Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the administration and monitoring of health care provided to foster children.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the use of an Internet application to allow access by court-appointed volunteer advocates to child protective services case information.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the transfer of an ad valorem tax lien; providing an administrative penalty.

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) determines changes to each component of United Nations (UN) Secretariat professional employees' salaries and calculates the difference between UN and U.S. civil service salaries annually. ICSC recommends adjustments to the first component, base salaries, each year to align with changes to U.S. civil service base salaries. For example, ICSC calculated that U.S. civil service base salaries, including the impact of tax changes, increased 1.37 percent on January 1, 2010 and recommended that the UN base salary scale increase 1.37 percent on January 1, 2011. To set post adjustments, an additional salary component intended to equalize purchasing power, ICSC calculates the cost of living in each duty station. ICSC monitors changes in inflation, exchange rates, and other factors, and updates post adjustments periodically to reflect those changes. ICSC conducts surveys of UN employees and collects data on prices at least once every 5 years to ensure that post adjustments reflect the cost of several categories of expenditures relative to New York City, such as goods and services, housing, and medical insurance. Additionally, ICSC calculates the margin, or percentage difference, between UN …

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Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since October 1994, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im) has had statutory authority to facilitate the financing of U.S. exports of defense articles and services, provided that Ex-Im determines that these items are nonlethal and primarily meant for civilian use. These “dual-use” exports include items such as vehicles that are used by the military mainly for civilian or humanitarian purposes. Ex-Im did not finance any transactions under its dual-use authority in fiscal year 2011 and financed three transactions under its dual-use authority in fiscal year 2012. The transactions financed in fiscal year 2012 were (1) a satellite for Eutelsat of France, (2) road construction equipment for the government of Cameroon, and (3) three satellites for the government of Mexico. At the time of publication of this report, little of the equipment financed had been delivered to end users. Prior to fiscal year 2012, Ex-Im last provided financing for dual-use exports in fiscal year 2002."

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

Report that provides background information regarding the Immigration and Naturalization Service rules and regulations and discusses the "immigration detainer", a document by which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) advises other law enforcement agencies that it seeks custody of individual aliens whom these agencies are detaining.

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Report that presents a profile of the membership of the 113th Congress (2013-2014). Statistical information is included on selected characteristics of Members, including data on party affiliation, average age, occupation, education, length of congressional service, religious affiliation, gender, ethnicity, foreign births, and military service.

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On January 27, 2010 the City of North Little Rock, Arkansas received notification of the awarding of a Department of Energy (DOE) grant totaling $450,000 in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) under the Project Title: Recovery Act: Hydroelectric Facility Improvement Project – Automated Intake Clearing Equipment and Materials Management. The purpose of the grant was for improvements to be made at the City’s hydroelectric generating facility located on the Arkansas River. Improvements were to be made through the installation of an intake maintenance device (IMD) and the purchase of a large capacity wood grinder. The wood grinder was purchased in order to receive the tree limbs, tree trunks, and other organic debris that collects at the intake of the plant during high flow. The wood grinder eliminates the periodic burning of the waste material that is cleared from the intake and reduces any additional air pollution to the area. The resulting organic mulch has been made available to the public at no charge. Design discussion and planning began immediately and the wood grinder was purchased in July of 2010 and immediately put to work mulching debris that was gathered regularly from the intake of the facility. …

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security Administration (SSA) will experience management challenges in four key areas over the next decade."

This report presents the results for solid phase characterization (SPC) of solid samples removed from tank 241-C-108 (C-108) on August 12-13,2012, using the off-riser sampler. Samples were received at the 222-S Laboratory on August 13 and were described and photographed. The SPC analyses that were performed include scanning electron microscopy (SEM) using the ASPEX(R)l scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction (XRD) using the Rigaku(R) 2 MiniFlex X-ray diffractometer, and polarized light microscopy (PLM) using the Nikon(R) 3 Eclipse Pol optical microscope. The SEM is equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS) to provide chemical information. Gary A. Cooke conducted the SEM analysis, John A. Pestovich performed the XRD analysis, and Dr. Heinz J. Huber performed the PLM examination. The results of these analyses are presented here.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security Administration (SSA) struggles to effectively administer its Representative Payee Program, despite steps taken to address its challenges in identifying, selecting, and monitoring representative payees. For example, due to increasing workloads and staff attrition, SSA field office managers in some offices said they sometimes have to perform payee program duties that lower level staff typically handle. SSA has also experienced an increasing number of beneficiaries who may not have a suitable payee available. In an effort to address this challenge, SSA hosted a webinar to recruit additional payees. However, SSA officials said this effort did not result in the addition of any new payees. SSA also faces challenges ensuring that payees who are selected are suitable for the task. To help address this challenge, SSA implemented a pilot program in its Philadelphia region to screen and bar payee applicants who have been convicted of certain crimes. The pilot relies on self-reported information from payee applicants, but SSA plans to screen applicants by accessing a commercial database that contains state-level criminal information. This database, however, does not contain information from every state and it is …

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Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "There are several key similarities and differences between Part 851, OSHA regulations, and the OSH Act. Several key similarities are that Part 851 incorporates by reference almost all OSHA standards and authorizes workers to file complaints about unsafe working conditions or hazards in the workplace. Several key differences are that Part 851 incorporates additional industry standards and authorizes DOE to accept hazard controls--in certain nonoperational facilities--that are not otherwise fully compliant with applicable DOE regulations for worker health and safety."