States

Language

Texas Disease Prevention News, Volume 62, Number 17, August 2002 (open access)

Texas Disease Prevention News, Volume 62, Number 17, August 2002

Newsletter of the Texas Department of Health discussing the news, activities, and events of the organization and other information related to health in Texas.
Date: August 15, 2002
Creator: Texas. Department of Health.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Election Reform Legislation: Comparison of House and Senate Versions of H.R. 3295 (open access)

Election Reform Legislation: Comparison of House and Senate Versions of H.R. 3295

None
Date: May 15, 2002
Creator: Fischer, Eric A. & Coleman, Kevin J.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Americans with Disabilities Act: Toyota Motor Manufacturing v. Williams (open access)

The Americans with Disabilities Act: Toyota Motor Manufacturing v. Williams

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.
Date: January 15, 2002
Creator: Jones, Nancy L.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Desertification Treaty: Evolution, Summary, and Status (open access)

Desertification Treaty: Evolution, Summary, and Status

None
Date: August 15, 2002
Creator: Vincent, Carol Hardy
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bastrop Independent School District (ISD) Progress Report, January 2002 (open access)

Bastrop Independent School District (ISD) Progress Report, January 2002

A progress report for the Bastrop Independent School District (ISD) to determine how they are doing in implementing the suggestions of their performance review.
Date: January 15, 2002
Creator: Texas. Comptroller's Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas State Office of Risk Management Annual Report on Cost Containment: 2002 (open access)

Texas State Office of Risk Management Annual Report on Cost Containment: 2002

Annual report detailing the effectiveness of Texas risk management during fiscal year 2002 including cost containment measures measures to reduce workers' compensation payments.
Date: October 15, 2002
Creator: Texas. State Office of Risk Management.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Applying Agreed-Upon Procedures: Airport and Airway Trust Fund Excise Taxes (open access)

Applying Agreed-Upon Procedures: Airport and Airway Trust Fund Excise Taxes

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."
Date: February 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Air Force Aircraft: Preliminary Information on Air Force Tanker Leasing (open access)

Air Force Aircraft: Preliminary Information on Air Force Tanker Leasing

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. …
Date: May 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Regulatory Review: Delay of Effective Dates of Final Rules Subject to Administration's January 20, 2001, Memorandum (open access)

Regulatory Review: Delay of Effective Dates of Final Rules Subject to Administration's January 20, 2001, Memorandum

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Citing the desire to "ensure that the President's appointees have the opportunity to review any new or pending regulations," the White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card, Jr. sent a memorandum to the heads of all executive agencies on January 20, 2001, directing them to (1) not send proposed or final regulations to the Office of the Federal Register, (2) withdraw regulations that had been sent to the Office but not yet published in the Federal Register, and (3) postpone for 60 days the effective date of regulations that had been published in the Federal Register but had not yet taken effect. GAO found that federal agencies delayed the effective dates for 90 of the 371 final rules that were subject to the memorandum. The effective dates for the remaining 281 rules were either not delayed or GAO could find no indication in the Federal Register of a delay."
Date: February 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
National Park Service: Opportunities to Improve the Administration of the Alternative Transportation Program (open access)

National Park Service: Opportunities to Improve the Administration of the Alternative Transportation Program

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In light of the increasing significance and potential costs of dealing with transportation in the national park system, we reviewed the Park Service's administration of the Alternative Transportation Program. Specifically, we are reporting on the Park Service's processes for (1) ensuring that alternative transportation projects are needed and cost-effective, and (2) evaluating the performance of the program. It is important to point out that in addressing these issues our work focused on the agency's process for reviewing and approving projects. Accordingly, we did not evaluate whether any specific project was in fact needed and cost-effective. In conducting the work, we examined agency files for a sample of 20 projects--10 planning projects and 10 construction projects--that account for 54 percent of the total program funding for fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2003."
Date: November 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Human Capital Legislative Proposals to NASA's Fiscal Year 2003 Authorization Bill (open access)

Human Capital Legislative Proposals to NASA's Fiscal Year 2003 Authorization Bill

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed several issues relating to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) workforce and management challenges. These issues are associated with NASA's proposed legislative provisions for additional flexibilities and authorities to help it address its human capital challenge. GAO found that agencies must ensure that their strategic human capital plans are results-oriented and data-driven. This includes developing appropriate information on the number and location of employees and their key competences and skills, as well as data on the profile of the workforce, and performance goals and measures for human capital approaches. NASA's legislative proposal for streamlined demonstration and alternative personnel system authority would provide a mechanism for converting a successful demonstration project, upon approval by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), to a permanent alternative personnel system, without the need for special legislation and without any limitation on the number of employees that would be covered by the project as is under current authority. Human capital systems should have appropriate transparency and adequate safeguards in order to help ensure that it is efficient, effective, credible, and equitable."
Date: November 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Compliance With Requirement to Adjust Civil Monetary Penalties for Inflation (open access)

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Compliance With Requirement to Adjust Civil Monetary Penalties for Inflation

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 required each federal agency to issue a regulation adjusting its covered maximum civil monetary penalties for inflation by October 23, 1996. The act also required agencies to make necessary adjustments at least once every 4 years thereafter. During a review of the act's implementation, GAO found that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) Office of the General Counsel indicated that four of the agency's civil penalties are covered by the act but that the agency had not adjusted them for inflation. FERC's Office of the General Counsel stated that the agency has several other statutory penalties that appear not to be covered by the Inflation Adjustment Act. GAO's review did not reveal any FERC regulations that increased the agency's civil penalties for inflation."
Date: July 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Financial Management: Amtrak's Route Profitability Schedules Need Improvement (open access)

Financial Management: Amtrak's Route Profitability Schedules Need Improvement

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Amtrak provides an Annual Operations Report to Congress that shows revenue, cost, and profit or loss on all its train routes in the form of route profitability schedules and an annual audited financial statement. In addition, Amtrak periodically receives congressional requests to provide route profitability schedules at different times of the year. In November 2001, Amtrak changed the way it prepared its route profitability schedules and applied this new method to information previously provided for fiscal years 1999 and 2000. Based on the initial information requested and provided, the schedule totals could not be readily reconciled to the audited financial statements for the corresponding periods. According to Amtrak officials, in order to focus on the operating profitability of Amtrak's routes, they excluded certain items included in the financial statement amounts in preparing the route schedule data. As a result, the totals for both sets of schedules did not tie directly to the audited financial statements. Amtrak also allocated certain profits from its other business activities to its routes as a reduction in route net cost. The allocation of these profits from other business activities undermines the ability to …
Date: July 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Applying Agreed-Upon Procedures: Federal Unemployment Taxes (open access)

Applying Agreed-Upon Procedures: Federal Unemployment Taxes

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."
Date: February 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Model of Strategic Human Capital Management (open access)

A Model of Strategic Human Capital Management

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO released an exposure draft on its Model of Strategic Human Capital Management, which is intended to help federal agency leaders better manage their organizations' most important asset--their people. The model is designed to help agency leaders effectively use their people, or human capital, and determine how well they integrate human capital considerations into daily decision-making and planning for the program results they seek to achieve. In so doing, the model highlights the importance of a sustained commitment by agency leaders to maximize the value of their agencies' human capital and manage related risks."
Date: March 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
United States Postal Service: Opportunities to Strengthen IT Investment Management Capabilities (open access)

United States Postal Service: Opportunities to Strengthen IT Investment Management Capabilities

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Postal Service invests hundreds of millions of dollars in information technology (IT) each year to support its mission of providing prompt, reliable, and efficient mail service to all areas of the country. It must support these operations through the revenues it earns for its services. Growing operating expenses and capital needs in the face of reduced revenues highlight the need for the Postal Service to invest its IT dollars wisely. Accordingly, the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and its Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services asked GAO to evaluate how well the Postal Service manages its IT investments."
Date: October 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Public Housing: New Assessment System Holds Potential for Evaluating Performance (open access)

Public Housing: New Assessment System Holds Potential for Evaluating Performance

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spends $7 billion annually to provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing for low-income households in about 14,000 rental properties nationwide. Yet, many public housing properties have been unsafe and unsanitary for several decades. To identify and correct these problems, HUD began a Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS) to evaluate the performance of public housing authorities. Although HUD is still testing and revising PHAS, it has begun to designate certain housing authorities as troubled and to assign them to recovery centers, where they receive technical and other assistance. HUD also created the Public and Indian Housing Information Center (PIC) database to collect information on funding, compliance, and other problems that fall outside the scope of PHAS. PHAS includes four performance indicators: (1) the physical condition of the properties, (2) the financial condition of the housing authority, (3) the authority's management operations, and (4) residents' satisfaction with their living conditions. HUD develops a score for each indicator and, starting in this fiscal year, plans to use the scores for all four indicators to determine whether housing authorities are troubled. So …
Date: March 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Inspectors General: Office Consolidation and Related Issues (open access)

Inspectors General: Office Consolidation and Related Issues

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "There are currently 57 inspectors general (IG) subject to the Inspector General Act of 1978 or similar statutory provisions. The President appoints 29 IGs who are confirmed by the Senate. Twenty-eight IGs in designated federal entities (DFE IGs) are appointed by their agency heads. GAO developed a survey that included key elements related to IG independence, quality of work, and resources. Responses to the survey indicate a clear delineation between the responses of the presidential and DFE IGs regarding the potential impact of conversion and consolidation. The presidential IGs indicated that DFE IG independence, quality and use of resources could be strengthened by conversion and consolidation. DFE IGs responses to these same questions indicated that there would be no impact or that these elements would be weakened. The Presidential IGs indicated that several elements affecting the DFE IGs' quality of work could be strengthened through consolidation, including the ability to issue hard-hitting reports when necessary, to audit issues of high risk, to review issues across agencies, to get attention to recommendations made by the IGs, and to plan work. The IGs overwhelmingly responded that establishing the …
Date: August 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Critical Infrastructure Protection: Federal Efforts Require a More Coordinated and Comprehensive Approach for Protecting Information Systems (open access)

Critical Infrastructure Protection: Federal Efforts Require a More Coordinated and Comprehensive Approach for Protecting Information Systems

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Critical infrastructure protection (CIP) involves activities that enhance the security of the nation's cyber and physical public and private infrastructures that are essential to national security, economic activity, and public health and safety. At least 50 federal organizations within 13 major departments and agencies mentioned in Presidential Decision Directive 63 are involved in CIP activities that include setting policy, analyzing vulnerabilities and intelligence information, disseminating alerts and warnings on potential and actual infrastructure attacks, developing remediation plans, responding to incidents, and performing research and development. Although most organizations could identify their relationships with other key CIP entities, relationships among all organizations performing similar activities were not consistently established. Most of the organizations in GAO's review do not receive appropriations specifically designated for cyber CIP and, therefore, do not track these funds. A complicating factor in tracking funds spent on cyber CIP activities is that organizational totals often include funds spent on physical, cyber, and agency-specific CIP spending."
Date: July 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Economic Models of Cattle Prices: How USDA Can Act to Improve Models to Explain Cattle Prices (open access)

Economic Models of Cattle Prices: How USDA Can Act to Improve Models to Explain Cattle Prices

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns have been raised that the economic models used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. International Trade Commission do not account for all the factors that affect cattle prices and producer incomes. GAO reviewed USDA's livestock model to determine whether it incorporates imports, market concentration, marketing agreements, and forward contracts. In reviewing best modeling practices, GAO's expert panel concluded that domestic cattle demand and supply were the fundamental forces driving cattle prices and producer incomes. The panel identified issues necessary to develop a comprehensive modeling system that predicts cattle prices and producer incomes. The panel recommended the collection of better data to quantify several important factors omitted from the model. The panel also wanted to see a more complete characterization of the supply and demand relationships connecting the cattle producer to the final consumer. The panel's emphasis on a more complete characterization of the cattle and beef industry underscores the idea that the demand for cattle is ultimately driven by consumer demand for beef and other demand and supply forces linking cattle producers to feedlots, meatpackers, and retailers."
Date: March 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Defense Management: Munitions Requirements and Combatant Commanders' Needs Require Linkage (open access)

Defense Management: Munitions Requirements and Combatant Commanders' Needs Require Linkage

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) planned to spend $7.9 billion on acquiring munitions in fiscal year 2002. Ongoing military operations associated with the global war on terrorism have heightened concerns about the unified combatant commands having sufficient quantities of munitions. Since 1994, the DOD Inspector General and GAO have issued numerous reports identifying weaknesses and expressing concerns about the accuracy of the process used by the department to determine munitions requirements. DOD has improved its munitions requirements process by eliminating most of the systematic problems--correcting questionable and inconsistently applied data, completing target templates, and resolving issues involving the level of detail that should be included in planning guidance. However, a fundamental problem remains unaddressed--inadequate linkage between the near-term munitions needs of the combatant commands and the purchases made by the military services based on computations derived from the department's munitions requirement determination process. The department's munitions requirements process provides varied answers for current munitions acquisitions questions because of the aforementioned disjunction. As a result, the services, in the short term, are purchasing some critically needed munitions based on available funding and contractors' production capacity. Although this …
Date: October 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Telecommunications: Issues in Providing Cable and Satellite Television Services (open access)

Telecommunications: Issues in Providing Cable and Satellite Television Services

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) television service has grown to become the principal competitor to cable television systems. In October 2001, the two primary DBS companies, EchoStar and DirecTV, proposed a merger plan that is pending before the Department of Justice and that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently announced that it had declined to approve. GAO was asked to examine several issues related to competition in providing subscription video services, including the competitive impact of the availability of cable modem Internet access, and the effects on cable prices and DBS penetration rates of DBS' offering local broadcast channels. GAO also examined the technical capability of the individual DBS companies to expand local channel services into more television markets. This report offers no opinion on the merits of the proposed merger."
Date: October 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
SSA Disability: SGA Levels Appear to Affect the Work Behavior of Relatively Few Beneficiaries, but More Data Needed (open access)

SSA Disability: SGA Levels Appear to Affect the Work Behavior of Relatively Few Beneficiaries, but More Data Needed

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security Administration's (SSA) Disability Insurance (DI) program paid $50 billion in cash benefits to more than five million disabled workers in 2000. Eligibility for DI benefits is based on whether a person with a severe physical or mental impairment has earnings that exceed the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) level. SSA terminates monthly cash benefit payments for beneficiaries who return to work and have earnings that exceed the SGA level--$1,300 per month for blind beneficiaries and $780 per month for all other beneficiaries. GAO found that the SGA level affects the work patterns of only a small proportion of DI beneficiaries. However, GAO also found that the SGA may affect the earnings of some beneficiaries. About 13 percent of those beneficiaries with earnings near the SGA level in 1985 still had earnings near the SGA level in 1995, even though the level was increased during that period. The absence of key information identifying the monthly earnings of beneficiaries, their trial work period status, and whether they are blind limited GAO's ability to definitively identify a relationship between SGA levels and beneficiaries' work patterns. Data limitations …
Date: January 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Information Technology: DLA Needs to Strengthen Its Investment Management Capability (open access)

Information Technology: DLA Needs to Strengthen Its Investment Management Capability

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) relies extensively on information technology (IT) to carry out its logistics support mission. This report focuses on DLA's processes for making informed IT investment decisions. Because IT investment management has only recently become an area of management focus and commitment at DLA, the agency's ability to effectively manage IT investments is limited. The first step toward establishing effective investment management is putting in place foundational, project-level control and selection processes. The second step toward effective investment management is to continually assess proposed and ongoing projects as an integrated and competing set of investment options. Accomplishing these two steps requires effective development and implementation of a plan, supported by senior management, which defines and prioritizes investment process improvements. Without a well-defined process improvement plan and controls for implementing it, it is unlikely that the agency will establish a mature investment management capability. As a result, GAO continues to question DLA's ability to make informed and prudent investment decisions in IT."
Date: March 15, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library