Guidance issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report supersedes GAO-03-232SP, GAO's Agency Protocols. This document contains the updated protocols that govern the U.S. Government Accountability Office's (GAO) work with executive branch agencies. The protocols provide clearly defined and transparent policies and practices on how GAO interacts with agencies in performing its work. GAO supports the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and strives to help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. Although our primary client is the Congress and we must maintain our independence from the entities that are the subject of our work, we seek to continue constructive working relationships with the executive branch. In all cases, we seek to conduct our work in a professional, objective, fact-based, nonpartisan, and nonideological manner, in order to help improve government."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) enforces the rights of federal employees and applicants for federal employment under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) of 1994. USERRA provides for the employment and reemployment rights of federal and nonfederal employees who leave their employment to perform military service. USERRA also prohibits discrimination against persons because of their military service. In light of the significant number of National Guard members and reservists serving in the war in Iraq and in other conflicts who will be demobilized and returning to the federal workforce in the coming months, the Ranking Minority Member, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, asked us to review issues surrounding enforcement of the act in the federal sector, particularly by OSC. Under USERRA, a federal employee or applicant who believes that his or her USERRA rights have been violated may file a claim with the Department of Labor's (DOL) Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS), which investigates and attempts to resolve the claim. If VETS cannot resolve the claim, the individual may request that it be referred to OSC. In addition to …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In December 2000, the Congress passed the Launching Our Communities' Access to Local Television Act of 2000 (Local TV Act or act). The act created the Local Television Loan Guarantee Program (Program) and established the Local Television Loan Guarantee Board (Board) to finance projects that will provide access to signals of local television stations to households in areas with limited or no access to such signals from a commercial satellite service or other multichannel video provider. The Board may approve loan guarantees up to 80 percent of loans totaling no more than $1.25 billion in aggregate. In November 2001, the Congress appropriated $2 million for administrative expenses to implement the Program. Section 1006 of the act requires that we perform an annual audit of the (1) administration of the provisions of the act, and (2) financial position of each applicant who receives a loan guarantee under the act, including the nature, amount, and purpose of investments made by the applicant. In October 2003, we issued our first annual report as required by the act. This second report addresses the status of the $2 million administrative appropriation and the …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to a Congressional request for information on trends in prices for prescription drugs frequently used by Medicare beneficiaries and other individual with health insurance. We obtained data from two state pharmaceutical assistance programs for the elderly on the usual and customary prices reported by retail pharmacies for selected drugs. The usual and customary price is the undiscounted price individuals without drug coverage would pay. We tracked monthly price trends from January 2000 through June 2004 for a total of 99 drugs, which include 77 drugs frequently used by certain Medicare enrollees and 79 drugs frequently used by certain non-Medicare enrollees. We also compared the price trends during this period separately for the 52 brand drugs and 47 generic drugs."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In August and September of 2003, the Attorney General of the United States visited a number of cities around the country on what has been termed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) as the "USA PATRIOT Act Tour." According to DOJ, the intent of the tour was to (1) educate the public and inform members of Congress about the provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and (2) receive input and feedback from state and local law enforcement with respect to information sharing among law enforcement agencies and threats to homeland security. We are providing information on the locations and costs of the U.S. Attorney General's travels known as the USA PATRIOT Act Tour, as well as the locations and costs of a series of trips in September 2003 referred to by DOJ as "Life and Liberty" travel. These latter trips involved a series of speeches regarding crime statistics and other topics, including the importance of the USA PATRIOT Act. We are also providing information on the official positions and office assignments of the DOJ staff that accompanied the U.S. Attorney General on each of these travel visits. Additionally, …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government is interested in the use of smart cards--credit card-like devices that use integrated circuit chips to store and process data--for improving the security of its many physical and information assets. Besides providing better authentication of the identities of people accessing buildings and computer systems, smart cards offer a number of other potential benefits and uses, such as creating electronic passenger lists for deploying military personnel and tracking immunization and other medical records. Over the past 2 years, GAO has studied and reported on the uses of smart cards across the federal government. Congress requested that GAO testify on federal agencies' efforts in adopting smart card technology--based on the results of this prior work--and on the specific actions that the Department of Veterans Affairs is taking to implement smart card technology."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report has been superseded by GAO-06-394SP, GAO's International Protocols January 2006. This document contains the protocols governing the U.S. Government Accountability Office's (GAO) work that has international components or implications. These protocols are intended to provide clearly defined and transparent policies and practices on how GAO will interact with U.S. federal departments and agencies, other national governments and international organizations in its international work. They identify what international organizations and supreme audit institutions (SAIs) can expect from GAO. These protocols are intended to cover most situations that arise during the course of GAO's work and are consistent, to the extent applicable, with the protocols that govern GAO's work for the Congress and with U.S. federal agencies. These protocols--which are grounded in applicable professional standards and GAO's core values of accountability, integrity, and reliability--will enable us to conduct international work more consistently, effectively, and efficiently; achieve GAO's strategic goals; support improved government performance and accountability worldwide; and better serve the Congress and the American people."

BRAC 2005 Intelligence Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of October 6, 2004. The document is redacted and includes the IJCSG Principals Meeting brief (PowerPoint slides).

BRAC 2005 Intelligence Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of October 13, 2004. The document is redacted.

BRAC 2005 Intelligence Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of October 20, 2004. The document is redacted and includes the IJCSG Principals Meeting brief (PowerPoint slides).

BRAC 2005 Intelligence Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of October 27, 2004. The document is redacted and includes the IJCSG Principals Meeting brief (PowerPoint slides).

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 commissioned peace officer employed by the state or political subdivision violates section 36.07 of the Penal Code by working off-duty for a private employer (RQ-0206-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 the Public Funds Investment Act would govern a municpal utility's authority to invest certain nuclear decommissioning trust funds (RQ-0212-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 the State Board of Barber Examiners may participate in the TexasOnline occupational licensing system established in Government Code section 2054.353 in light of the requirement that an applicant for an original or a renewal barber or manicurist license present a health certificate from a physician under sections 1601.264 and 1601.402(d) of the Occupations Code (RQ-0216-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 the attorney representing the state under chapter 59 of the Code of Criminal Procedure may transfer forfeited property to the attorney's own office (RQ-0211-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; Constitutionality of the Texas grandparent access statute, section 153.433, Family Code, in light of the United States Supreme Court's decision in Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000) (RQ-0215-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 Texas Code of Criminal Procedure article 43.10 authorizes a county to use county inmate labor at an event that are a joint venture between the county and nonprofit organization (RQ-0217-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; Deposit and administration of crime control and prevention district's funds under chapter 363 of the Local Government Code (RQ-0219-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; Time of taking office of a person elected to the office of the sheriff as a successor to an individual who was appointed to fill a vancancy in that office (RQ-0257-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 the Port Arthur Economic Development Corporation may grant funds and refund sales taxes to a private corporation (RQ-0218-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 the Gun Barrel City Economic Development Corporation may fund the construction of a youth football field (RQ-0221-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 agency may return information submitted by a business entity in response to an agency request for offer, which was subsequently cancelled (RQ-0226-GA)

Summary describing the work completed at Eastern Research Group, Inc. for 'Gulfwide Emission Inventory for the Regional Haze and Ozone Modeling Effort'. It includes background information on the project funding and sponsorship, goals, methodology, and findings.

Report summary describing the work completed at Eastern Research Group, Inc. for 'The Data Quality Control and Emissions Inventories of OCS Oil and Gas Production Activities in the Breton Area of the Gulf of Mexico'. It includes background information on the project funding and sponsorship, goals, methodology, and findings.