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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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

This report discusses the mining of hardrock minerals on fedearl lands, which is governed by the claim-patent system under the General Mining Law of 1872. It gives an overview the issues involved with the current system, such as competing land uses, and discusses proposed legislation meant to reform the claim-patent system.

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; Authority of the board of trustees of the Dallas Independent School District to change the length of its members' terms after December 31, 2007 (RQ-0770-GA)

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970 created Amtrak to provide intercity passenger rail service because existing railroads found such service unprofitable. Amtrak operates a 22,000-mile network, primarily over freight railroad tracks, providing service to 46 states and the District of Columbia. Most of Amtrak's passengers travel on the Northeast Corridor, which runs between Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. On some portions of the Corridor, Amtrak provides high-speed rail service (up to 150 miles per hour). Since its inception, Amtrak has struggled to earn revenues and run an efficient operation. Recent years have seen Amtrak continue to struggle financially. In February 2003, Amtrak reported that it would need several billion dollars from the federal government over the next few years to sustain operations. However, some have indicated that there needs to be a fundamental reassessment of how intercity passenger rail is structured and financed. Options raise questions about whether or not Amtrak should be purely an operating company, whether competition should be introduced for providing service, and if states should assume a greater financial role in the services that are provided."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) system allocated $17.8 billion of its $20.3 billion health care budget to 22 regional health care networks in fiscal year 2001. Before Vera resources were allocated to facilities on the basis of their historical expenditures. By aligning resources with workloads VERA shifted about$921 million among VA's networks in fiscal year 2001. VERA's design is reasonable for equitably allocating resources, but improvements could better allocate comparable resources for comparable workloads. VERA's allocations are based primarily on network workload, with adjustments made for factors beyond the control of network management. These include the health care needs of veterans and some local cost differences. VERA's design also protects patients from the effects of network budget shortfalls. However, GAO found that $200 million annually that could be reallocated to better align network resources with workloads. First, VERA's measurement of network workload is not accurate enough to determine each network's allocation because VERA excludes most veterans with higher incomes who do not have service-connected disabilities--about one-fifth of VA's workload. Second, VERA does not accurately adjust for cost differences among networks for differences in patients' health care needs …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1997, federal spending on services has grown 11 percent and now represents more than 60 percent of contract spending governmentwide. Several significant changes in the government--including funding for homeland security--are expected to further increase spending on services. Adjusting to this new environment has proven difficult. Agencies need to improve in a number of areas: sustaining executive leadership, strengthening the acquisition workforce, and encouraging innovative contracting approaches. Improving these areas is a key goal of the proposed Services Acquisition Reform Act (SARA)."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The national school lunch and breakfast programs provide inexpensive or free meals to more than 27 million children each day. During the 1990s, nearly 300 outbreaks of foodborne illness at the nation's schools sickened 16,000 students. The rise in the number of school outbreaks mirrors a rise in the number of outbreaks in the overall population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Because the CDC data include outbreaks attributable to food brought from home or other sources, GAO could not determine the extent to which food served in the school meal programs caused reported outbreaks. Data from 1998 and 1999 do show, however, that most of the outbreaks during those years were caused by foods served through the school meal program. Foods contaminated with salmonella and Norwalk-like viruses were the most common causes of outbreaks. GAO found that the Department of Agriculture has not developed security measures to protect foods served at schools from deliberate contamination. The existing food safety system is a patchwork of protections that fall short in addressing existing and emerging food safety threats."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Small Business Administration (SBA) is responsible for oversight of its 7(a) loan program lenders, including those who participate in the Preferred Lenders Program or PLP. SBA delegates full authority to preferred lenders to make loans without prior SBA approval. In fiscal year 2002, preferred lenders approved 55 percent of the dollar value of all 7(a) loans--about $7 billion. Small businesses are certainly a vital part of the nation's economy. According to SBA, they generate more than half of the nation's gross domestic product and are the principal source of new jobs in the U.S. economy. In turn, SBA's mission is to maintain and strengthen the nation's economy by aiding, counseling, assisting, and protecting the interests of small businesses. Providing small businesses with access to credit is a major avenue through which SBA strives to fulfill its mission. Strong oversight of lenders by SBA is needed to protect SBA from financial risk and to ensure that qualified borrowers get 7(a) loans. SBA has a total portfolio of about $46 billion, including $42 billion in direct and guaranteed small business loans and other guarantees. Because SBA guarantees up to …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) administers the Airport Improvement Program (AIP), which provides billions of dollars in federal grants to airports for planning and development projects. The total funds awarded by FAA was consistent with the total amount of AIP funds available for obligation for fiscal years 1996 through 2000. FAA also made available or awarded AIP grant funds in accordance with the statutory formulas and set-asides contained in the authorization acts for the five fiscal years reviewed. In some cases, FAA awarded more funding than required to some airports and projects when it distributed the remaining AIP discretionary funds, which are not subject to statutory formulas or set-asides. GAO also found that small airports received greater amounts than large airports."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In November 1997, the President called for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) to create an interface that would allow the two agencies to share patient health information. By allowing health care providers to electronically share comprehensive patient information, computer-based patient record's (GCPR) should help VA, DOD, and the Indian Health Service (IHS) to improve the quality of care for their beneficiaries. But without a lead entity, a clear mission, and detailed planning to achieve that mission, it is difficult to monitor progress, identify project risks, and develop appropriate contingency plans to keep the project moving forward and on track. Critical project decisions were not made, and the agencies were not bound by those that were made. The VA and DOD Chief Information Officers' (CIO) action to focus on short-term deliverables and to capitalize on existing technologies is warranted and a step in the right direction. However, until problems with the two agencies' existing systems and issues regarding planning, management, and accountability are resolved, project costs will likely continue to increase and implementation of the larger GCPR effort--and its expected …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the facts surrounding the ability of the Clinton White House to preserve certain electronic mail (e-mail) deemed official government records. GAO found that two malfunctions occurred in the White House e-mail system that prevented official records from being properly recorded in the Automated Records Management System (ARMS). The first problem involved an anomaly with incoming Internet e-mail users of the "Mail2" e-mail server. The second problem surfaced while the contractor was trying the resolve the first problem. During its efforts to determine the cause of the Mail2 e-mail errors, the letter D was deleted from a key piece of software, causing the ARMS scanner to skip e-mail accounts of users with first names beginning with the letter D. The White House began a costly and time-consuming project to recover e-mail records that had not been effectively managed. Several factors contributed to the cost and scope of the tape restoration project, including the contractor's performance of tape management and systems maintenance and legal scrutiny of e-mail malfunctions by external authorities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO audited the financial statements of the Capitol Preservation Fund for fiscal years 2000 and 1999. GAO found that the financial statements were presented fairly in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, contained no material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting (including safeguarding assets) and complied with the provisions of laws and regulations tested."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Over half of the $80.4 billion in financial aid provided to college students in the 2000-01 school year came from the federal government in the form of grants and loans provided under Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA). To help finance their education, students and families may have received other funds from states, private groups or lenders, and/or the schools themselves. We initiated this study to, among other things, determine how often federal financial aid recipients received aid that was greater than their federally defined need and what cost or other implications might result from changing HEA to limit such aid."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999 (Act) created the National Veterans Business Development Corporation (The Veterans Corporation) to address perceived gaps in providing small business and entrepreneurship assistance to veterans. The Act requires GAO to review The Veterans Corporation. GAO described The Veterans Corporation's (1) efforts to provide small business assistance to veterans, including service-disabled veterans; (2) use of and controls over federal funds in providing these services; and (3) efforts to become financially self- sufficient."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Army is acquiring a new, state-of-the-art radar countermeasures system--called the Suite of Integrated Radio Frequency Countermeasures to help helicopters and other aircraft identify, track, and defeat radar-guided missiles in complex electronic environments where many radar systems could be operating simultaneously. The Army has identified software and hardware modification needed for its new radar countermeasures system. The Army expects that future tests will enable it to determine whether the modified software performs as required before the planned low-rate initial production decision in early 2002. However, the testing of the modified hardware is not scheduled for completion until September 2002. By deferring low-rate initial production decision, the Army would reduce the risk of incurring anticipated costs to retrofit articles if the system does not work as expected."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1990, GAO has designated the Department of Defense's (DOD) management of its major weapon acquisitions as a high-risk area; however DOD's problems delivering weapon systems on time, at the estimated cost, in the planned amounts, and with the promised performance go back decades. Congress and DOD have continually explored ways to improve acquisition outcomes, yet problems persist. The committee asked GAO to testify on measures needed to reform the acquisition of major weapon systems and related legislative proposals. Specifically, this statement will describe the poor outcomes on weapon system investments that make reform imperative; attributes of the requirements, funding, and acquisition processes that will need to change for reform to be effective; and positive steps that Congress and DOD have taken to improve weapon program outcomes. The statement will also examine other factors that should be considered as the committee moves forward with its reform efforts. The testimony is drawn from GAO's body of work on DOD's requirements, funding, and acquisition processes. GAO has made numerous recommendations aimed at improving DOD's management of its major weapon acquisitions, but it is not making any new recommendations in this …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Air Force expeditionary aerospace force concept seeks to spread deployments more evenly across its forces and increase the predictability of deployments. By dual-tasking some fighter squadrons the Air Force could fulfill two requirements as the 2010 Concept envisions. Although significant challenges could impede the ability to maximize these benefits, the Air Force has not specifically analyzed what is needed to implement dual-tasking by 2010. Dual-tasking would result in more efficient use of squadrons and greatly reduce the need to use squadrons for more than one 90-day deployment every 15 months. Dual-tasking would provide theater commanders with the same number of aircraft to meet requirements as under current practice; however, the aircraft would come from fewer squadrons. Because a larger proportion of a squadron's aircraft would be used to meet requirements, and because dual-tasking uses fewer squadrons to meet requirements, the need to repeatedly use the same squadrons would be reduced. The number of squadrons needed for more than one 90-day period over a 15-month period would decline from 26 squadrons to five. More training would be required under dual-tasking. Yet, the Air Force has not …

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The new President, the new Congress, and the American people have been understandably focused on addressing problems with financial markets and responding to the economic downturn. However, the nation will need to apply the same level of intensity to the nation's long-term fiscal challenge. As shown in the figure below and the attached charts, GAO's updated simulations continue to show escalating and persistent debt that illustrates the long-term fiscal outlook is unsustainable. By 2025, debt held by the public under the Alternative simulation exceeds the historical high reached in the aftermath of World War II."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Financial Literacy and Education Improvement Act created, in December 2003, the Financial Literacy and Education Commission. This statement is based on a report issued in December 2006, which responded to the act's mandate that GAO assess the Commission's progress in (1) developing a national strategy; (2) developing a Web site and hotline; and (3) coordinating federal efforts and promoting partnerships among the federal, state, local, nonprofit, and private sectors. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed Commission documents, interviewed its member agencies and private financial literacy organizations, and benchmarked the national strategy against GAO's criteria for such strategies."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The use of incorrect or unreliable data and inappropriate assumptions in the Research and Special Program Administration's (RSPA) calculation of the minimum Pipeline Safety Fund (PSF) balance caused RSPA to overstate the necessary minimum balance. Crucial to a reasonable calculation of the PSF minimum balance is an analysis of expected receipts as compared to expected obligations. Until RSPA does this type of analysis, it will be unable to reasonably estimate the required minimum PSF balance. In addition, the timing of the Office of Pipeline Safety's (OPS) cash receipts is affected by OPS' slow data collection and verification process. This process results in delayed billings and likely delays cash receipts, resulting in a larger required minimum PSF balance. OPS' current efforts to implement a new Internet-based data collection and billing system could shorten what is now an extended billing process. Finalizing the operator data on which the fee assessments are based at an earlier date would allow billing to take place shortly after the agency received its appropriation for the fiscal year. Accordingly, fee revenue would likely be available for obligation in a more timely manner and …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) nonintegrated financial management systems have weakened its ability to oversee its contractors, and its contract management has been on GAO's high-risk list since 1990. In April 2000, NASA began its Integrated Financial Management Program (IFMP), its third attempt in recent years at modernizing financial management processes and systems. GAO was asked to review whether NASA was following key best practices in acquiring IFMP components and implementing one of the first components--the core financial module."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As of January 2003, Congress had provided a total of $38 billion to the Department of Defense (DOD) to cover emergency response costs related to the war on terrorism. Appropriated in different ways in fiscal years 2001, 2002, and 2003, these funds are meant to pay for expenses that DOD would not normally incur, such as contingency military operations and Pentagon building repairs. Because our prior work raised questions about DOD's oversight of contingency fund spending, GAO was asked to review DOD's management of emergency response funds, specifically: (1) DOD's adherence to OMB guidance in managing funds and the sufficiency of DOD's guidance on the use of these funds, and (2) DOD's ability to track the use of emergency response funds in general. We limited our review of DOD's guidance to the initial funds placed in the Defense Emergency Response Fund. We did not verify the accuracy of the data contained in DOD's obligation reports or the appropriateness of individual expenditures."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal workforce, like the nation's workforce as a whole, is aging. As experienced employees retire, they leave behind critical gaps in leadership and institutional knowledge, increasing the challenges government agencies face in maintaining a skilled workforce. We and others have emphasized the need to hire and retain older workers as one part of a comprehensive strategy to address expected labor shortages. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), as the government's central personnel management agency, is responsible for helping agencies manage their human capital. The Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging asked GAO to discuss (1) the age and retirement eligibility trends of the current federal workforce, (2) the strategies federal agencies are using to hire and retain older workers, and (3) our observations on how these strategies position federal agencies to engage and retain older workers. To address these objectives, we analyzed demographic data from OPM's Central Personnel Data File, and interviewed officials at OPM and selected federal agencies. OPM is taking action to address past recommendations related to better assisting agencies in using personnel flexibilities. GAO is making no new recommendations at this time."