Annual report of nonfinancial data of the Health Professions Council for fiscal year 2012, including unaudited reports of spaces, fees, employees, strategic plan progress, and other information.

A comprehensive study and evaluation made by an independent firm, Delehanty Consulting LLC, of lottery security including computer security, systems security, and all aspects of lottery security for the Texas Lottery Commission.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, TSA receives thousands of air passenger screening complaints through five central mechanisms, but does not have an agencywide policy, consistent processes, or a focal point to guide receipt and use of such information. Also, while the agency has several methods to inform passengers about its complaint processes, it does not have an agencywide policy or mechanism to ensure consistent use of these methods among commercial airports. In addition, TSA's complaint resolution processes do not fully conform to standards of independence to ensure that these processes are fair, impartial, and credible, but the agency is taking steps to improve independence. To address these issues, we made four recommendations to TSA with which the agency concurred, and it indicated actions it is taking in response. Finally, TSA officials stated that the agency is undertaking efforts to focus its resources and improve the passenger experience at security checkpoints by applying new intelligence-driven, risk-based screening procedures, including expanding its Pre✓™ program. TSA plans to have this program in place at 35 airports by the end of the calendar year and estimates that it has screened more than 4 million passengers …

Report that summarizes recent trends in supplemental funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, particularly related to natural disasters. It provides summary data and analysis on Corps funding over the last 10 years and includes a general discussion of how the Corps funds emergency actions at its own facilities and elsewhere.

Report examining how Congress has been proactive in helping the economy recover after the 2008-2009 recession, as well as how it can help to keep recessions at bay in the future.

Report that discusses major aspects of Senate procedure related to filibusters and cloture.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Understanding the extent and nature of identity theft-related refund fraud is important to crafting a response to it, but Internal Revenue Service (IRS) managers recognize that they do not have a complete picture. Program officials said that one of the challenges they face in combating this type of fraud is its changing nature and how it is concealed. While perfect knowledge about cases and who is committing the crime will never be attained, the better IRS understands the problem, the better it can respond and the better Congress can oversee IRS's efforts. IRS officials described several areas where the extent and nature of identity theft is unknown."

Report that discusses U.S. security assistance to Taiwan, or Republic of China (ROC), including policy issues for Congress and legislation.

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO's previous work has shown that, once enacted, tax expenditures and their relative contributions toward achieving federal missions and goals are often less visible than spending programs, which are subject to more systematic review. One reason for this is that they often operate, in practice, like entitlement programs not subject to annual appropriations. Since 1994, GAO has recommended greater scrutiny of tax expenditures, as periodic reviews could help determine how well specific tax expenditures work to achieve their goals and how their benefits and costs compare to those of programs with similar goals. However, the Executive Branch has made little progress in developing a framework for systematically evaluating tax expenditures."

Report that provides a basic overview of existing, permanent provisions that benefit victims of disasters, as well as past, targeted legislative responses to particular disasters. The relief is discussed without examining either the qualifications for or the limitation on claiming the provisions' benefits.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reported in February 2012 that replacing $1 notes with $1 coins could potentially provide $4.4 billion in net benefits to the federal government over 30 years. The overall net benefit was due solely to increased seigniorage and not to reduced production costs. Seigniorage is the difference between the cost of producing coins or notes and their face value; it reduces government borrowing and interest costs, resulting in a financial benefit to the government. GAO’s estimate takes into account processing and production changes that occurred in 2011, including the Federal Reserve’s use of new equipment to determine the quality and authenticity of notes, which has increased the expected life of the note thereby reducing the costs of circulating a note over 30 years. (The $1 note is expected to last 4.7 years and the $1 coin 30 years.) Like all estimates, there are uncertainties surrounding GAO’s estimate, especially since the costs of the replacement occur in the first several years and can be estimated with more certainty than the benefits, which are less certain because they occur further in the future. Moreover, changes to the inputs and assumptions …

Report that looks at the growing income disparity and the decreasing financial mobility in the United States.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Retirements of older units, retrofits of existing units with pollution controls, and the construction of some new coal-fueled units are expected to significantly change the coal-fueled electricity generating fleet, making it capable of emitting lower levels of pollutants than the current fleet but reducing its future electricity generating capacity. Two broad trends are affecting power companies' decisions related to coal-fueled generating units--recent environmental regulations and changing market conditions, such as the recent decrease in the price of natural gas. Regarding retirements, forecasts GAO reviewed based on current policies project that power companies may retire 15 to 24 percent of coal-fueled generating capacity by 2035--an amount consistent with GAO's analysis. GAO's statistical analysis, examining data on power companies that have announced plans to retire coal-fueled units, found that these power companies are more likely to retire units that are older, smaller, and more polluting. For example, the units companies plan to retire emitted an average of twice as much sulfur dioxide per unit of fuel used in 2011 as units that companies do not plan to retire. Based on the characteristics of the units companies plan to …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Medicaid expenditures in the Medicaid Statistical Information System (MSIS) were generally less than CMS-64 amounts. National expenditures in MSIS were 86, 87, and 88 percent of the amounts in CMS-64 in fiscal years 2007 through 2009, respectively. In fiscal year 2009, MSIS expenditures for states ranged from 59 to 119 percent of CMS-64. Specifically, 40 states reported lower expenditures in MSIS than CMS-64; 5 states and the District of Columbia reported higher expenditures; and 5 states reported similar levels of expenditures."

Report that looks at actions taken by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) during its first year. The CFPB exists to implement and enforce federal consumer financial laws, ensure consumer access to financial products and services, and ensure that the markets for consumer financial services and products are fair, transparent, and competitive.

Annual report describing the condition of Texas pavements based on distress ratings and ride quality measurements from the Pavement Management Information System (PMIS) during fiscal years 2009-2012. "This report describes the condition of Texas pavements in Fiscal Year 2012 and during the four-year FY 2009-2012 period, based on analysis of Pavement Management Information System (PMIS) distress ratings and ride quality measurements. The report includes the percentage of lane miles in 'Good' or better condition, trends for the major highway systems (IH, US, SH, and FM) and pavement types (ACP, CRCP, and JCP), trends for pavement distress types and maintenance level of service information" (p. ii).

This report analyzes the potential misaligned incentives in the servicer-mortgage holder relationship and the servicing standards that attempt to address each concern, the servicer-borrower relationship and the relevant servicing provisions, as well as the possible implications of reforming the servicing industry.

Some tax-exempt organizations are legally allowed to engage in political campaign activity, and some are not. This report discusses which organization are/are not allowed to do so, and how they determine whether something is campaign activity.

Report that discusses some of the commercial and federal radio frequency spectrum policy changes required by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. It also summarizes new policy directions for spectrum management under consideration in the 112th Congress, such as the encouragement of new technologies that use spectrum more efficiently.

Report submitted by the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation containing background information on the commission, and summaries of requests for appropriations and expenditures for the fiscal years 2014 and 2015 with supporting documentation.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, as of August 2012, USDA had fully addressed three of our recommendations, made significant progress toward addressing two, and made some progress toward addressing one."

This report first provides an overview of the youth population and the increasing complexity of transitioning to adulthood for all adolescents. It also provides a separate discussion of the concept of "disconnectedness," as well as the protective factors youth can develop during childhood and adolescence that can mitigate poor outcomes. Further, the report describes the evolution of federal youth policy and provides a brief overview of current federal programs targeted at vulnerable youth. The report then discusses the challenges of coordinating federal programs for youth, as well as federal legislation and initiatives that promote coordination among federal agencies and support programs with a positive youth development focus.

This report looks at the cost of funding the Coast Guard's program of record's (POR) call for procuring eight National Security Cutters (NSCs), 25 Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPCs), and 58 Fast Response Cutters (FRCs) as replacements for 90 aging Coast Guard cutters and patrol craft. It also addresses issues for maintenance, future acquisition, and definitions of the types of cutters.

The Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) operated a grain storage facility in Waverly, Nebraska, from 1952 to 1974. During this time, the grain fumigant '80/20' (carbon tetrachloride/carbon disulfide) was used to preserve stored grain. In 1982, sampling by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found carbon tetrachloride contamination in the town's groundwater. After an investigation of the contaminant distribution, the site was placed on the National Priority List (NPL) in 1986, and the CCC/USDA accepted responsibility for the contamination. An Interagency Compliance Agreement between the EPA and the CCC/USDA was finalized in May 1988 (EPA 1990). The EPA (Woodward-Clyde Consultants, contractor) started immediate cleanup efforts in 1987 with the installation of an air stripper, a soil vapor extraction system, a groundwater extraction well, and groundwater and soil gas monitoring wells (Woodward-Clyde 1986, 1988a,b). After the EPA issued its Record of Decision (ROD; EPA 1990), the CCC/USDA (Argonne National Laboratory, contractor) took over operation of the treatment systems. The CCC/USDA conducted a site investigation (Argonne 1991, 1992a,b), during which a carbon tetrachloride plume in groundwater was discovered northeast of the former facility. This plume was not being captured by the existing groundwater extraction system. The remediation …