A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (HLOGA) of 2007 amended the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 by doubling the frequency of lobbyists' reporting and increasing criminal and civil penalties. This is GAO's second report in response to the Act's requirement for GAO to annually (1) determine the extent to which lobbyists can demonstrate compliance with the Act by providing support for information on their registrations and reports, (2) describe challenges identified by lobbyists to complying with the Act, and (3) describe the resources and authorities available to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia's efforts to enforce the Act. For this report, GAO placed increased emphasis on written documentation to support disclosure reports. GAO reviewed a random sample of 100 lobbyist disclosure reports filed during the first three quarters of calendar year 2008. GAO also selected a random sample of 100 reports of federal political contributions, filed for the first time, for mid-calendar-year 2008. This methodology allowed GAO to generalize the sample results to the populations of 40,169 lobbying activity disclosure reports and 6,048 reports with contributions filed. GAO met with lobbyists regarding …

Quarterly update providing information on environmental regulations for small businesses and local governments in Texas.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to the ethics policies for trustee investing practices of the Employees Retirement System, the Teacher Retirement System, and The University of Texas Investment Management Company (investing entities), which must be consistent with applicable statutory requirements.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining how the Lamar higher education institutions calculated and supported expenditure and revenue losses attributable to Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, and how the Texas State University System approved and allocated emergency funds.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether the Board of Tax Professional Examiners accurately reports selected key performance measures to the Automated Budget and Evaluation System of Texas (ABEST), and has adequate control systems in place over the collecting, calculating, and reporting of selected key performance measures.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether the Bond Review Board accurately reported selected key performance measures to the Automated Budget and Evaluation System of Texas (ABEST), and had adequate control systems in place over the collecting, calculating, and reporting of selected key performance measures.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether the Office of Public Insurance Counsel (OPIC) accurately reported selected key performance measures to ABEST and had adequate control systems in place over the collecting, calculating, and reporting of selected key performance measures.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether the Veterans Commission is accurately reporting selected key performance measures to ABEST and has adequate control systems over the collection, calculation, and reporting of selected key performance measures.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether the Court of Criminal Appeals has processes that provide reasonable assurance that grant funds from the Judiciary and Court Personnel Training Fund are being awarded and used in accordance with Texas Government Code requirements, the terms of grant agreements, administrative and Court rules, and Court policy; and determining the status of implementation of recommendations made by MTG Management Consultants, L.L.C.

Monthly publication documenting statistics related to economic information in the Mexico-Texas border areas including types of border crossings, employment, customs revenues, and other related data.

This report presents an overview of the economic and political situation in Bosnia. It starts out by describing the current situation, the negotiations on forming a new central government, the international role in Bosnia, and the last part discusses the implications of U.S. policy.

This report identifies and briefly summarizes the 19 budget reconciliation measures enacted into law during the period covering 1980, when reconciliation procedures first were used by both chambers, through 2008, the last year of the 110th Congress.

Bilingual newsletter from the Texas Department of State Health Services providing information on health care for children with special needs, including resources for medical help and community services.

Fact sheet describing Clean Cities, a DOE program that deploys alternative and advanced fuels and vehicles to displace petroleum in the transportation sector. It includes the contact information for its 86 active coalitions.

Report detailing President Lyndon B. Johnson's time attending Texas State University in San Marcos.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Departments of Defense (DOD) and State (State) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have relied extensively on contractors to support troops and civilian personnel and carry out reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. While recognizing the benefits of using contactors, GAO and others have noted the risks and challenges associated with relying on contractors. To help increase contractor oversight, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 directed DOD, State, and USAID to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan that identified a database to track information on contractor personnel and contracts performed in the two countries. In their July 2008 MOU, the agencies designated the Synchronized Pre-Deployment and Operational Tracker database (SPOT) as their system for tracking the required information. GAO's testimony addresses how contractor personnel and contract information can aid agencies in managing contracts and the status of SPOT's implementation. It is drawn from GAO's ongoing and prior contingency contracting work. This work involved meeting with agency officials, including those in Iraq, and reviewing agency documents. GAO obtained agency views on previously unreported information, which the agencies …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "n 2008, the cumulative cost growth in the Department of Defense's portfolio of 96 major defense acquisition programs was $296 billion and the average delay in delivering promised capabilities to the warfighter was 22 months. These poor outcomes mean that other critical defense and national priorities may go unfunded and that warfighters may go without the equipment they need to counter the changing threats that they face. GAO has examined extensively the issues in DOD's weapon system programs from the perspective of best practices in product development, and believes that significant improvements are possible. Because the ability to measure knowledge, processes, and outcomes is critical to achieving these improvements, GAO has used metrics to review the management and health of these programs from within the framework of best practices. This testimony discusses: 1) "knowledge metrics," used to determine how well programs manage technology, design, and manufacturing risks; 2) outcome metrics--concerning cost, schedule, and capability--that serve as "health indicators" of how well programs are being executed in terms of predicted outcomes; and 3) the prerequisites that GAO believes must be met in order for a program's plans and goals …

Newsletter of the Texas Wildlife Division discussing news, events, programs, and other topics of interest related to wildlife management in Texas, and Texas Parks and Wildlife activities.

Biweekly, comprehensive compilation of decisions, reports, public notices, and other documents of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii.

This report describes the study area, previous aquifer investigations, and hydrogeologic setting used to develop the Edwards Trinity and Pecos Valley aquifers conceptual models, and provides details on the study and suggestions for future model improvements.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the potential viability of high speed rail in the United States. Federal and other decision makers have had a renewed interest in how high speed rail might fit into the national transportation system and address increasing mobility constraints on highways and at airports due to congestion. This testimony is based on our report issued March 19, 2009, entitled High Speed Passenger Rail: Future Development Will Depend on Addressing Financial and Other Challenges and Establishing a Clear Federal Role. In preparing the report, we reviewed federal legislation; interviewed federal, state, local, and private sector officials, as well as U.S. project sponsors; and reviewed high speed rail development in France, Japan, and Spain. More detailed information on our scope and methodology appears in the March 19, 2009, report. We conducted our work in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. This statement focuses on (1) the factors affecting the economic viability of high speed rail projects, including difficulties in determining the economic viability of proposed projects; (2) the challenges in developing and financing high speed rail systems; and (3) the federal role in the potential development of …

Technical report outlining the guidelines and standards of uniformity for the Historic Programmatic Section 4(f) Evaluation documents. The guidelines provide the Texas Department of Transportation with recommendations on gathering technical and engineering information for establishing a project's purpose and need as well as sufficient justification for the alternatives considered and measures to minimize harm. The standards of uniformity outlines the information, graphics, maps, and photographs required for evaluations.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) is in the process of implementing its new human capital system for managing civilian personnel--the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). Key components of NSPS include compensation, classification, and performance management. Implementation of NSPS could have far-reaching implications, not just for DOD, but for civil service reform across the federal government. As of February 2009, about 205,000 civilian employees were under NSPS. Based on GAO's prior work reviewing performance management in the public sector, GAO developed an initial list of safeguards that NSPS should include to ensure it is fair, effective, and credible. In 2008, Congress directed GAO to evaluate, among other things, the extent DOD implemented accountability mechanisms, including those in 5 U.S.C. section 9902(b)(7) and other internal safeguards in NSPS. This statement is based on GAO's September 2008 report, which determined (1) the extent to which DOD has implemented internal safeguards to ensure NSPS was fair, effective, and credible; and (2) how DOD civilians perceive NSPS and what actions DOD has taken to address these perceptions. For that report, GAO analyzed relevant documents and employee survey results; interviewed appropriate officials; and conducted …