Authorization of the Surface Transportation Board (Board or STB), successor agency to the Interstate Commerce Commission, ended September 30, 1998. The FY2000 budget request is $16 million, $2.6 million of which could be offset by user fees which would become available at the beginning of FY2001. The Senate Commerce Committee scheduled a hearing for March 3, 1999, to consider S. 90, a bill to reauthorize the STB. The CRS report discusses the Board and selected public policy issues associated with its authority, activities, and reauthorization.

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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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.

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 is authorized to invest county permanent school funds proceeds in "pass-through" mortgage-backed securities at an interest rate that is below market rate for comparable securities to assist in providing low-income housing in the county (RQ-887)

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; Purchase of vehicles by Laredo Police Department with forfeiture funds recievd pursuant to article 59.06(c) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (RQ-1160)

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 resign-to-run provison in Water Code section 49.072 applies to a member of the Board of Directors of the Edqards Aquifer Authority (RQ-1205)

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 federal Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 preempts Texas Health and Safety Code section 434.007 (RQ-1202)

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 15(g) of the Bail Bond Act, Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 2372p-3 (Vernon Supp. 1999), prohibits an attorney from advertising in the Bail Bond section of the telephone book yellow pages (RQ-1219)

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO discussed the effectiveness of training at the Army's three maneuver combat training centers--the National Training Center (NTC) Fort Irwin, California; the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC), Fort Polk, Louisiana; and the Combat Maneuver Training Center (CMTC), Hohenfels, Germany."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the readiness of the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) computer systems overall and of some of its component organizations' systems to function reliably into the next century."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Customs Service's management of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), focusing on whether Customs has adequately justified ACE cost-effectiveness."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Army Corps of Engineers' Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), focusing on the: (1) Corps' cost and schedule estimates for cleaning up the FUSRAP sites; (2) Corps' progress in meeting milestones for site cleanups, FUSRAP staffing levels, and environmental document preparation; and (3) transition of the program from the Department of Energy (DOE) to the Corps."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the impacts of nonpoint source water pollution and the potential costs of dealing with the problem, focusing on: (1) funding levels for federal programs that primarily address nonpoint source pollution; (2) the way Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assesses the overall potential costs of reducing nonpoint pollution nationwide and alternative methods for doing so; and (3) nonpoint source pollution from federal facilities, lands, and activities that federal agencies manage or authorize, or for which they issue permits or licenses."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Medicare Incentive Payment program to determine if: (1) it is an effective mechanism for improving access to care for Medicare beneficiaries and underserved populations other than Medicare beneficiaries; and (2) the program's goals, performance measures, and financial controls provide a sound structure for continuing or expanding the program."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the: (1) Department of Defense's (DOD) progress in establishing an organization to address Gulf War illnesses issues; and (2) thoroughness of DOD's Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses' (OSAGWI) investigations into and reporting on incidents of veterans' potential exposure to chemical or biological warfare agents during the Gulf War."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on whether the Air Force complied with relevant policy and congressional notification requirements in reaching a decision to deactivate the 38th Engineering Installation Wing (EIW) at Tinker Air Force Base (AFB), Oklahoma, focusing on: (1) the scope of the Air Force's planned action; (2) whether it is subject to the requirements of Office and Management Budget (OMB) Circular A-76 and 10 U.S.C. 2461; and (3) whether an analysis was completed to examine the cost-effectiveness of the planned action."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on three Texas counties' employee retirement plans, known as Alternate Plans, focusing on: (1) comparing the principal features and benefits of these plans with those of social security; and (2) simulating the retirement, survivor, and disability benefits that individuals in varying circumstances might receive under the Alternate Plans and under social security."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO: (1) identified and described practices that were applied in some federal agencies' 1999 performance plans that might, if consistently applied, improve the usefulness of all agencies' annual performance plans; and (2) provided examples from agencies' fiscal year 1999 performance plans that illustrate each practice."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the federal approach to meeting the needs of the homeless, focusing on: (1) identifying and describing characteristics of the federal programs specifically targeted, or reserved, for the homeless, and key nontargeted programs available to assist low-income people generally; (2) identifying the amounts and types of funding for these programs in fiscal year (FY) 1997; and (3) determining if federal agencies have coordinated their efforts to assist homeless people and developed outcome measures for their targeted programs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the potential effect of using adjusted population counts on the distribution of federal grant funding, focusing on: (1) 25 large formula grant programs; (2) identifying those programs that rely, at least in part, on census data to apportion funding; and (3) for selected programs, analyzing the extent to which funding would shift among states if adjusted population counts were used to apportion funds."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on: (1) the Surface Transportation Board's rate relief complaint process and how it has changed since the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) Termination Act of 1995 became law; (2) the number and outcome of rate relief cases pending or filed since 1990; and (3) the barriers that shippers face when bringing rate complaints to the Board and potential changes to the process to reduce these barriers."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the promotion of women and minorities to high-level Executive and Administrative Schedule (EAS) management positions (EAS 17 and above) in the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), focusing on: (1) the overall extent to which women and minorities have been promoted to or are represented in EAS 17 and above positions in USPS; (2) GAO's observations on the methodology used by a private contractor, Aguirre International, to study workforce diversity at USPS; (3) the status of USPS' efforts to address the recommendations contained in the Aguirre report; and (4) GAO's analysis of whether USPS could better capture and use data to achieve its diversity objectives."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed how states that were early implementers of welfare reform and of one-stop career centers were providing employment and training assistance under welfare reform, focusing on the: (1) structural approaches states are using to provide employment and training services to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) clients; (2) employment and training assistance the states are providing; and (3) funding sources states are using to pay for this assistance."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) efforts to implement the mutual recognition agreement (MRA) between the United States and the European Union."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO investigated allegations received through its FraudNET that Amtrak's Chief Engineer, Allison Conway-Smith, improperly awarded a personal services consulting contract to her neighbor, Chris Leyenberger, focusing on whether: (1) the Chief Engineer followed Amtrak procedures and policies in hiring Mr. Leyenberger; (2) the Chief Engineer had the authority to hire Mr. Leyenberger; (3) the Chief Engineer provided inaccurate information to the Amtrak Board of Directors to obtain contract approval for Mr. Leyenberger's services and, if such information was provided, whether the Board was required to verify it; (4) any problems exist at Amtrak regarding the procurement process as it relates to consultant contracts in general; and (5) the Amtrak President/Chief Executive Officer and Inspector General prefer a central purchasing department at Amtrak."