Offsets, Supplemental Appropriations, and the Disaster Relief Fund: FY1990-FY2013 (open access)

Offsets, Supplemental Appropriations, and the Disaster Relief Fund: FY1990-FY2013

Report that discusses the recent history of offsetting rescissions in paying for supplemental appropriations to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Disaster Relief Fund (DRF).
Date: December 4, 2012
Creator: Painter, William L.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act (open access)

Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act

Report that discusses the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act in brief, especially as related to Congress's renewed interest in the Act due to the current financial crises and recession.
Date: September 4, 2012
Creator: Collins, Benjamin
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
SBA Veterans Assistance Programs: An Analysis of Contemporary Issues (open access)

SBA Veterans Assistance Programs: An Analysis of Contemporary Issues

Report that contains an examination of the current economic circumstances of veteran-owned businesses, available employment assistant programs offered by several federal agencies to assist veterans in their transition from the military to the civilian labor force, and veteran business development programs.
Date: September 4, 2012
Creator: Dilger, Robert Jay & Lowry, Sean
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Search and Seizure Cases in the October 2012 Term of the Supreme Court (open access)

Search and Seizure Cases in the October 2012 Term of the Supreme Court

Report that looks at three search and seizure cases heard during its October 2012 term.
Date: September 4, 2012
Creator: Doyle, Charles
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Clean Air Issues in the 112th Congress (open access)

Clean Air Issues in the 112th Congress

Report providing a brief overview of the climate change, power plant, and air quality standard issues, as well as information on other Clean Air Act issues that the 112th Congress has addressed.
Date: September 4, 2012
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Alternative Minimum Taxpayers by State: 2009, 2010, and Projections for 2012 (open access)

Alternative Minimum Taxpayers by State: 2009, 2010, and Projections for 2012

Report that breaks down, state-by-state, the percentage of taxpayers subject to Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), and also maps out these projections for the year 2012.
Date: December 4, 2012
Creator: Maguire, Steven
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
General Aviation Safety: Additional FAA Efforts Could Help Identify and Mitigate Safety Risks (open access)

General Aviation Safety: Additional FAA Efforts Could Help Identify and Mitigate Safety Risks

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The number of nonfatal and fatal general aviation accidents decreased from 1999 through 2011; more than 200 fatal accidents occurred in each of those years. Airplanes—particularly single-engine piston airplanes—flying personal operations were most often involved in accidents. Most general aviation accidents are attributed to pilot error and involved a loss of aircraft control. Some segments of the industry experienced accidents disproportionately to their total estimated annual flight hours. For example, among the airplane categories we reviewed, experimental amateur-built airplanes were involved in 21 percent of the fatal accidents but accounted for only 4 percent of the estimated annual flight hours. In another example, corporate operations were involved in about 1 percent of fatal accidents while accounting for 14 percent of estimated annual flight hours. We can draw some conclusions about general aviation accident characteristics, but limitations in flight activity and other data preclude a confident assessment of general aviation safety. The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) survey of general aviation operators, on which the agency bases its annual flight-hour estimates, continues to suffer from methodological and conceptual limitations, even with FAA’s efforts to improve it over the …
Date: October 4, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Postal Service: Status, Financial Outlook, and Alternative Approaches to Fund Retiree Health Benefits (open access)

U.S. Postal Service: Status, Financial Outlook, and Alternative Approaches to Fund Retiree Health Benefits

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund (PSRHBF) covered about 49 percent of the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS) $94 billion retiree health benefit liability at fiscal year-end 2012. USPS's deteriorating financial outlook, however, will make it difficult to continue the current prefunding schedule in the short term, and possibly to fully fund the remaining $48 billion unfunded liability over the remaining 44 years of the schedule on which the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) was based. The liability covers the projected benefits for about 471,000 current postal retirees and a portion of the projected benefits for about 528,000 current employees; it does not cover employees not yet hired. Under PAEA, USPS is responsible for contributing an additional $33.9 billion to the PSRHBF by fiscal year 2017, including the $11.1 billion USPS has defaulted on over the past 2 years. PAEA also requires the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to calculate the remaining unfunded liability in 2017 and develop an initial 40-year amortization payment schedule. USPS, however, projects further declines in mail volume and revenues that may continue to limit its ability to prefund the …
Date: December 4, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Nuclear Weapons: Evaluation of Report on Feasibility of Increasing Air Transportation of Nuclear Weapons, Components, and Materials (open access)

Nuclear Weapons: Evaluation of Report on Feasibility of Increasing Air Transportation of Nuclear Weapons, Components, and Materials

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, we found the following:"
Date: May 4, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Border Security: Additional Actions Needed to Strengthen CBP Efforts to Mitigate Risk of Employee Corruption and Misconduct (open access)

Border Security: Additional Actions Needed to Strengthen CBP Efforts to Mitigate Risk of Employee Corruption and Misconduct

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data indicate that arrests of CBP employees for corruption-related activities since fiscal years 2005 account for less than 1 percent of CBP’s entire workforce per fiscal year. The majority of arrests of CBP employees were related to misconduct. There were 2,170 reported incidents of arrests for acts of misconduct such as domestic violence or driving under the influence from fiscal year 2005 through fiscal year 2012, and a total of 144 current or former CBP employees were arrested or indicted for corruption-related activities, such as the smuggling of aliens and drugs, of whom 125 have been convicted as of October 2012. Further, the majority of allegations against CBP employees since fiscal year 2006 occurred at locations along the southwest border. CBP officials have stated that they are concerned about the negative impact that these cases have on agencywide integrity."
Date: December 4, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
National Credit Union Administration: Earlier Actions Are Needed to Better Address Troubled Credit Unions (open access)

National Credit Union Administration: Earlier Actions Are Needed to Better Address Troubled Credit Unions

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From January 1, 2008, through June 30, 2011, 5 corporates and 85 credit unions failed. As of January 1, 2008, the 5 failed corporates were some of the largest—accounting for 75 percent of all corporate assets—but the 85 failed credit unions were relatively small—accounting for less than 1 percent of total credit union assets. GAO found poor investment and business strategies contributed to the corporate failures. Specifically, the failed corporates over concentrated their investments in private-label, mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and invested substantially more in private-label MBS than corporates that did not fail. GAO also found that poor management was the primary reason the 85 credit unions failed. In addition, NCUA’s Office of Inspector General has reported that NCUA’s examination and enforcement processes did not result in strong and timely actions to avert the failure of these institutions NCUA took multiple actions to stabilize, resolve, and reform the corporate system. NCUA used existing funding sources, such as the NCUSIF, and new funding sources, including the Temporary Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund (Stabilization Fund), to stabilize and provide liquidity to the corporates. NCUA placed the failing corporates into …
Date: January 4, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Defense Management: Opportunities Exist to Improve Information Used in Monitoring Status of Efficiency Initiatives (open access)

Defense Management: Opportunities Exist to Improve Information Used in Monitoring Status of Efficiency Initiatives

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The military departments and SOCOM have taken various steps to track the implementation of their efficiency initiatives. For example, prior to or during fiscal year 2012, they identified necessary programmatic actions to implement initiatives and began to carry out these actions, such as reassigning personnel from organizations being consolidated and terminating weapon system programs. They also set up approaches for senior officials to review progress, including using existing governance structures as a means for officials to review relevant financial and programmatic information, such as expected completion dates for actions related to implementing the initiatives and progress in meeting estimated savings targets. To track savings related to the initiatives, the military departments and SOCOM identified the appropriation accounts and areas within these accounts from which they expected to achieve savings, the specific dollar amounts, and areas where savings were to be reinvested."
Date: December 4, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Phosphate Mining: Oversight Has Strengthened, but Financial Assurances and Coordination Still Need Improvement (open access)

Phosphate Mining: Oversight Has Strengthened, but Financial Assurances and Coordination Still Need Improvement

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1996, federal agencies have taken several actions to strengthen their oversight of phosphate mining on federal land. For example, BLM now conducts more detailed environmental analysis when evaluating new mine plans; requires phosphate mine operators to provide more comprehensive plans for reclaiming mine sites (restoring the land to a stable condition that can support other uses); and requires the mine operators to provide financial assurances that are based on the full estimated cost of reclaiming mines, in contrast to BLM’s previous practice of calculating financial assurances based simply on the acreage associated with mines. However, gaps remain in agency policies and coordination that could limit the agencies’ efforts to address contamination from phosphate-mining operations. For example, BLM has not documented its new full-cost financial assurance practice in agency policy and therefore has limited assurance that it will be implemented consistently. BLM also has not fully coordinated with the Forest Service when establishing mine lease conditions and setting financial assurance amounts. Limited coordination is of particular concern because 16 phosphate leases in Idaho are scheduled for review and possible readjustment in the next 5 years, and …
Date: May 4, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Renewable Energy Project Financing: Improved Guidance and Information Sharing Needed for DOD Project-Level Officials (open access)

Renewable Energy Project Financing: Improved Guidance and Information Sharing Needed for DOD Project-Level Officials

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To finance renewable energy projects, the military services use up-front appropriations, such as operation and maintenance funds, and alternative-financing approaches that generally rely on private capital, such as arranging financing and implementing a project with a private developer or utility. The military services have funded about 85 percent of nearly 600 projects that were in design, under construction, or operating in fiscal year 2011 with up-front appropriations, but financed 8 of the 9 large-scale projects and 19 of the 57 medium-scale projects with alternative financing. Several factors affect the military services’ use of financing approaches, including perceived benefits and drawbacks such as how long it takes to obtain funding."
Date: April 4, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Congressional Salaries and Allowances (open access)

Congressional Salaries and Allowances

Report that provides basic information on congressional salaries and allowances.
Date: December 4, 2012
Creator: Brudnick, Ida A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Texas Register, Volume 37, Number 18, Pages 3247-3480, May 04, 2012 (open access)

Texas Register, Volume 37, Number 18, Pages 3247-3480, May 04, 2012

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: May 4, 2012
Creator: Texas. Secretary of State.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0946 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0946

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a public school student who is at least eighteen years of age or older and younger than twenty-one, and who is enrolled in a district that has adopted a compulsory attendance policy under section 25.085 of the Education Code, is subject to prosecution under section 25.094 of the Education Code for a failure to attend school (RQ-1022-GA)
Date: June 4, 2012
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0947 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0947

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Manner in which the State Office of Administrative Hearings is authorized to bill certain agencies under the terms of section 2260.103, Government Code (RQ-1032-GA)
Date: June 4, 2012
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0948 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0948

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a retired federal judge may conduct a marriage ceremony in Texas (RQ-1035-GA)
Date: June 4, 2012
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
The State of Campaign Finance Policy: Recent Developments and Issues for Congress (open access)

The State of Campaign Finance Policy: Recent Developments and Issues for Congress

This report discusses selected litigation to demonstrate how those events have changed the campaign finance landscape and affected the policy issues that may confront Congress, but it is not a constitutional or legal analysis. Campaign finance data appears throughout the report.
Date: January 4, 2012
Creator: Garrett, R. S.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Social Security Retirement Earnings Test: How Earnings Affect Benefits (open access)

Social Security Retirement Earnings Test: How Earnings Affect Benefits

Social Security benefits received before a person attains full retirement age (FRA) are subject to an actuarial reduction for early retirement and also may be reduced by the Social Security Retirement Earnings Test (RET) if the beneficiary has earnings that exceed an annual threshold. This report explains how the RET is applied under current law and provides detailed benefit examples to show how the RET affects both the worker beneficiary and any family members (auxiliary beneficiaries) who receive benefits based on the worker beneficiary’s record. The report points out features of the RET that are not widely known or understood, such as the recomputation of benefits when a beneficiary attains FRA to adjust (increase) benefits to take into account months for which no benefit or a partial benefit was paid as a result of the RET. Finally, the report discusses policy issues related to the RET, including recent research on the effect of the RET on work effort and the decision to claim Social Security benefits.
Date: January 4, 2012
Creator: Nuschler, Dawn & Shelton, Alison M.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Taxes: A Description of Current Law (open access)

Federal Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Taxes: A Description of Current Law

This report contains an explanation of the major provisions of the federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. The discussion divides the federal estate tax into three components: the gross estate, deductions from the gross estate, and computation of the tax, including allowable tax credits. The federal estate tax is computed through a series of adjustments and modifications of a tax base known as the "gross estate." Certain allowable deductions reduce the gross estate to the "taxable estate," to which is then added the total of all lifetime taxable gifts made by the decedent. The tax rates are applied and, after reduction for certain allowable credits, the amount of tax owed by the estate is reached.
Date: May 4, 2012
Creator: Luckey, John R.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The U.S. Infant Mortality Rate: International Comparisons, Underlying Factors, and Federal Programs (open access)

The U.S. Infant Mortality Rate: International Comparisons, Underlying Factors, and Federal Programs

None
Date: April 4, 2012
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Congressional Salaries and Allowances (open access)

Congressional Salaries and Allowances

This report provides basic information on congressional salaries and allowances. First, the report briefly summarizes the current salary of Members of Congress, limits on their outside earned income and honoraria, and applicable health insurance and retirement benefits.
Date: January 4, 2012
Creator: Brudnick, Ida A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library