Texas Attorney General Opinion: DM-383 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: DM-383

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, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a jail facility is subject to ad valorem taxes when a county occupies it for county purposes under a lease-purchase contract with a private entity (RQ-711)
Date: April 18, 1996
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: LA-12 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: LA-12

Letter opinion 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 L. Hill, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: The constitutionality of Senate Bill 373, allowing the Texas Dept. of Corrections to grant temporary furloughs to inmates to attend to medical treatment or attend to family emergencies.
Date: April 18, 1973
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: LO88-44 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: LO88-44

Letter opinion 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, Jim Mattox, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a particular contract between Texas Souther University and a local business firm violates either the state conflict of interest statute, article 6252-9b, V.T.C.S., or the nepotism statute, article 5996a, V.T.C.S.
Date: April 18, 1988
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Register, Volume 39, Number 16, Pages 3007-3290, April 18, 2014 (open access)

Texas Register, Volume 39, Number 16, Pages 3007-3290, April 18, 2014

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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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.
Date: April 18, 2014
Creator: Texas. Secretary of State.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Declarations of War and Authorizations for the Use of Military Force: Historical Background and Legal Implications (open access)

Declarations of War and Authorizations for the Use of Military Force: Historical Background and Legal Implications

This report provides historical background on the enactment of declarations of war and authorizations for the use of force and analyzes their legal effects under international and domestic law. It also sets forth their texts in two appendices. The report includes an extensive listing and summary of statutes that are triggered by a declaration of war, a declaration of national emergency, and/or the existence of a state of war. The report concludes with a summary of the congressional procedures applicable to the enactment of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of force and to measures under the War Powers Resolution.
Date: April 18, 2014
Creator: Elsea, Jennifer K. & Weed, Matthew C.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Selected Agency Budget Justifications for FY2015 (open access)

Selected Agency Budget Justifications for FY2015

This report provides a convenient listing of online FY2015 agency budget justification submissions for all 15 executive branch departments and 9 selected independent agencies.
Date: April 18, 2014
Creator: Murray, Justin
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Nuclear Waste: Uncertainties About the Yucca Mountain Repository Project (open access)

Nuclear Waste: Uncertainties About the Yucca Mountain Repository Project

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As required by law, the Department of Energy (DOE) has been investigating a site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, to determine its suitability for disposing of highly radioactive wastes in a mined geologic repository. If the site is approved, DOE must apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for authorization to construct a repository. If the site is not approved for a license application, or if NRC denies a license to construct a repository, the administration and Congress will have to consider other options for the long-term management of existing and future nuclear wastes. DOE is not prepared to submit an acceptable license application to the NRC within the statutory limits that would take effect if the site is approved. DOE is unlikely to achieve its goal of opening a repository at Yucca Mountain by 2010. Sufficient time would not be available for DOE to obtain a license from NRC and construct enough of the repository to open it in 2010. Another key factor is whether DOE will be able to obtain the increases in annual funding that would be required to open the repository by 2010. DOE currently …
Date: April 18, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Real Property: Views on Real Property Reform Issues (open access)

Federal Real Property: Views on Real Property Reform Issues

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Property Asset Management Reform Act of 2002, will enhance federal real and personal property management and bring the policies and business practices of federal agencies into the 21st century. Available data show that the federal government owns hundreds of thousands of properties worldwide, including military installations, office buildings, laboratories, courthouses, embassies, postal facilities, national parks, forests, and other public lands, estimated to be worth billions of dollars. Most of this government-owned real property is under the custody and control of eight agencies--the Department of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior, and Veterans Affairs; General Services Administration; the Tennessee Valley Authority; and the U.S. Postal Service. Federal property managers have a large deferred maintenance backlog, obsolete and underutilized properties, and changing facility needs due to rapid advances in technology. It is important that real property-holding agencies link their real property strategic plans to their missions and related capital management and performance plans; ensure that senior real property officers have the knowledge, skills, and expertise needed to effectively perform their duties; are accountable for the reliability, usefulness, and timeliness of their data; and adopt an effective process to monitor …
Date: April 18, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Defense Space Activities: Organizational Changes Initiated, but Further Management Actions Needed (open access)

Defense Space Activities: Organizational Changes Initiated, but Further Management Actions Needed

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In January 2001, the congressionally chartered Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization--known as the Space Commission--reported that the Department of Defense (DOD) lacked the senior-level focus and accountability to provide guidance and oversight for national security space operations. Congress mandated that GAO provide an assessment of DOD's actions to implement the Space Commission's recommendations. Thus, GAO (1) updated its June 2002 assessment of DOD's actions to address the Space Commission's recommendations, (2) ascertained progress in addressing other long- term management concerns, and (3) assessed the extent to which DOD has developed a results-oriented management framework for space activities."
Date: April 18, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Elections: All Levels of Government Are Needed to Address Electronic Voting System Challenges (open access)

Elections: All Levels of Government Are Needed to Address Electronic Voting System Challenges

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the 2000 national elections, concerns have been raised by various groups regarding the election process, including voting technologies. Beginning in 2001, GAO published a series of reports examining virtually every aspect of the elections process. GAO's complement of reports was used by Congress in framing the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which, among other things, provided for replacement of older voting equipment with more modern electronic voting systems and established the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to lead the nation's election reform efforts. GAO's later reports have raised concerns about the security and reliability of these electronic voting systems, examined the EAC's efforts to address these concerns, and surveyed state and local officials about practices used during the 2004 election, as well as plans for their systems for the 2006 election. Using its published work on electronic voting systems, GAO was asked to testify on (1) the contextual role and characteristics of electronic voting systems, (2) the range of security and reliability concerns that have been reported about these systems, (3) the experiences and management practices of states and local jurisdictions regarding these systems, and (4) the …
Date: April 18, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
No Child Left Behind Act: Education Actions May Help Improve Implementation and Evaluation of Supplemental Educational Services (open access)

No Child Left Behind Act: Education Actions May Help Improve Implementation and Evaluation of Supplemental Educational Services

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) requires districts with schools that receive Title I funds and that have not met state performance goals for 3 consecutive years to offer low-income students supplemental educational services (SES), such as tutoring. This testimony discusses early implementation of SES, including how (1) SES participation changed in recent years; (2) providers work with districts to deliver services; (3) states monitor and evaluate SES; and (4) the U.S. Department of Education (Education) monitors and supports SES implementation. This testimony is based on an August 2006 report (GAO-06-758) and also provides information on actions Education has taken that respond to our recommendations. For the report, GAO surveyed all states and a nationally representative sample of districts with schools required to offer SES, visited four school districts, and interviewed SES providers."
Date: April 18, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Drug Courts: Better DOJ Data Collection and Evaluation Efforts Needed to Measure Impact of Drug Court Programs (open access)

Drug Courts: Better DOJ Data Collection and Evaluation Efforts Needed to Measure Impact of Drug Court Programs

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In exchange for the possibility of dismissed charges or reduced sentences, defendants with substance abuse problems agree to be assigned to drug court programs. In drug courts, judges generally preside over the proceedings; monitor the progress of defendants; and prescribe sanctions and rewards in collaboration with prosecutors, defense attorneys, and treatment providers. Most decisions about drug court operations are left to local jurisdictions. Although programs funded by the Drug Court Program Office (DCPO) must collect and provide performance measurement and outcome data, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has not effectively managed this effort because of (1) its inability to readily identify the universe of DCPO-funded drug court programs, including those subject to DCPO's data collection reporting requirements; (2) its inability to accurately determine the number of drug court programs responding to DCPO's semiannual data collection survey; (3) inefficiencies in the administration of DCPO's semiannual data collection effort; (4) the elimination of post-program impact questions from the data collection survey effort; and (5) the lack of use of the Drug Court Clearinghouse. Various administrative and research factors have also hampered DOJ's ability to complete the two-phase National …
Date: April 18, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
DOD Personnel: More Consistency Needed in Determining Eligibility for Top Secret Security Clearances (open access)

DOD Personnel: More Consistency Needed in Determining Eligibility for Top Secret Security Clearances

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Each year, the Department of Defense (DOD) makes about 200,000 decisions to grant, deny, or revoke security clearances for its civilian, military, and contractor personnel. Through a process called adjudication, DOD personnel security specialists review the results of employees' background investigations and determine whether the individual is eligible for a clearance. This report (1) assesses whether DOD's adjudicators consistently document all significant adverse security conditions when determining individuals' eligibility for top secret security clearances and (2) identifies factors that hinder the effectiveness of DOD's adjudicative process. GAO found that DOD adjudicators have not consistently documented all significant adverse security conditions present in investigative case files when determining individuals' eligibility for top secret security clearances. DOD has been unable to demonstrate that it fully considered all significant adverse conditions often not documented, including financial matters. Several factors have hindered the effectiveness of DOD's adjudicative process. The Assistant Secretary has not (1) used common explanatory guidance, such as that contained in the Adjudicative Desk Reference he developed, or issued any other clarifying guidance to promote consistency in applying the federal guidelines; (2) required adjudicators to take DOD adjudicative …
Date: April 18, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Retired Coal Miners' Health Benefit Funds: Financial Challenges Continue (open access)

Retired Coal Miners' Health Benefit Funds: Financial Challenges Continue

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "More than 100,000 retired coal miners and their spouses and dependents in 1992 faced a potential decrease in their employment-related health insurance coverage or loss of such coverage altogether. Some former employers had stopped mining coal or gone out of business and were no longer contributing to the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) retiree benefit funds. To ensure that these individuals would continue to receive the health benefits specified in previous collective bargaining agreements reached with coal companies, often gained in exchange for lower pensions, Congress enacted the Coal Industry Retiree Health Benefit Act of 1992 (Coal Act). The Coal Act replaced the existing UMWA benefit funds with the Combined Benefit Fund (CBF) and the 1992 Benefit Plan. These funds' benefits requires less cost sharing by beneficiaries and provides more extensive coverage than benefit packages offered by the major manufacturing companies and companies with unionized workforces. However, the extent of coverage is generally comparable. The cost of health care for the funds' beneficiaries in 1999 was about 29 percent higher than for demographically similar Medicare beneficiaries with employer-sponsored insurance. The funds' officials have attempted to …
Date: April 18, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Coast Guard: Observations on the Fiscal Year 2008 Budget, Performance, Reorganization, and Related Challenges (open access)

Coast Guard: Observations on the Fiscal Year 2008 Budget, Performance, Reorganization, and Related Challenges

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U. S. Coast Guard is a multimission agency responsible for maritime safety, security, and stewardship. It performs these missions, relating to homeland security and non-homeland security in U.S. ports and inland waterways, along the coasts, and on international waters. The President's budget request, including the request for the Coast Guard, was transmitted to Congress on February 5, 2007. This testimony, which is based on current and past GAO work, synthesizes the results of this work as it pertains to the following: budget requests and performance goals, organizational changes and related management initiatives, current acquisition efforts and challenges, and challenges related to performing traditional legacy missions."
Date: April 18, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Defense Transportation: Monitoring Costs and Benefits Needed While Implementing a New Program for Moving Household Goods (open access)

Defense Transportation: Monitoring Costs and Benefits Needed While Implementing a New Program for Moving Household Goods

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) spends more than $1.7 billion each year to move and store over 600,000 household goods shipments when relocating military personnel. It conducted and evaluated several pilot program studies aimed at fixing its problem-plagued program and, in 2002, issued a report to Congress with three recommendations. The 1997 Defense Appropriations Act Conference Report directed GAO to validate the results achieved by the pilot programs. In response, GAO examined the extent to which DOD's recommendations to Congress (1) offer solutions to long-standing problems in the current program and (2) are supported by the evaluation's findings and should be implemented. GAO also assessed the soundness of methodologies used by DOD to develop cost estimates to implement the recommendations."
Date: April 18, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Multiple Employment and Training Programs: Funding and Performance Measures for Major Programs (open access)

Multiple Employment and Training Programs: Funding and Performance Measures for Major Programs

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federally funded employment and training programs serve an important role in the nation's economy by helping job seekers enhance their job skills, identify job opportunities and ultimately find employment. While the Department of Labor is responsible for overseeing many of these programs, other agencies such as the Departments of Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development also play a role. In the 1990s, we issued a series of reports that highlighted the range of programs that provided employment and training services. Again in 2000, just after the implementation of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which provided for a consolidated service delivery system for many of the programs, we reviewed the workforce development system, identifying 40 federally funded employment and training programs--operated through seven federal agencies--for which a key program goal was providing employment and training assistance. As WIA approaches reauthorization, it is important to re-examine the system's structure to determine if additional changes are indicated. Specifically, we determined (1) how many federal employment and training programs there were in fiscal year 2002, their appropriations in fiscal years 2001, 2002, and 2003; and the proportion …
Date: April 18, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Securities And Exchange Commission: Continued Management Attention Would Strengthen Internal Supervisory Controls (open access)

Securities And Exchange Commission: Continued Management Attention Would Strengthen Internal Supervisory Controls

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "After the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) in 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, Division of Corporation Finance, and Division of Enforcement (herein "the offices") established a working group that developed an internal supervisory control framework. Internal supervisory controls include the processes established by management to help ensure that procedures applicable to staff are performed completely, consistent with applicable policies and procedures, and remain current. The overall control framework is generally consistent with federal internal control standards, which includes identifying and assessing risks, identifying and assessing internal controls, and reporting the results of testing to management and Congress."
Date: April 18, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Specialty Hospitals: Information on National Market Share, Physician Ownership, and Patients Served (open access)

Specialty Hospitals: Information on National Market Share, Physician Ownership, and Patients Served

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Specialty hospitals represent a small but growing segment of the health care industry. These hospitals specialize in providing care for certain conditions, such as cardiac care, or performing certain procedures, such as orthopedic surgery. Specialty hospitals are not an entirely new phenomenon, as children's and other types of specialty hospitals have existed for decades. Consequently, it is challenging to distinguish between the old and new types of specialty hospitals. One aspect that sets apart the newer genre of specialty hospitals is that many are owned, in part, by the physicians who work in them. Advocates contend that, because of their focused mission, specialty hospitals can provide high-quality specialty services more efficiently than general hospitals. Because specialty hospitals can tailor their facilities and resources to best fit the needs of certain types of patients, individuals treated in such hospitals may enjoy relatively greater convenience and comfort. Specialty hospitals may also offer physicians financial and work environment advantages. Advocates have stated that the focused mission and dedicated resources of specialty hospitals allow physicians to treat more patients than they could in general hospitals. Physicians may gain financially from this increased …
Date: April 18, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Management Report: Improvements Are Needed in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (open access)

Management Report: Improvements Are Needed in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting for the Troubled Asset Relief Program

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) requires that we annually audit the financial statements of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which is implemented by the Office of Financial Stability (OFS). On November 15, 2010, we issued our audit report including (1) an unqualified opinion on OFS's financial statements for TARP as of and for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2010, and 2009, and (2) an opinion that OFS maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2010. We also reported that our tests of OFS's compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2010, disclosed no instances of noncompliance. Our November 2010 audit report concluded that although certain internal controls could be improved, OFS maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2010, that provided reasonable assurance that misstatements, losses, or noncompliance material in relation to the financial statements would be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis. Our audit report also identified a significant deficiency in OFS's internal control over its accounting and financial …
Date: April 18, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
DOD Personnel: DOD Comments on GAO's Report on DOD's Civilian Human Capital Strategic Planning (open access)

DOD Personnel: DOD Comments on GAO's Report on DOD's Civilian Human Capital Strategic Planning

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In response to a Congressional request, we issued a report in March 2003 on the Department of Defense's (DOD) strategic planning efforts for civilian personnel at DOD and selected defense components, including the four military services and two defense agencies. In that report we made recommendations to the Secretary of Defense to strengthen civilian human capital planning, including integration with military personnel and sourcing initiatives. DOD's response to our March 2003 report and recommendations were received too late to be included in that report. To provide our perspective on DOD's comments, we briefly summarize our March 2003 report's objectives, results, and recommendations and DOD's comments, along with our evaluation of the comments. DOD's civilian employees play key roles in such areas as defense policy, intelligence, finance, acquisitions, and weapon systems maintenance. Although downsized 38 percent between fiscal years 1989 and 2002, this workforce has taken on greater roles as a result of DOD's restructuring and transformation. Responding to congressional concerns about the quality and quantity of, and the strategic planning for, the civilian workforce, we determined the following for DOD, the military services, and selected defense agencies (the …
Date: April 18, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medicare Imaging Accreditation: Effect on Access to Advanced Diagnostic Imaging Is Unclear amid Other Policy Changes (open access)

Medicare Imaging Accreditation: Effect on Access to Advanced Diagnostic Imaging Is Unclear amid Other Policy Changes

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO found that the number of advanced diagnostic imaging (ADI) services provided to Medicare beneficiaries in the office setting—an indicator of access to those services—began declining before and continued declining after the accreditation requirement went into effect on January 1, 2012. In particular, the rate of decline from 2009 to 2010 was similar to the rate from 2011 to 2012 for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); computed tomography (CT); and nuclear medicine (NM), including positron emission tomography (PET) services. These results suggest that the overall decline was driven, at least in part, by factors other than accreditation. The percentage decline in the number of ADI services provided in the office setting was generally similar in both urban and rural areas during the period GAO studied."
Date: April 18, 2014
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Defense Infrastructure: Improved Guidance Needed for Estimating Alternatively Financed Project Liabilities (open access)

Defense Infrastructure: Improved Guidance Needed for Estimating Alternatively Financed Project Liabilities

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In the event of future base closure, the Department of Defense's (DOD) potential financial liabilities from alternatively financed projects will vary by project type and the language of its legal agreements. According to GAO's analysis of data reported by DOD, it had more than 550 such projects on more than 240 U.S. installations, as of September 30, 2011. 56 percent of these projects have been put in place since the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round. Further, according to this analysis and GAO's case study review, liabilities will likely exist for renewable energy and privatized utility projects in the event of base closure because these projects commit the government to making future payments, although the liabilities may be limited by termination for convenience clauses in agreements. In contrast, privatized housing, privatized army lodging, and enhanced use lease projects are generally not expected to create a financial liability if bases close because DOD does not expect to terminate these types of agreements."
Date: April 18, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Aviation Fees: Review of Air Carriers' Year 2000 Passenger and Property Screening Costs (open access)

Aviation Fees: Review of Air Carriers' Year 2000 Passenger and Property Screening Costs

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) authorized the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to impose an Aviation Security Infrastructure Fee (ASIF) on air carriers to help pay for the costs of aviation security services. To impose the ASIF, TSA issued an Interim Final Rule (IFR) and required air carriers to report their passenger and property screening costs incurred in 2000 on an attachment to the IFR referred to as Appendix A. The 2000 screening costs reported by air carriers were going to be used to establish the ASIF. Based on industry estimates of $1 billion, TSA had estimated that the costs incurred by air carriers in 2000 were $750 million, but the amounts reported by air carriers totaled $319 million, significantly less than expected. To provide the Congress with an independent assessment, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2005 required GAO to review the amount of passenger and property screening costs incurred by air carriers in 2000."
Date: April 18, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library