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This is a report about the USDA budget for food and nutrition programs in the fiscal year 1997.

Federal election law has long prohibited corporate and union spending in federal elections, but distinctions in statutes and judicial rulings have opened avenues by which these groups have been able to spend money in the electoral process. Business groups make particular use of political action committee (PAC) donations to candidates and soft money donations to parties. Unions made prominent use of issue advocacy in 1996, but labor’s political strength lies in exempt activity communications with members. This report explains these tools and their use in today’s elections.

Fish and marine mammals are important resources of open ocean and nearshore coastal areas. A diverse body of law and regulations guides the management of these resources by a multitude of federal agencies and its development in the 105th congress.

On October 13, 1999, President Clinton announced a new approach to the management of the roadless areas in the National Forest System that may prohibit new road construction and certain other activities in inventoried readless areas and extend some protections to non-inventoried roadless areas as well.

"This report discusses the [Maritime Security Program] in an international commercial context", including a discussion of maritime policies of other nations.

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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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.

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, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a city is authorized to combine in a single proposition proposals for voting on adoption of an economic development tax under section 4B, V.T.C.S. article 5190.6 and an additional sales and use tax under Tax Code section 321.101(b) (ID# 34757)

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, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a commissioners court may decline to permit a particular individual to speak at a public meeting (ID# 38709)

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether tax abatement may be granted to owner of property that was subject of a previous ten-year tax abatement agreement under chapter 312 of the Tax Code, and related question (RQ-0077-JC)

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a county may waive taxes on real property that houses a nonprofit organization but is owned by an individual (RQ-0078-JC)

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a county tax assessor-collector may use interest from the Motor Vehicle Inventory Tax Fund to supplement the salaries of certain full-time employees of the assessor-collector, and related questions (RQ-0079-JC)

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: Authority of a commissioners court to establish a pay scale for justices of the peace based on the volume of cases filed in their respective courts (RQ-51)

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, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Reconsideration of Letter Opinion No. 93-33 (1993) as to whether a state employee may serve on the board of directors of a municipal utility district and recieve compensation in the form of a per diem and reimbursement of expenses (ID# 22433)

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, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Representation of a state-employed physician who fills a petition under section 574.104 Health and Safety Code, to administer psychoactive medications (ID#27283)

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, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether section 601.002 of the Government Code empoers a first assisstant district attorney to perform the duties of a district attorney who has resigned (ID# 28423)

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, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Proper construction of Attorney General Opinion JM-988 (1988) (ID# 30083)

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed Amtrak's overall financial condition, its progress in becoming free of operating subsidies, its use of the Taxpayer Relief Act (TRA) of 1997 funds, and its need for capital investment to improve quality of service."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed its observations on the initial implementation of the Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act of 1998, focusing on: (1) the progress to date in developing and releasing agencies' FAIR Act inventories; (2) the status of the initial steps taken to implement the FAIR Act; and (3) issues related to the Department of Commerce, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the General Services Administration FAIR Act inventories."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the implementation of the Community Policing Act, focusing on statutory requirements for implementing the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the export of high performance computers to countries of concern that might use the computers for military or nuclear proliferation purposes, focusing on whether: (1) exporters' notifications to the Department of Commerce of proposed sales of high performance computers to countries of concern have resulted in any license applications and what action was taken on these licenses; and (2) Commerce is verifying the use of high performance computers after their export to these countries."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) efforts to address the year 2000 computer problem, focusing on the: (1) year 2000 readiness of automated systems that support the delivery of veterans' benefits and health care services, the compliance status of biomedical equipment used in patient care, and the year 2000 readiness of the pharmaceutical and medical-surgical manufacturers on which VA relies; and (2) Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) year 2000 efforts to address biomedical equipment and pharmaceutical products."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on performance management and measurement practices that could position regulatory agencies to more effectively implement the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on year 2000 readiness of State Employment Security Agencies' (SESA) unemployment insurance benefits and tax systems and determined the reported status of whether these systems have been independently verified and validated for year 2000 compliance. GAO also determined whether SESAs have submitted contingency plans for continuity of business operations."