Each House committee has authority to hold hearings whether the House is in session, has recessed, or has adjourned (Rule XI, clause 2(m)(1)(A)). Regardless of the type of hearing, or whether a hearing is held in or outside of Washington, hearings share common aspects of planning and preparation. this report discusses the issues a committee faces in deciding whether to schedule a hearing.

In the 1980s, Japan's economy posted strong economic growth, in stark contrast to the more pedestrian growth other developed economies experienced. In this period, referred to as the "bubble" economy, Japan experienced a sharp increase in the values of land and stocks. The fast paced growth came to a halt in 1991, however, as the Ministry of Finance grew concerned over prospects of a rising rate of inflation, and, accordingly, tightened the nation's money supply. Since then, Japanese economic growth has fallen sharply and the economy has experienced asset deflation, rising levels of unemployment, and falling corporate profits and investments.

A cigarette excise tax increase of 75 cents per pack has been proposed to finance part of the President's universal health care program. The tax enjoys considerable public support, would raise about $11 billion per year, and would be relatively simple to administer because it would increase an existing manufacturer's excise tax. This report discusses these rationales, as well as other effects of and concerns about the tax, organized into topics of market failure as a justification for the tax (i.e., economic efficiency); potential for revenue; equity; and the job loss the tax might cause in tobacco growing regions.

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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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

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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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

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, pursuant to the Water Code, a petition for the dissolution of a drainage district may be withdrawn after being presented to a commissioners court, but before the commissioners have ordered an election on the issue (ID# 38663)

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 school district may require minimum "poverty level wage" in contracts with district.

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 section 5B(a) of the Texas Plumbing License Law, TEX. REV. CIV. STAT. ANN. art. 6243-101 (Vernon Supp. 1999), authorizes the State Board of Plumbing Examiners to adopt plumbing codes of statewide applicability, and related questions.

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: Applicability of section 130.008 of the Education Code, which allows high school students to obtain joint credit for certain public junior college courses, to persons attending a private school.

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 clip-on microphones for county deputy sheriffs' portable radios are "security hardware" that may be purchased with monies from courthouse-security fund under article 102.017(d)(9) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

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, under Business Corporation Act article 5.17, a for-profit domestic business corporation may convert to a Texas nonprofit corporation organized under Texas Revised Civil Statutes articles 1396-1.01 through - 11.01, and related questions.

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: Enforcement of traffic laws on privately owned streets.

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;Payments to spouse of county judge for expenses incurred in execution of contract under federal program (# 17139 ).

The US Air Force owns and operates numerous facilities that were constructed during the Cold War era. The end of the Cold War prompted many changes in the operation of these properties: missions changed, facilities were modified, and entire bases were closed or realigned. The widespread downsizing of the US military stimulated concern over the potential loss of properties that had acquired historical value in the context of the Cold War. In response, the US Department of Defense in 1991 initiated a broad effort to inventory properties of this era. US Air Force installations in Alaska were in the forefront of these evaluations because of the role of the Cold War in the state's development and history and the high interest on the part of the Alaska State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) in these properties. The 611th Air Support Group (611 ASG) owns many of Alaska's early Cold War properties, most were associated with strategic air defense. The 611 ASG determined that three systems it operates, which were all part of the integrated defense against Soviet nuclear strategic bomber threat, were eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and would require treatment as historic properties. These systems include …

The Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) includes many activities required to remediate the radioactive waste stored in underground waste storage tanks. These activities include routine monitoring of the waste, facilities maintenance, upgrades to existing equipment, and installation of new equipment necessary to manage, retrieve, process, and dispose of the waste. In order to ensure that these multiple activities are integrated, cost effective, and necessary, a sound technical baseline is required from which all activities can be traced and measured. The process by which this technical baseline is developed will consist of the identification of functions, requirements, architecture, and test (FRAT) methodology. This process must be completed for TWRS to a level that provides the technical basis for all facility/system/component maintenance, upgrades, or new equipment installation.

We present theory and experimental data for a resonant-delay-line pulse-compression system. The system is fed by two high power klystrons at X-band. The output power is four times bigger than the input power. The system produces flat-top output pulses. The system uses evacuated room-temperature copper delay lines as a means of storing energy. These lines achieved a quality factor greater than 4.3 x 10{sup 5}, with total losses due to external components measured at 4%. We compare theory with experimental results.

A finite element transport model has been developed and implemented to complement experimental efforts to improve the quality of ICF target shells produced via controlled-mass microencapsulation. The model provides an efficient means to explore the effect of processing variables on the dynamics of shell dimensions, concentricity, and phase behavior. Comparisons with experiments showed that the model successfully predicts the evolution of wall thinning and core/wall density differences. The model was used to efficiently explore and identify initial wall compositions and processing temperatures which resulted in concentricity improvements from 65 to 99%. The evolution of trace amounts of water entering into the shell wall was also tracked in the simulations. Comparisons with phase envelope estimations from modified UNIFAP calculations suggest that the water content trajectory approaches the two-phase region where vacuole formation via microphase separation may occur.

Higher order photon transitions such as M1, M2 and two-photon decay are conveniently studied using highly-charged electron ions. Here we discuss two examples from recent experiments which were done using the ATLAS facility at Argonne National Laboratory. The first is a test of Relativistic Quantum Mechanics involving a precision measurement of the spectral shape of the two-photon decay of the 1s2s{sup 1}S{sub 0} state in He-like nickel and the second is a test of the theory of damping in quantum mechanics involving observation of E1-M1 interference in the electric field quenching of metastable H-like ions.

We have collected and analyzed fracture and fluid flow data from wells both within and outside the producing geothermal reservoir at Dixie Valley. Data from wellbore imaging and flow tests in wells outside the producing field that are not sufficiently hydraulically connected to the reservoir to be of commercial value provide both the necessary control group of fracture populations and an opportunity to test the concepts proposed in this study on a regional, whole-reservoir scale. Results of our analysis indicate that fracture zones with high measured permeabilities within the producing segment of the fault are parallel to the local trend of the Stillwater fault and are optimally oriented and critically stressed for frictional failure in the overall east-southeast extensional stress regime measured at the site. In contrast, in the non-producing (i.e., relatively impermeable:) well 66-21 the higher ratio of S{sub hmin} to S{sub v} acts to decrease the shear stress available to drive fault slip. Thus, although many of the fractures at this site (like the Stillwater fault itself) are optimally oriented for normal faulting they are not critically stressed for frictional failure. Although some of the fractures observed in the non-producing well 45-14 are critically stressed for frictional failure, …

As more data gathering, analysis, and tracking tasks are outsourced the need for multiple contractors and military personnel to input, update, access, store, and track Mormation is becoming critical to efficient functioning and managing of environmental projects and programs at military installations. This paper presents two case studies detailing the way two organizations--the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) in Colorado, and the 611th Air Support Group (611 ASG) in Alaska--are managing complex data using web-based technology. RMA is involved in one of the largest environmental cleanup programs in the Department of Defense. As such, large volumes of environmental data and documents must be generates stored, and tracked. Often these documents are prepared by multiple contractors and are reviewed by several parties or groups. To manage environmental information and to ensure that it meets compliance requirements more efficiently, RMA has developed an electronic document tracking and distribution system. This system allows access to up-to-date information, including a detailed review of all pertinent regulatory and other requirements at RMA. The dynamic system includes milestones, review deadlines, submission deadlines, and other requirements for managing the environmental program. The 611 ASG manages more than 30 remote installations in Alaska, many of which are operated by …

Older single-story facilities (Pre-1985 vintage) are commonly constructed of structural steel framing with concrete masonry unit (CMU) walls connected to columns and roof girders of the steel framing system. The CMU walls are designed for lateral wind and seismic loads (perpendicular to the wall) and transmit shear loads from the roof diaphragm to the foundation footings. The lateral loads normally govern their design. The structural framing system and the roof diaphragm system are straight forward when analyzing or upgrading the structure for NPH loads. Because of a buildings design vintage, probable use of empirical methodology, and poor design basis documentation (and record retention); it is difficult to qualify or upgrade CMU walls for lateral Natural Phenomena Hazards (NPH) loads in accordance with References 1, 2 and 3. This paper discusses three analytical approaches and/or techniques (empirical, working stress and yield line) to determine the collapse capacity of a laterally loaded CMU wall, and compares their results

Adaptive optics on the Keck 10 meter telescope will provide an unprecedented level of capability in high resolution ground based astronomical imaging. The system is designed to provide near diffraction limited imaging performance with Strehl {gt} 0.3 n median Keck seeing of r0 = 25 cm, T =10 msec at 500 nm wavelength. The system will be equipped with a 20 watt sodium laser guide star to provide nearly full sky coverage. The wavefront control subsystem is responsible for wavefront sensing and the control of the tip-tilt and deformable mirrors which actively correct atmospheric turbulence. The spatial sampling interval for the wavefront sensor and deformable mirror is de=0.56 m which gives us 349 actuators and 244 subapertures. This paper summarizes the wavefront control system and discusses particular issues in designing a wavefront controller for the Keck telescope.

The Petroleum Marketing Monthly (PMM) provides information and statistical data on a variety of crude oils and refined petroleum products. The publication presents statistics on crude oil costs and refined petroleum products sales for use by industry, government, private sector analysts, educational institutions, and consumers. Data on crude oil include the domestic first purchase price, the f.o.b. and landed cost of imported crude oil, and the refiners` acquisition cost of crude oil. Refined petroleum product sales data include motor gasoline, distillates, residuals, aviation fuels, kerosene, and propane.