Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Despite a recent decline in the population that smokes, smoking is considered the leading cause of preventable death in this country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 2 million deaths in the 5-year period from 1995 through 1999 were attributable to cigarette smoking. CDC, part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is a primary source of information on the health consequences of smoking tobacco. CDC reported its most recent estimates of selected health consequences of cigarette smoking in an April 2002 issue of its publication Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. CDC reported that, on average, over 440,000 deaths, 5.6 million years of potential life lost, $82 billion in mortality-related productivity losses, and $76 billion in medical expenditures were attributable to cigarette smoking each year from 1995 through 1999. CDC and others tasked with making such estimates face challenges. They build estimates on a set of assumptions and make choices about the data sources and methods used, each of which may have limitations that must be weighed against its advantages. Policymakers at both the state and federal levels have relied on …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report is the release of the database of information collected during research for the report entitled Financial Statement Restatements: Trends, Market Impacts, Regulatory Responses, and Remaining Challenges."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to certain requirements of the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (HRIFA) of 1998 that authorized certain Haitian nationals and their dependents to apply to adjust their status to legal permanent residence. Section 902(k) of the act requires the Comptroller General to report every 6 months on the number of Haitian nationals who have applied and been approved to adjust their status to legal permanent residence. The reports are to contain a breakdown of the number of Haitians who applied and the number who were approved as asylum applicants, parolees, children without parents, orphaned children, or abandoned children; or as the eligible dependents of these applicants, including spouses, children, and unmarried sons or daughters. Reports are to be provided until all applications have been finally adjudicated. This is our tenth report."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As a result of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the airline industry incurred significant losses resulting from the temporary shutdown of the nation's airspace and passengers' apprehensions about flying following the attacks. The Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act (the Act) provided, among other things, $5 billion in emergency assistance to compensate air carriers for their direct and incremental losses stemming from the attacks. The Act also authorized the Department of Transportation (DOT) to reimburse air carriers for increases in their insurance premiums. On September 28, 2001, we completed the first phase of the work Congress requested, concluding that there was a reasonable basis to assume that the airlines' financial losses related to September 11 would exceed the $5 billion made available in the Act. Since then and pursuant to the second part of the request, we monitored DOT's progress in administering the disaster relief and insurance reimbursement programs and provided periodic status updates to Congress."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "While private-sector pensions help millions of Americans achieve retirement income security, the number of private defined benefit (DB) plans1 has declined substantially over the past two decades. Recently, those concerned with the viability of the private defined benefit pension system point to significant increases in pension contributions plan sponsors must make and to the fact that most plans are currently underfunded. The underfunding of plans, due in large part to the sharp decline in the stock market combined with a general decline in interest rates, has increased substantially. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), whose single-employer insurance program insures the benefits of over 34 million workers and retirees in private defined benefit plans, estimated that the total underfunding exceeded $350 billion as of September 4, 2003. According to employer groups, plan sponsors face inflated and unpredictable pension contributions that have greatly diminished the attractiveness of maintaining DB plans. As a result, employer groups have suggested that plan sponsors may consider freezing their plans rather than confronting the possibility of increased pension contributions. A plan "freeze" could have adverse consequences for the retirement income security of participants because new …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO performed the procedures requested by the Secretary of the Senate to assist in determining whether the Senate Office of Public Records revolving fund's reported fiscal year 2001 through 2002 receipts and disbursements and fund balances at the beginning and the end of the review period are complete and accurate. The procedures included reviewing documentation supporting the the Senate Office of Public Records revolving fund's recorded receipt and disbursement transactions for evidence that the transactions were properly authorized, recorded, and reported on the Senate Disbursing Office's monthly Statement of Funding Authorization and Expense Activity reports. In addition, we reviewed the fund balance at the beginning and end of the fiscal years under review. As a result of performing agreed-upon procedures, we identified on instance in which a cash disbursement was not forwarded to the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration prior to payment. This occurred during the displacement of staff from Senate Disbursing Office as a result of the anthrax incident in the fall of 2001. Additionally, we found that the beginning and ending fund balances for fiscal years 2001 and 2002 recorded in the Senate Disbursing Office's …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Established in 1949 by the United Nations, UNRWA provides assistance to Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. UNRWA assistance is primarily education, health, and relief and social services. More than 4 million Palestinian refugees are eligible to receive these services in UNRWA's five areas of operation--Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza. In section 301(c) of the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act (PL 87-195) as amended, Congress has directed that "No contributions by the United States shall be made to (UNRWA) except on the condition that (UNRWA) take all possible measures to assure that no part of the United States contribution shall be used to furnish assistance to any refugee who is receiving military training as a member of the so-called Palestine Liberation Army or any other guerrilla type organization or who has engaged in any act of terrorism." To fulfill a legislative mandate, we are reporting on State Department actions and UNRWA's implementation of procedures to address section 301(c)."

The purpose of the study is to - based on field measurements - determine the average annual leakage rate of HFC-134a from MACs in the European Union of a "second generation"1 air conditioner. From November 2002, to January 2003 300 measurements of HFC-134a leakage were carried out on air conditioners of cars up to seven years age. The measurements were carried out on vehicles of all EU relevant makes at 19 garages in Germany (Osnabrück), Portugal (Rio Maior) and Sweden (Helsingborg) reflecting different climatic conditions.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 2001, an estimated 2 million elderly households with very low incomes (50 percent or less of area median income) did not receive housing assistance. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) considered most of these households to be "rent burdened" because they spent more than 30 percent of their incomes on rent. The Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program provides capital advances (grants) to nonprofit organizations to develop affordable rental housing exclusively for these households. Based on a report issued in May 2003, this testimony discusses the role of the Section 202 program in addressing the need for affordable elderly housing and factors affecting the timeliness of approving and constructing new projects."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Recent news articles in over 30 states and prominent mental health advocacy organizations have described the difficulty many parents have in accessing mental health services for their children. As these reports documented, some parents choose to place their children in the child welfare or juvenile justice systems in order to obtain the mental health services that their children need. Senators Susan Collins and Joseph Lieberman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs asked GAO to testify on: (1) the number and characteristics of children voluntarily placed in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems to receive mental health services, (2) the factors that influence such placements, and (3) promising state and local practices that may reduce the need for child welfare and juvenile justice placements. This testimony is based on our April 2003 report on the results of a study addressing these same objectives. For that report, we surveyed state child welfare directors in all states and the District of Columbia and juvenile justice officials in 33 counties in the 17 states with the largest populations of children under age 18. We surveyed juvenile justice officials at the …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has sought to assist the Congress and the executive branch in considering the actions needed to support the transition to a more high-performing, results-oriented, and accountable federal government. GAO provided perspectives on the federal government's overall structure and the need for reorganization to improve performance."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1998, the Congress and Administration have focused considerable attention on improving the quality of care in the nation's nursing homes, which provide care for about 1.7 million elderly and disabled residents in about 17,000 homes. GAO has earlier reported on serious weaknesses in processes for conducting routine state inspections (surveys) of nursing homes and complaint investigations, ensuring that homes with identified deficiencies correct the problems without recurrence, and providing consistent federal oversight of state survey activities to ensure that nursing homes comply with federal quality standards. GAO was asked to update its work on these issues and to testify on its findings, as reported in Nursing Home Quality: Prevalence of Serious Problems, While Declining, Reinforces Importance of Enhanced Oversight, GAO-03-561 (July 15, 2003). In commenting on this report, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) generally concurred with the recommendations to address survey and oversight weaknesses. In this testimony, GAO addresses (1) the prevalence of serious nursing home quality problems nationwide, (2) factors contributing to continuing weaknesses in states' survey, complaint, and enforcement activities, and (3) the status of key federal efforts to oversee state survey …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (DOE) oversees the treatment and disposal of 94 million gallons of highly radioactive nuclear waste from the nation's nuclear weapons program, currently at DOE sites in Washington, Idaho, and South Carolina. In 2002, DOE began an initiative to reduce the estimated $105-billion cost and 70-year time frame of this cleanup. GAO was asked to testify on the status of this initiative, the legal and technical challenges DOE faces in implementation, and any further opportunities to reduce costs or improve program management. GAO's testimony is based on a report (GAO-03-593) released at the hearing."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Invasive species--nonnative plants and animals--have caused billions of dollars in damage to natural areas, businesses, and consumers. In 2001, the federal government issued a National Management Plan to coordinate a national control effort involving the 20 or so federal agencies that are responsible for managing invasive species. In October 2002, GAO reported on the implementation of the management plan and efforts to manage ballast water, among other things. This testimony discusses some of GAO's findings and recommendations in that report. It also presents the results of a subsequent GAO survey of state officials responsible for managing terrestrial and aquatic invasive species. This survey sought state perspectives on (1) the perceived gaps in existing legislation and barriers to addressing terrestrial and aquatic invasive species and (2) the federal leadership structure for addressing invasive species, as well as the integration of federal legislation on terrestrial invasive species with legislation on aquatic invasives."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a request from the Chairman, Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations, and the Census, House Committee on Government Reform, GAO responded to posthearing questions. At the subject hearing, GAO discussed effective patch management practices for mitigating the risks to critical information systems posed by exploits of vulnerabilities in widely used commercial software products. GAO specifically discussed the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Patch Authentication and Dissemination Capability (PADC). PADC is a service offered by DHS's Federal Computer Incident Response Center (FedCIRC) that provides federal agencies with information on trusted, authenticated patches for their specific technologies without charge."

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 county bail bond board is authorized to adopt a rule providing for the release of some of a license holder’s security when the license holder will continue to engage in the bonding business (RQ-0578-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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the Texas Department of Insurance is authorized to enforce certain provisions of the Health Maintenance Organization Act, TEX. INS. CODE ANN. ch. 20A, against physicians who are not under contract with a health maintenance organization.

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 chapter 143 of the Local Government Code, which provides civil service protection for certain municipal employees, applies to certain fire department employees.

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 inmate in a county jail has the right to choose a medical provider and whether an inmate who refuses to use the provider designated by the sheriff's office has refused medical treatment.

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 certain unauthorized fees collected by counties and municipalities that cannot be returned to the persons who paid the fees constitute taxes that must be remitted to the Comptroller under chapter 111 of the Tax Code or abandoned property governed by the Property Code (RQ-0613-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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Authority of Board of Managers of El Paso County Hospital District to delegate its authority to credential its medical staff and allied health professionals (RQ-0045-GA)

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The hearing today deals with the important congressional obligation to exercise oversight over the use of taxpayer funds, recognizing that waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement are not victimless activities. When resources are diverted for inappropriate, illegal, inefficient, or ineffective purposes, both taxpayers and legitimate program beneficiaries are cheated. Beyond preventing obvious abuse, government also has an obligation to modernize its practices and processes and fundamentally reexamine and reprioritize its activities to meet the demands and needs of today's changing world."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1996, federal land management agencies have collected over $900 million in recreation fees from the public under an experimental initiative called the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program. The Forest Service's part was about $160 million. The authority to collect these fees expires at the end of fiscal year 2004. Central to the debate about whether to reauthorize the program is how effectively the land management agencies are using the hundreds of millions of dollars that the recreation fees have provided them. In April 2003, GAO reported on Forest Service management of the fee demonstration program. (See Recreation Fees: Information on Forest Service Management of Revenue from the Fee Demonstration Program, GAO-03-470 (Washington D.C.: Apr. 25, 2003)). This testimony is based on the work GAO conducted for the April 2003 report. Four issues are addressed: (1) how the Forest Service determines spending priorities for the revenues generated by the fee program, (2) how the agency has spent its fee demonstration program revenues, (3) what the agency is doing to measure the impact of the recreation fee revenues on reducing its deferred maintenance backlog, and (4) how it accounts for …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Homeland Security Act of 2002, which created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), brought together 22 diverse organizations to help prevent terrorist attacks in the United States, reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorist attacks, and minimize damage and assist in recovery from attacks that do occur. To accomplish this mission, the act established specific homeland security responsibilities for the department, which included sharing information among its own entities and with other federal agencies, state and local governments, the private sector, and others. GAO was asked to discuss the significance of information sharing in fulfilling DHS's responsibilities, emphasizing GAO's related prior analyses and recommendations for improving the federal government's information sharing efforts."