Document about the McKinney chapter of the Texas Society, Sons of the American Revolution.

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 a section 901.405(e) of the Occupations Code of requires a person whose license to practice public accountancy has been expired for two years or more to obtain a new certificate, for which an examination is required (RQ-0102-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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Determination of the minimum number of signatures required on a petition for a local option election under Alcoholic Beverage Code (RQ-0107-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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a municipal court may have reschedule a qualified, nonexempt prospective juror’s jury service for medical or hardship reasons without requiring the veniremember to appear in court (RQ-0109-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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification:Whether an employee of the City of Midlothian may simultaneously serve as a director of the Mountain Peak Water Supply Corporation (RQ-0142-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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether Transportation Code section 521.126 prohibits a private security guard from running a driver's license through a device that electronically reads driver's license information to enable the Port of Houston Authority police officers to access and use infromation (RQ-0143-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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether an attorney who engages in certain conduct is ineligible to execute bail bonds under Occupations Code section 1704.163, which exempts attorneys from chapter 1704's general licensing requirements in certain limited circumstances (RQ-0145-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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a hospital district or the private entity that provides indigent care on the district's behalf may require an uninsured applicant for indigent health car, as a prerequisite to receiving the care, to obtain health insurance through the applicant's employer (RQ-0146-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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a school district may offer an early payment discount to its taxpayers if the school district has contracted with a county for tax collection services and the county had discontinued early payment discounts (RQ-0179-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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether, consistently with section 573.041 of the Government Code, a home-rule municipality may appoint a department head who is related to the mayor within the third degree by consanguinity or the second degree by affinity if the city charter authorizes the city manager to “appoint, subject to consultation with the Board of Commissioners, all department heads” (RQ-0180-GA)

BRAC 2005 Intelligence Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of May 3, 2004. The document has is redacted and includes the Proposed New IJCSG Military Value Score Plan brief (PowerPoint slides).

BRAC 2005 Intelligence Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of November 3, 2004. The document is redacted and includes the IJCSG Principals Meeting brief (PowerPoint slides).

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. government's framework for preventing, detecting, and prosecuting money laundering has been expanding through additional pieces of legislation since its inception in 1970 with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The purpose of the BSA is to prevent financial institutions from being used as intermediaries for the transfer or deposit of money derived from criminal activity and to provide a paper trail for law enforcement agencies in their investigations of possible money laundering. The most recent changes arose in October 2001 with the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act, which, among other things, extends antimoney laundering (AML) requirements to other financial service providers previously not covered under the BSA. GAO was asked to testify on its previous work and the ongoing work it is doing for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on the depository institution regulators' BSA examination and enforcement process."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Bush administration developed and published seven national strategies that relate, in part or in whole, to combating terrorism and homeland security. These were National Security Strategy of the United States of America; National Strategy for Homeland Security; National Strategy for Combating Terrorism; National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction; National Strategy for the Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets; National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace; and the 2002 National Money Laundering Strategy. In view of heightened concerns about terrorism and homeland security, GAO was asked to identify and define the desirable characteristics of an effective national strategy and to evaluate whether the national strategies related to terrorism address those characteristics. The purpose of this testimony is to report on GAO's findings on this matter."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2001, the U. S. airline industry has confronted financial losses of previously unseen proportions. From 2001 through 2003, the industry reported losses of about $23 billion, and two of the nation's largest airlines went into bankruptcy. Since September 11, 2001, the U.S. government has provided struggling airlines with $7.0 billion in direct assistance and many billions more in indirect assistance in the form of loan guarantees, a tax holiday, and pension relief. Under the 2003 Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act (P.L. 108-11) and Vision 100--Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act (P.L. 108-176), Congress mandated that GAO review measures taken by air carriers to reduce costs, improve their revenues and profits, and strengthen their balance sheets. Later this year, GAO will provide a report to Congress in response to these mandates. This statement provides a preliminary summary of that work and focuses on three main questions: (1) what have been the major challenges to the airline industry since 1998; (2) what costcutting measures have airlines reported taking to remain financially viable; and (3) what is the financial condition of the airline industry?"

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks precipitated a shift in how the FBI uses its investigative and intelligence resources to prevent future terrorist incidents. The attacks led to the FBI's commitment to transform and reorganize itself. Today's testimony discusses (1) the FBI's progress in transforming to focus on counterterrorism and intelligence-related priorities, (2) competition the FBI faces from other agencies and the private sector for intelligence staff, and (3) human capital flexibilities that may enhance the FBI's ability to address its priorities."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO is required to audit the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government. Proper accounting and reporting practices are essential in the public sector. The U.S. government is the largest, most diverse, most complex, and arguably the most important entity on earth today. Its services--homeland security, national defense, Social Security, mail delivery, and food inspection, to name a few--directly affect the well-being of almost every American. But sound decisions on the future direction of vital federal government programs and policies are made more difficult without timely, accurate, and useful financial and performance information. Until the problems discussed in GAO's audit report on the U.S. government's consolidated financial statements are adequately addressed, they will continue to (1) hamper the federal government's ability to accurately report a significant portion of its assets, liabilities, and costs; (2) affect the federal government's ability to accurately measure the full cost as well as the financial and nonfinancial performance of certain programs while effectively managing related operations; and (3) significantly impair the federal government's ability to adequately safeguard certain significant assets and properly record various transactions."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has long faced problems managing its grants, which constitute over one-half of the agency's annual budget, or about $4 billion. EPA uses grants to implement its programs to protect human health and the environment and awards grants to thousands of recipients, including state and local governments, tribes, universities, and nonprofit organizations. EPA's ability to efficiently and effectively accomplish its mission largely depends on how well it manages its grants resources. This testimony, based on GAO's August 2003 report Grants Management: EPA Needs to Strengthen Efforts to Address Persistent Challenges, GAO-03-846, focuses on the (1) major challenges EPA faces in managing its grants and how it has addressed these challenges in the past, and (2) extent to which EPA's recently issued policies and grants management plan address these challenges."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government spends billions of dollars annually on information technology (IT) investments that are critical to the effective implementation of major government programs. To help agencies effectively manage their substantial IT investments, the Congress has established a statutory framework of requirements and roles and responsibilities relating to information and technology management, that addresses, for example, (1) IT strategic planning/performance measurement (which defines what an organization seeks to accomplish, identifies the strategies it will use to achieve desired results, and then determines how well it is succeeding in reaching resultsoriented goals and achieving objectives) and (2) IT investment management (which involves selecting, controlling, and evaluating investments). GAO was asked to summarize its January 2004 report on IT strategic planning/performance measurement and investment management (Information Technology Management: Governmentwide Strategic Planning, Performance Measurement, and Investment Management Can Be Further Improved, GAO-04-49, January 12, 2004) and to discuss how agencies can improve their performance in these areas."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As health insurance premiums have risen at double-digit rates in recent years, employers and individuals who have sought to purchase more affordable coverage have fallen prey to certain entities that may offer attractively priced premiums but do not fulfill the expectations of those buying health insurance. These unauthorized entities--also known as bogus entities or scams--may not meet the financial and benefit requirements typically associated with health insurance products or other arrangements that are authorized, licensed, and regulated by the states. This testimony is based on GAO's recent report Private Health Insurance: Employers and Individuals Are Vulnerable to Unauthorized or Bogus Entities Selling Coverage, GAO-04-312 (Feb. 27, 2004). In this testimony, GAO was asked to identify the number of entities that operated from 2000 through 2002 and the number of employers and policyholders affected, approaches and characteristics of these entities' operations, and the actions federal and state governments took against these entities. GAO analyzed information obtained from the Department of Labor (DOL) and from a survey of insurance departments in the states; interviewed officials at DOL and at insurance departments in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, and Texas; and examined the …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The sorrow, loss, anger, and resolve so evident immediately following the September 11, 2001, attacks have been combined in an effort to help assure that our country will never again be caught unprepared. As the 9/11 Commission notes, we are safer today but we are not safe, and much work remains. Although in today's world we can never be 100 percent secure, and we can never do everything everywhere, we concur with the Commission's conclusion that the American people should expect their government to do its very best. GAO's mission is to help the Congress improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. GAO has been actively involved in improving government's performance in the critically important homeland security area both before and after the September 11 attacks. In its request, the House Committee on Government Reform have asked GAO to address two issues: the lack of effective information sharing and analysis and the need for executive branch reorganization in response to the 9/11 Commission recommendations. Further, the Committee has asked GAO to address how to remedy problems in …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On July 20, 2004, GAO testified before the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs on "Building the 21st Century Federal Workforce: Assessing Progress in Human Capital Management." This letter responds to committee members' request that GAO provide answers to follow-up questions."