fibula in their articulation with the talus, . . . inclusive of all soft tissues. . . that insert into the tibia and fibula in their articulation with the talus," and related question (RQ-0404-JC)

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; Whether a teacher who retires from employment with a school district and later wishes to return to full-time employment as a certified teacher with the school district, qualifies for the continuous-employment exception to the statutory prohibition on nepotistic hiring by a school district, see Tex. Gov't Code Ann. §§ 573.041, .062 (Vernon 1994) (RQ-0413-JC)

Letter opinion 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, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Appointment of a fire department head under Government Code section 419.032, appointment of and temporary fil-in workof a part-time fire protection employee under Government Code section419.0321, and rule-making authority to define duties related to fire suppression as used in Government Code section 419.0321 (ID# 22316)

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, Price Daniel, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Authority of the Texas Liquor Control Board to issue a package store permit to a non-profit corporation which has no capital stock.