A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The West Valley nuclear facility in western New York State was built in the 1960s to convert spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors into reusable nuclear fuel. New York State, the owner of the site, and the Atomic Energy Commission--the predecessor of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Department of Energy (DOE)--jointly promoted the venture. However, the timing of the venture was poor because the market for reprocessed nuclear fuel was limited and because new, more restrictive health and safety standards raised concerns about the facility. West Valley was shut down in the 1970s, and Congress enacted the West Valley Demonstration Project Act in 1980, which brought DOE to West Valley to carry out cleanup activities. This report examines the: (1) status of the cleanup; (2) factors that may be hindering the cleanup; (3) degree of certainty in the Department's estimates of total cleanup costs and schedule; and (4) degree to which the West Valley cleanup may reflect, or have implications for, larger cleanup challenges facing DOE and the nation. DOE has almost completed solidifying the high-level wastes at West Valley, but major additional cleanup …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO's January 2001 Performance and Accountability Series provides an overview of management issues at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In the series, GAO made several recommendations to improve HUD's programs and operations. This report reviews the status of nine key recommendations. GAO found that HUD has taken important steps toward addressing some of its management deficiencies; however, significant weaknesses persist in some major areas, including single-family mortgage insurance, rental housing assistance, information and financial management systems, and human capital."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Army has made progress developing a sound basis for its force structure requirements. It has improved the rigor of its analysis through more realistic scenarios and the integration of Army plans and initiatives. It has also expanded the analysis to include requirements for the entire Army. However, the weaknesses GAO identified suggest that the Army still lacks a sound basis for its institutional force requirements and the forces needed for the strategic reserve, domestic support, and homeland defense. GAO's analysis of the institutional force requirements casts doubt on their accuracy and, by extension, the accuracy of the shortfall that the Army identified in this element. By developing more accurate estimates of institutional forces, this shortfall might be entirely eliminated. A sound basis for requirements is also hampered by the lack of criteria for the strategic reserve, domestic support, and homeland defense element of the Army's force structure. A clearer definition of their missions is needed to accurately estimate the forces that will be required."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Every criminal justice system faces coordination challenges. However, the unique structure and funding of the D.C. criminal justice system, in which federal and D.C. jurisdictional boundaries and dollars are blended, creates additional challenges. The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) has played a useful role in addressing such coordination challenges, especially in areas in which agencies perceived a common interest. However, CJCC's uncertain future could leave D.C. without benefit of an independent entity for coordinating the activities of its unique criminal justice system. Funding CJCC through any participating agency diminishes its stature as an independent entity in the eyes of several CJCC member agencies, reducing their willingness to participate. Without a requirement to report successes and areas of continuing discussion and disagreement to each agency's funding source, CJCC's activities, achievements, and areas of disagreement have generally been known only to its participating agencies. This has created little incentive to coordinate for the common good, and all too often agencies have simply "agreed to disagree" without taking action. Furthermore, without a meaningful role in cataloging multiagency initiatives, CJCC has been unable to ensure that criminal justice initiatives are coordinated among …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Telecommunications Act of 1996 expanded the traditional definition of universal service--affordable, nationwide telephone service--to include eligible schools and libraries. The act authorized the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to begin a program to help these institutions acquire advanced telecommunications services in the following three areas: telecommunications, Internet access, and internal connections. This report discusses state-level data on the amount of funds committed to the three categories of eligible services for each of the program's first three years. GAO found that requests substantially exceeded the program's available funding level during the program's first and third years. Priority is given to funding telecommunications and Internet access requests, and then to internal connections. Applicants have requested nearly $5.2 billion in e-rate support, more than double the program's $2.25 billion funding cap. Because requests for telecommunications and Internet access services total about $1.7 billion, most of the nearly $3.5 billion in internal connections requests could go unfunded under the current funding cap priority rules."

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 excess contribution refunded to a county under section 26.008 of the Government Code may be paid as one-time salary supplements to employees of a county court (RQ-0315-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 taxing unit may , by a "blanket" resolution ,authorize that tax-foreclosure-sale property be resold as directed by the taxing unit's private tax-collection attorney(RQ-0322-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; Application of nepotism and conflict of interest statutes to the governing boards of open-enrollment charter schools (RQ-0331-JC)

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.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Telecommunications Act of 1996 expanded the traditional definition of universal service--affordable, nationwide telephone service--to include eligible schools and libraries. The act authorized the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to begin a program to help these institutions acquire advanced telecommunications services. Under FCC's program, often referred to as the 'e-rate' program, schools and libraries can receive discounts from the vendors on the cost of eligible telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections. FCC appointed the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) as the program's permanent administrator, although FCC retains responsibility for overseeing the program's operations and ensuring compliance with its rules. USAC's Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) is responsible for carrying out the program's day-to-day operations. Schools and libraries do not receive funding directly from the program. The committed funds are held by USAC, which reimburses vendors directly for the discounted portion of the e-rate approved services that they provide. This report provides information on (1) the amount of funds requested and committed for all three program years (1998-2000) and (2) the result of FCC and SLD's steps to reduce the amount of committed funds that go unspent. …