Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the relative or other designated caregiver placement program and to monetary assistance provided by the Department of Family and Protective Services to certain relative or designated caregivers; creating a criminal offense; creating a civil penalty.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the powers and duties of the Department of Family and Protective Services and the transfer of certain powers and duties from the Health and Human Services Commission.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to child protective services suits, motions, and services by the Department of Family and Protective Services and to the licensing of certain facilities, homes, and agencies that provide child-care services.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the retirement systems for and the provision of other benefits to police and fire fighters in certain municipalities.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the provision of child protective services and other health and human services by certain state agencies or under contract with a state agency, including foster care, child protective, relative and kinship caregiver support, prevention and early intervention health care, and adoption services.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the public retirement systems of certain municipalities.

This report discusses the Air Force's planned procurement of 350 new Advanced Pilot Training (APT T-X) aircraft and 46 Ground Based Training Systems (GBTS) at a cost valued at roughly $1.5 billion for the Research, Design, Test, and Evaluation phase of the program and estimated at $18 billion in future procurement costs. The APT T-X acquisition strategy poses potential oversight issues for Congress, including the following: Is the number of planned aircraft purchases sufficient? Given the reported pilot shortage, should the procurement be accelerated? What effects do increased F-35A & KC-46 purchases, along with development of the new Long Range Strike Bomber, B-21, have on the USAF budget and the feasibility of an additional Major Defense Acquisition Program? These questions and the Air Force's FY 2017 appropriations requests' for the program are addressed in this report.

This report discuses the development, procurement, and funding of the Army's new Multi-Purpose Vehicles (AMPV) intended to replace Vietnam War-era M-113 personnel carriers. The FY2018 budget request for the AMPV requests $647.4 million for the production of 107 vehicles. A potential issue for Congress is whether the Administration's proposal to increase the size of the Army will translate into a requirement for additional AMPVs.

This report aims to provide information on the history of democracy promotion as a foreign assistance objective, the role of the primary U.S. agencies administering such programs, and funding details and trends, as well as issues of potential relevance to Congress.

This report describes the terms most commonly used when discussing the federal individual income tax. Most of these tax terms are explained in the order that they occur in the process of determining one's income tax on the Form 1040. A copy of the 2016 IRS Form 1040 is included at the end of this report.

This report discusses the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program which provides developers with tax credits for developing or rehabilitating affordable housing and describes how the allocation processes work.

This report discuses the development, procurement, and funding of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) for the Army and Marine Corps. The FY2018 budget request for JLTVs is $1,142.7 million for 2,777 JLTVs for the Army, Marines, and Air Force. The major potential issues for Congress include whether an increase in endstrength and force structure might result in an increase in overall JLTV requirements, and what the service-specific fielding plans for the JLTV might be.

This report discusses the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) newly published new standards regulating exposure to crystalline silica in the workplace. Under the new standards, the Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) for crystalline silica will be reduced to 50 µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter of air). Employers will be required to monitor crystalline silica exposure if workplace levels may exceed 25 µg/m3 for at least 30 days in a year and provide medical monitoring to employees in those workplaces. In the case of construction workers, medical monitoring is required only if the new standards require workers to wear respirators for at least 30 days in a year.

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, Ken Paxton, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether municipal courts are authorized to report juvenile conv1ct10ns for drug paraphernalia offenses to the Texas Department of Public Safety (RQ-0143-KP).

This report examines recent trends in U.S. GHG emissions, particularly CO2 emissions from electricity generation, and the factors that impact emission levels in that sector. In addition, this report examines the degree to which CPP implementation (or lack thereof) may impact CO2 emission levels from electric power plants. The first section provides an overview of various sources of GHG emissions in the United States. This includes an overview of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and a closer look at CO2 emissions from electricity generation, which account for the second largest percentage of CO2 emission from fossil fuel combustion (1% percentage point behind the transportation sector). The second section examines projections of CO2 emissions in the electric power sector, with a particular focus on the role of the CPP and other factors. The final section highlights the challenges in making CO2 emission projections with a comparison of actual CO2 emissions with prior emission forecasts.

This report discusses systems used by the federal government to keep track of all the different government contractors through the use of unique identifying numbers. The first section provides basic information on the Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) which is the current system that is slowly being phased out and the Commercial and Government Entity System and Codes (CAGE) which has been being implemented more recently. The final section discusses the federal government's reliance on DUNS, interest in and exploration of alternatives to DUNS, and government actions that possibly could pave the way for the adoption of an alternative system, or a hybrid system that includes DUNS. The CAGE system, which is an existing, federal government identification system, may be a candidate for either option.

Joint resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of part of the market value of the residence homestead of a partially disabled veteran or the surviving spouse of a partially disabled veteran if the residence homestead was donated to the disabled veteran by a charitable organization for less than the market value of the residence homestead and harmonizing certain related provisions of the Texas Constitution.

Joint resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate proposing a constitutional amendment on professional sports team charitable foundations conducting charitable raffles.

Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate authorizing the lieutenant governor and the speaker to appoint interim joint committees.

Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate requesting the creation of a joint interim committee to study state judicial salaries.

This report provides a an overview of the 2017 fiscal year appropriations for the Department of Justice (DOJ) divided by department. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (P.L. 115-31) appropriates $28.962 billion for DOJ, an amount that is 0.4% less than the FY2016 appropriation and 2.9% less than what the Obama Administration requested.

This report outlines the 2017 fiscal year appropriations for the five Department of Justice (DOJ) grant programs which assist communities with various criminal justice related issues. Congress provided a total of $2.320 billion for DOJ's five grant accounts, an amount that is 6.7% less than the FY2016 appropriation and 1.8% less than the Administration's request. Funding for three of the five grant accounts decreased for FY2017, the exceptions being Violence Against Women Programs (+$2 million) and the Community Oriented Policing Services (+$10 million). However, the increase in funding for the Community Oriented Policing Services account is largely attributable to Congress moving funding for the Regional Information Sharing System from the Research, Evaluation, and Statistics account to the Community Oriented Policing Services account.

This report is the first two reports in a series discussing the Federal Communication Commission's proposal to reclassify broadband Internet access services and modify or eliminate "net neutrality" regulations. Various legal aspects of the debate and classification of telecommunications are discussed.

This report provides short summaries of legislative proposals with respect to unemployment insurance (UI) programs. It also gives a brief overview of the UI programs that may provide benefits to eligible unemployed workers. In addition, it briefly summarizes UI proposals included in the President's budget for FY2018. President Trump signed H.J.Res. 42 on March 30, 2017 (P.L. 115-17). This Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution negated 20 C.F.R. Part 620. This now-negated rule had set out the circumstances under which states were allowed to prospectively drug test UC claimants based upon the prevalence of drug testing in the occupations in which they were seeking employment.