Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In November 2002, we issued our report on the results of our audit of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) financial statements as of and for the fiscal years ending September 30, 2002 and 2001, and on the effectiveness of its internal controls as of September 30, 2002. We also reported our conclusions on IRS's compliance with significant provisions of selected laws and regulations and on whether IRS's financial management systems substantially comply with requirements of the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA). A separate report on the implementation status of recommendations from our prior IRS financial audits and related financial management reports will be issued shortly. The purpose of this report is to discuss issues identified during our fiscal year 2002 audit regarding accounting procedures and internal controls that could be improved for which we do not presently have any recommendations outstanding."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress passed the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 in response to frustration with the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) inability to effectively carry out its mission. IRS's inability to deliver new computer systems that worked, allegations of abuse of taxpayers by IRS employees, and taxpayers greeted by busy signals when calling IRS for assistance all fed the frustration. The act set two goals for IRS--improve service to taxpayers while continuing to enforce compliance with the tax laws. The act also mandated annual joint congressional oversight hearings, of which this is the fifth and final."

A novel real-time monitor for aerosol particles has been developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The instrument is designed to perform in-situ measurement for the elemental composition of aerosol particles in flue gas. They had tested this monitor at the Eastman Chemical Company in July 2001 taking advantage of the emissions from a waste incinerator operated by the company as the background. To investigate the behavior and response of the monitor under simulated/known conditions, stock solutions of prepared metal concentration(s) were nebulized to provide spikes for the instrument testing. Strengths of the solutions were designed such that a reference method (RM) was able to collect sufficient material on filter samples that were analyzed in a laboratory to produce 30-minute average data points. Parallel aerosol measurements were performed by using the ORNL instrument. Recorded signal of an individual element was processed and the concentration calculated from a calibration curve established prior to the campaign. RM data were able to reflect the loads simulated in the spiked waste stream. However, it missed one beryllium sample. The possibility of bias exists in the RM determination of chromium that could lead to erroneous comparison between the RM and the real-time monitoring data. …

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the objectives of public education.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the regulation of riding stables.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to relating to the regulation of the practice of appraising real property; providing administrative, civil, and criminal penalties.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to admission of certain nonresident patients to state chest hospitals.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to enforcement of conduct and other matters concerning a security; providing a penalty.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the creation of a task force to evaluate matters regarding water conservation.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to community service programs under the National and Community Service Act of 1990.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to exempting college savings plan accounts from attachment, execution, and seizure for the satisfaction of debts.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the Texas State Guard.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to carrying a passenger on an all-terrain vehicle.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to certain electronic and information resources technology projects of the state

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to regulation of frozen dessert products and manufacturing.

Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate relating to in memory of Sergeant Robert Lee Trapp of the Lamar County Sheriff's Department.

Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate relating to in memory of Leighton Marion Cornett of Paris, Texas.

Joint resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate relating to proposing a constitutional amendment concerning civil lawsuits against doctors and health care providers, and other actions, authorizing the legislature to determine limitations on non-economic damages.

Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate relating to honoring Cleatus Rattan of Cisco for being named the Texas Poet Laureate for 2004.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the authority of the board of a hospital district and the commissioners court of the county in which the district is located to take certain actions relating to ad valorem taxes imposed for the benefit of the hospital district.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to continued health insurance benefits for eligible surviving spouses of certain officers and employees of political subdivisions.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the transfer of certain state property and the granting of certain state easements from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas to the City of Houston.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to application of law regulating sweepstakes to certain associations of airmen.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the application of certain marketing and contracting restrictions to treatment facilities funded by the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse.