This report briefly discusses the extent to which emissions trading has been used in the United States, explains how trading programs work, analyzes factors that can influence the effectiveness of trading, and examines some of the principal arguments related to the use of trading to control air pollution.

This report discusses copyright cases in the courts, including Napster, MP3 digital music, and DVD motion picture.

This report covers the most recent U.S. - Iraq confrontation, which began in the fall of 1998.

An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) among livestock in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe that began in February 2001 has raised concerns about the United States’ ability to prevent the disease from spreading to this country and readiness to eradicate it should an outbreak occur. This report describes the characteristics of the FMD virus and disease, the current measures the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is taking to prevent its importation, and the authorities USDA has to act to eradicate an outbreak. The FMD threat also raises issues concerning the adequacy of funding for disease exclusion and research, the availability of vaccines, and USDA’s authority to move preemptively against a potential outbreak, among other things.

The privacy of information collected by operators of World Wide Web sites is a growing issue of concern. Many in Congress and the Clinton Administration prefer to rely on industry self regulation to protect consumer privacy, but frustration at industry's slow pace led to the 1998 passage of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act in 1998 (P.L. 105-277). This report provides a very abbreviated overview of Internet privacy issues and tracks pending legislation.

This article mentions how the U.S. economic assistance to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) seeks to foster democratic institutions and economic reform.

Newsletter of the Texas Department of Health discussing the news, activities, and events of the organization and other information related to health in Texas.

Semi-annual report documenting statistics and analysis of contracts awarded to historically underutilized business (HUBs) by Texas state agencies, including procurement goals and performances,2000 and 2001 semi-annual total expenditures chart.

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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As part of its business systems modernization program, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is acquiring a system known as the Custodial Accounting Project (CAP). In September 2000, Congress directed that IRS limit its spending on CAP until IRS provided a compelling business case for investing in this project and started managing CAP as an integrated part of the business systems modernization program. GAO found that IRS has satisfied both of these directives. However, its business case guidance does not explicitly specify cost-effectiveness analyses as a way to economically justify proposed investments and define when and how these analyses should be prepared. As a result, IRS runs the risk of spending time and money developing future business cases for proposed system solutions that, like CAP, cannot be adequately justified on the basis of costs and benefits alone."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has not developed a proposal to improve the accuracy of the reporting of contract service costs. Without accurate and reliable information, Congress cannot effectively use the information reported for DOD in the President's budget as it drafts and passes laws that affect spending. Last year, DOD agreed to develop a proposal to resolve this problem. GAO was told recently that DOD's momentum to develop a written proposal had subsided."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The collection of outstanding criminal debt has been a long-standing problem for the federal government. Since October 1985, as reported in the U.S. Attorney's statistical reports, the balance of outstanding criminal debt has grown from $260 million to more than $13 billion. Currently, the receipting of collections and recordkeeping for criminal debt is primarily the responsibility of the U.S. Courts, while the Department of Justice is responsible for collecting criminal debt. This report reviews (1) the key reasons for the growth in reported uncollected criminal debt; (2) whether adequate processes exist to collect criminal debt; and (3) what role, if any, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of the Treasury play in monitoring the government's collection of criminal debt. GAO found that four key factors have contributed to the significant growth of uncollected criminal debt. These factors are (1) the nature of the debt, in that it involves criminals who may be incarcerated or deported or who have minimal earning capacity; (2) the assessment of mandatory restitution regardless of the criminal's ability to pay, as required by the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The District of Columbia Appropriations Act of 2001 provided $250,000 for a contract to study and develop a plan to simplify the compensation systems, schedules, and work rules for DC government employees. The act placed several conditions on the appropriation, one of which was that GAO review the proposed solicitation for the contract to ensure that it adequately addressed all of the elements stipulated in the act. Government officials initially told GAO that they planned to apply the $250,000 payment to existing contracts that were being used in the District's independent effort to reform its classification and compensation systems--and therefore would not carry out the conditions that Congress had set for receipt of the funds. More recently, however, the officials said that they no longer plan to use the funds because doing so would delay the District's reform effort."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The District of Columbia has taken various steps to implement a performance management process, and Congress has continued to provide oversight to strengthen the District's ability to efficiently and effectively deliver results to its taxpayers. This testimony discusses GAO's (1) ongoing review of the District's fiscal year 2000 performance report; (2) report issued in April 2001 on the implementation of the District's new financial management system; and (3) report being issued in May 2001 on the District's decision not to use money that Congress provided to help simplify the District's compensation systems, schedules, and work rules. GAO found that although the fiscal year 2000 report more fully met statutory requirements than did the 1999 report, performance planning, measurement and reporting is still a work in progress in the District. The District continues to face significant challenges in its efforts to put in place a financial management framework that ensures timely and reliable data on the cost of the District's operations. Finally, the District no longer plans to use the $250,000 appropriated by Congress for reform of the District's classification and compensation systems because doing so would delay their …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76 competitions have reduced the estimated costs of Defense Department activities primarily through reducing the number of positions needed to perform activities being studied. The impact on employment, pay, and benefits of individual employees affected by A-76 studies varies depending on factors such as the results of the competitions, the availability of other government jobs, and other individual factors such as retirement eligibility. Pay may also be affected by the location and technical nature of the work. These factors make it difficult to draw universal conclusions about the effects of A-76 decisions on affected federal employees; employment options, pay, and benefits. GAO's analysis of three completed A-76 studies showed that about half of the civilian government employees remained in federal service following the studies, either in the new or another government organization with similar pay and benefits. There were relatively few involuntary separations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "About two-thirds of the married and one-third of the single servicemembers in the United States live in private housing in the communities surrounding military bases. These members are given a cash allowance to help defray the cost of renting or buying housing. In fiscal year 2000, housing allowances totaled about $6 billion and covered about 81 percent of the typical member's housing and utility costs, with the member paying the remaining costs out-of-pocket. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 required the Department of Defense (DOD) to better match the allowance rates with actual housing costs in various parts of the country. It was expected that the changes would cause some rates to rise and others to decline. As of January 2000, however, rate decreases outnumbered the increases. In some cases, these rate decreases were substantial. DOD quickly took steps to address the concerns about the new housing rates and to improve the process used to set allowance rates for 2001. However, because DOD does not routinely provide detailed feedback to installation officials explaining the basis for the rates for their areas, these officials …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report examines the use of impact evaluations to determine program effectiveness for early childhood programs. GAO (1) describes the value of conducting impact evaluations, (2) describes their current use in evaluating selected early childhood education and care programs and (3) discusses the value of other types of early childhood education and care studies the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education promote and sponsor. GAO found that many researchers consider impact evaluations to be the best method of determining the extent to which the program itself is causing participant outcomes. Two federal programs that focus on early childhood education--Head Start and Even Start--are now being studied using impact evaluations. Both of these programs are intended to improve children's school readiness and educational outcomes, including enhanced literacy. HHS is conducting two studies on its Head Start program, which will cost about $28.3 million, and Education will conduct a $21 million study on its Even Start program. Finally, HHS and Education promote and sponsor many types of research and evaluation studies. The value of a varied study agenda is that it provides agencies with answers …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) farm loan programs, which are run by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). GAO (1) provides an overview of the financial condition of FSA's farm loan portfolio as of September 30, 2000 and (2) explains its decision to remove the farm programs from its high-risk list. GAO found that FSA had more than $16.6 billion in outstanding farm loans as of September 30, 2000; direct loans accounted for slightly more than half of this amount and guaranteed loans for slightly less than half. Of the $16.6 billion, about $2.1 billion was owed by borrowers who were delinquent on repaying their FSA loans. Most (87 percent) of the $2.1 billion was owed on direct farm loans. Although the total amount due on the problem loans remains high, this financial position reflects improvement in FSA's direct loan portfolio in recent years as well as a continuation of a relatively healthy guaranteed loan portfolio. In January 2001, GAO removed FSA's farm loan programs from its high-risk list. Several actions taken by Congress and USDA, many of which GAO recommended, have significantly improved the operation …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the coordination efforts involved in foreign counterintelligence investigations where the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has been or may be employed. The act established (1) requirements and a process for seeking electronic surveillance and physical search authority in national security investigations seeking foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information within the United States and (2) the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has jurisdiction to hear applications for and grant orders approving Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act surveillance and searches. GAO found that coordination between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Criminal Division has been limited in those foreign counterintelligence cases in which criminal activity is indicated and surveillance and searches have been, or may be, employed. A key factor inhibiting this coordination is the concern over how the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or another federal court might rule on the primary purpose of the surveillance or search in light of such coordination. In addition, the FBI and the Criminal Division differ on the interpretations of DOJ's 1995 procedures concerning counterintelligence investigations. In January 2000, the Attorney General issued additional procedures to …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National Association of Counties contends that rural roads do not receive the level of funding needed to make these roads safer. Rural local roads, which account for more than half of the 8.2 million miles of roadways in the United States, had the highest rate of fatalities per vehicle mile traveled of all types of roadways--over six times that of urban interstates. This report reviews federal highway funding on a state-by-state basis for fiscal years 1992 through 2000 by individual federal highway program and type of roadway. GAO found that about 59 percent of all federal highway funds available to states during fiscal years 1992 through 2000 were spent on urban roads; the rest went to rural roads. Although only about 40 percent of all vehicle miles were traveled on rural roads, about 60 percent of the traffic accident fatalities in 1999 took place on rural roads. The four largest federal highway aid programs that provided funding were the Surface Transportation, National Highway System, Interstate Maintenance, and Bridge Replacement Programs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Procurement regulations implemented in 1996 mandated that women-owned small businesses (WOSB) receive five percent of governmentwide contracts. Although the number of contracts awarded to WOSBs has risen more than four times as fast as other federal contracting efforts since 1996, the goal of awarding five percent of federal contracts to WOSBs has not been met. More agencies succeeded in meeting the WOSB subcontracting goal than their prime contracting goal. GAO found that three federal agencies--the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of State, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration--met or exceeded both goals in three of the four years it studied. Because the Department of Defense, which accounted for 64 percent of federal procurement in 1999, did not come close to achieving its five-percent goal, the governmentwide goal for prime contracting with WOSBs could not have been met even if all other federal agencies reached their prime contracting goals. Government officials cited many obstacles to increasing federal contracting with WOSBs, including a reduced contracting personnel force and the absense of a targeted WOSB government program. These contracting officers offered suggestions for increasing WOSB participation in …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments, known as e-FOIA, require federal agencies to make certain types of information available for public inspection. GAO reviewed 25 federal agencies and found that they have implemented many of the e-FOIA provisions. However, agencies have not made all required documents electronically available. Furthermore, the Department of Justice and other federal agencies have implemented reporting provisions required by e-FOIA, including annual workload reports. Although these reports provide a good overview of FOIA activities across the government, data quality issues limit their usefulness."