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The Supreme Court, in Toyota Motor Manufacturing v. Williams, held that to be an individual with a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) an individual must have substantial limitations on abilities that are central to daily life,rather than only to those abilities used in the workplace. In an unanimous opinion written by Justice O’Connor, the Court interpreted the definition of individual with disability narrowly to exclude individuals who are limited only in the performance of manual tasks associated with their job. This report will briefly discuss Williams and its implications for the ADA.

This report briefly reviews the status of climate science, international negotiations, and congressional activity focused specifically on climate change.

This report contains an explanation of the major provisions of the Federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. The discussion divides the Federal estate tax into three components: the gross estate, deductions from the gross estate, and computation of the tax, including allowable tax credits.

In recent years conflicting budget priorities and divided political control have accentuated the institutional tensions between the executive and legislative branches inherent in the federal budget process. President Clinton, like his two predecessors, called for an item veto, or possibly expanded impoundment authority, to provide him with greater control over federal spending. This report provides a brief history of impoundment and discusses the debate surrounding the line item veto.

This report provides the following: an overview of postsecondary education (institutions and students), an overview of the Higher Education Act (HEA) with a focus on its most significant programs and provisions, and a discussion of major issues likely to be of interest to the Congress during the HEA reauthorization process.

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 the City of Lake Jackson's sales and use tax election proposition allows expenditure of the taxes for an access road to service underdeveloped commercially zoned property (RQ-0454-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 article III, section 50 of the Texas Constitution prohibits the Texas Commission for the Blind from contracting with the United States government to operate various vending facilities on federal property under the Federal Randolph-Sheppard Act, 20 U.S.C. ch. 6A, if the contract "create[s] financial exposure to the State for a multi-million dollar service agreement with...Federal Departments" (RQ-0455-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 member of a school district board of trustees may simultaneously hold the office of county treasurer (RQ--458-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: Validity of a school district policy regarding corporal punishment and physical restraint of students.

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 county may maintain a road that has not been officially established as a public road but which has been accessible to and regularly used by the public (RQ-0469-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 section 37.123 of the Education Code, which creates the offense of “disruptive activity,” requires proof of intent (RQ-0474-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 casket constitutes “funeral merchandise” for purposes of Chapter 651 of the Occupations Code, and related questions (RQ-0477-JC)

A progress report for the Bastrop Independent School District (ISD) to determine how they are doing in implementing the suggestions of their performance review.

Newsletter of the Texas Department of Health discussing the news, activities, and events of the organization and other information related to health in Texas.

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 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 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.

Annual report detailing the effectiveness of Texas risk management during fiscal year 2002 including cost containment measures measures to reduce workers' compensation payments.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO addressed the Air Force's plan to replace a portion of its KC-135 aerial refueling tanker fleet with leased Boeing 767 aircraft. Although the Air Force has a long term requirement to replace its aging fleet of KC-135 tankers, the urgency of the need in the short term is unclear. The Air Force stated that the leasing arrangement would allow it to acquire new tankers three years earlier than through its most recent procurement plan. This would allow the Air Force to retire old, less capable KC-135s, thus saving maintenance costs on those aircraft. Because the Air Force is still negotiating the lease details, it could not provide information on the cost effectiveness of leasing aircraft instead of purchasing them. Although GAO has not taken a position on the overall policy of leasing versus purchasing defense equipment, it found that, from a cost standpoint, leasing is more expensive in the long run. Because the 767 aircraft is larger than the KC-135, there will be some infrastructure improvement costs, such as for building or modifying hangars, taxiways, and runway aprons. Additional costs would likely include simulators and project management. …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The events of September 11, 2001 created several new challenges for the aviation industry in ensuring the safety and security of the national airport system. Chief among them is deciding to what extent Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grant funds should be used to finance the new security requirements at the nation's airports. Although many in the aviation industry believe that funding security projects has become even more important in the aftermath of September 11, they also recognize the need to continue funding other airport development projects, such as those designed to enhance capacity in the national airport system. During fiscal year 2002, the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) awarded a total of $561 million, 17 percent of the $3.3 billion available for grants, in AIP grant funds to airports for security projects related to the events of September 11, 2001. This amount is the largest amount awarded to airports for security projects in a single year since the program began in 1982. Based on data provided by FAA, all of the security projects funded with AIP grants since the events of September 11, 2001, met the legislative …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO examined the underlying records for the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) for fiscal year 2001. GAO (1) did a detailed test of transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed to AATF, (2) reviewed the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) quarterly AATF certifications, (3) reviewed the Department of the Treasury Financial Management Service adjustments to AATF for fiscal year 2001, (4) reviewed procedures in the Office of Tax Analysis' process for estimating amounts to be distributed to AATF for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2001, (5) compared net excise tax distributions to AATF during fiscal year 2001 and amounts reported in the financial statements prepared by the Bureau of the Public Debt for AATF and the Federal Aviation Administration's consolidated financial statements, and (6) reviewed key reconciliations of IRS records to Treasury records."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO performed detailed tests of transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed to the Unemployment Trust Fund (UTF) and reviewed key reconciliations of the Internal Revenue Service records to the Department of the Treasury records. GAO found that the net federal unemployment tax revenue distributed to UTF for fiscal year 2001 is supported by the underlying records."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report examines how best practices offer improvements to the way the Department of Defense (DOD) develops new weapons systems, primarily the design and manufacturing aspects of the acquisition process. Knowledge about a product's design and producibility facilitates informed decisions about whether to significantly increase investments and reduces the risk of costly design changes later in the program. Leading commercial companies employ practices to capture design and manufacturing knowledge in time to make key decisions during product development. First, the companies kept the degree of the design challenge manageable before starting a new product development program by using an evolutionary approach. Second, the companies captured design and manufacturing knowledge before the two critical decision points in product development: when the design was demonstrated to be stable--the second knowledge point--and when the product was demonstrated to be producible at an affordable cost--the third knowledge point. DOD has made changes to its acquisition policy in an attempt to improve its framework for developing weapons systems, but the policy does not require the capture of design or manufacturing knowledge or sufficient criteria to enter the system demonstration and production …