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)

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; Application of Education Code section 11.063 to former school district trustee placed in his district by a school staffing company (RQ-0806-GA)

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 …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Postal Service's (USPS) financial condition has worsened this year, with the recession and changing mail use causing declines in mail volume and revenues despite postal rate increases. GAO testified in May to this subcommittee that USPS expects these declines to lead to a record net loss and an unprecedented cash shortfall even if ambitious cost cutting is achieved. GAO reported that maintaining USPS's financial viability as the provider of affordable, high-quality universal postal service will require actions in a number of areas, such as (1) rightsizing its retail and mail processing networks by consolidating operations and closing unnecessary facilities and (2) reducing the cost and size of its workforce, which generates about 80 percent of its costs. Today GAO is releasing its report on USPS efforts to improve the efficiency of delivery. Delivery accounts for nearly half of USPS salary and benefit costs. This testimony (1) updates USPS's financial condition and outlook and explains GAO's decision to place USPS's financial condition on the High-Risk List and (2) discusses the need for USPS to restructure its mail processing, retail, and delivery networks and its efforts to improve …

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 "A comprehensive system to alert the American people in times of hazard allows people to take action to save lives. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responsible for the current Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the development of the new Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). In this testimony, based on its report released today, GAO discusses (1) the current status of EAS, (2) the progress made by FEMA in implementing an integrated alert and warning system, and (3) coordination issues involved in implementing an integrated alert and warning system. GAO conducted a survey of states, reviewed FEMA and other documentation, and interviewed industry stakeholders and officials from federal agencies responsible for public alerting."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This is an e-supplement to GAO-09-347. This document presents a bibliography of a literature review conducted as part of our work on emergency department crowding (GAO-09-347). As part of our work to analyze and report on information made available since 2003 about (1) three indicators of emergency department crowding--ambulance diversion, wait times, and patient boarding, and (2) factors that contribute to emergency department crowding, we conducted a literature review of 197 articles, including articles published in peer-reviewed and other periodicals, publications from professional, research, and other organizations, and reports issued by federal and state agencies. In examining the information made available since 2003 about indicators of crowding during our literature review, we also analyzed articles for what was reported on the effect of crowding on patient quality of care and proposed strategies to address crowding. In order to obtain these articles, we conducted structured searches of 16 research databases and obtained articles identified as a result of interviews with federal officials, professional and research organizations, and subject-matter experts, and through searches of related Web sites. We reviewed 197 articles, publications, and reports (which we call articles) …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Despite a growing investment in space, the majority of large-scale acquisition programs in the Department of Defense's (DOD) space portfolio have experienced problems during the past two decades that have driven up cost and schedules and increased technical risks. The cost resulting from acquisition problems along with the ambitious nature of space programs have resulted in cancellations of programs that were expected to require investments of tens of billions of dollars. Along with the cost increases, many programs are experiencing significant schedule delays--as much as 7 years--resulting in potential capability gaps in areas such as positioning, navigation, and timing; missile warning; and weather monitoring. This testimony focuses on (3) the condition of space acquisitions, (1) causal factors, (2) observations on the space industrial base, and (4) recommendations for better positioning programs and industry for success. In preparing this testimony, GAO relied on its body of work in space and other programs, including previously issued GAO reports on assessments of individual space programs, common problems affecting space system acquisitions, and DOD's acquisition policies."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses (1) continuing indications of fraud and abuse related to controlled substances paid for by Medicaid; (2) specific case study examples of fraudulent, improper, or abusive controlled substance activity; and (3) the effectiveness of internal controls that the federal government and selected states have in place to prevent and detect fraud and abuse related to controlled substances. To identify whether there are continuing indications of fraud and abuse related to controlled substances paid for by Medicaid, we obtained and analyzed Medicaid claims paid in fiscal years 2006 and 2007 from five states: California, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, and Texas. To identify indications of fraud and abuse related to controlled substances paid for by Medicaid, we obtained and analyzed Medicaid prescription claims data for these five states from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). To identify other potential fraud and improper payments, we compared the beneficiary and prescriber shown on the Medicaid claims to the Death Master Files (DMF) from the Social Security Administration (SSA) to identify deceased beneficiaries and prescribers. To identify claims that were improperly processed and paid by the Medicaid program …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Health centers funded through grants under the Health Center Program--managed by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)--provide comprehensive primary care services for the medically underserved. The statement GAO is issuing today summarizes an August 2008 report, Health Resources and Services Administration: Many Underserved Areas Lack a Health Center Site, and the Health Center Program Needs More Oversight (GAO-08-723). In that report, GAO examined to what extent medically underserved areas (MUA) lacked health center sites in 2006 and 2007. To do this, GAO obtained and analyzed HRSA data and grant application"

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Growing congestion on our nation's roads results in wasted time and fuel, which adversely affects the economy and the environment. State and local government agencies and private companies disseminate real-time traffic information to help travelers decide whether to use alternative, less congested routes. Legislation enacted in 2005 required the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish the Real-Time System Management Information Program, in order to provide states the capability to monitor traffic and travel conditions on major highways and share that information. As requested, this GAO report addresses, among other things, (1) how the public and private sectors disseminate real-time traffic information to the public, (2) actions DOT has taken to establish the Real-Time System Management Information Program, and (3) experts' views on the need for a nationwide real-time traffic information system and its potential characteristics. To conduct this study, GAO visited sites in California and Florida, which have well-developed traffic information systems; reviewed and analyzed DOT reports and data; and interviewed transportation officials, experts, and other stakeholders. GAO is not making any recommendations at this time because DOT has not finalized the proposed rule it issued in …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over the past 25 years, farmers have received a decreasing share of the consumer food dollar. Some analysts and farm interest groups are concerned that this decline can be attributed, in part, to increasing concentration in agriculture. They believe that firms in highly concentrated markets may be able to exert market power by raising retail food prices while also depressing prices farmers receive for agricultural commodities. Others have argued that concentration has facilitated changes, such as technological innovations, that have improved productivity and served to lower food prices while increasing some farm incomes. The influence of any one factor, such as concentration, in determining agricultural commodity and retail food prices (commodity and food prices) varies and is difficult to isolate. Our prior work has noted that concentration may be one of a number of factors that can influence prices along the food marketing chain from farms to food processors, retail stores, and finally, consumers. To better understand the impact of concentration on commodity and food prices, economists have used a variety of analytical techniques and data sets. However, their work has been complicated by various issues, such as …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2008, the United Nations (UN) began construction associated with its Capital Master Plan (CMP) to renovate its headquarters complex in New York City. As the UN's host country and largest contributor, the United States has a substantial interest in the success of the CMP. In this requested update, GAO reviewed the following key areas: schedule, cost, funding, risk management, procurement, and oversight. To perform this work, GAO reviewed UN documents and met with officials from the CMP office and other UN departments. GAO also reviewed select CMP schedules to assess the extent to which they met best practices for scheduling contained in GAO's Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide. To assess oversight and monitoring, GAO reviewed UN documents and oversight reports and interviewed officials from the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services and officials from the U.S. Department of State (State)."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2001, Congress has provided the Department of Defense (DOD) with about $808 billion in supplemental and annual appropriations, as of March 2009, primarily for military operations in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). DOD's reported annual obligations for GWOT have shown a steady increase from about $0.2 billion in fiscal year 2001 to about $162.4 billion in fiscal year 2008. For fiscal year 2009, Congress provided DOD with about $65.9 billion in supplemental appropriations for GWOT as of March 2009 and the President plans on requesting an additional $75.5 billion in supplemental appropriations for GWOT for the remainder of the fiscal year. A total of $31.0 billion has been obligated in the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 through December 2008. The United States' commitments to GWOT will likely involve the continued investment of significant resources, requiring decision makers to consider difficult trade-offs as the nation faces an increasing long-range fiscal challenge. The magnitude of future costs will depend on several direct and indirect cost variables and, in some cases, decisions that have not yet been made. DOD's future costs will likely be affected by …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The five largest insular areas of the United States--American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands--receive federal funding through Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), joint federal-state programs that finance health care for certain low-income individuals. These programs are administered and funded differently in the insular areas when compared to the states. For example, while states must extend Medicaid eligibility to certain individuals whose incomes are at or below a percentage of the federal poverty level (FPL), the insular areas are not required to cover this population. In addition, under both Medicaid and CHIP, the federal government matches state or local government spending. However, federal law establishes the federal matching rate for expenditures by the insular areas at the lowest rate available to states, while matching rates for the states are determined each year based on a formula that takes into account variations in per capita income in each state. Furthermore, federal Medicaid spending in the insular areas is subject to an annual limit that does not apply to the states. Finally, while CHIP funding …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Medicaid--the joint federal-state program that finances medical services for certain low-income adults and children--spent $15.0 billion on outpatient prescription drugs in fiscal year 2007. Instead of directly purchasing drugs, state Medicaid programs reimburse retail pharmacies for dispensing them to Medicaid beneficiaries. The federal government provides matching funds to states to help cover the costs of their Medicaid programs, and states must pay the remaining costs to qualify for these federal funds. For certain outpatient prescription drugs, state Medicaid programs may only receive federal matching funds for reimbursements up to a maximum amount known as a federal upper limit (FUL). Designed to control drug spending, FULs are currently calculated as 150 percent of a drug's lowest published price in three national drug pricing compendia. State Medicaid programs can determine reimbursements to retail pharmacies for each drug, but the federal government will only provide matching funds to the extent that reimbursements for all drugs subject to FULs do not exceed established FULs in the aggregate. A 2005 report by the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that FULs were ineffective at controlling outpatient …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Recent increases in prescription drug costs have been fueled in part by the high and rising cost of specialty prescription drugs. Specialty prescription drugs are typically used to treat chronic or life-threatening conditions, such as multiple sclerosis and cancer, for which few other treatment options exist. The drugs typically have few competitors or generic alternatives and may require frequent dosage adjustment, special storage, patient education, or special methods of administration, such as by injection. Costs for specialty prescription drugs are usually high, typically ranging from $1,200 to $40,000 for a 30-day supply. Health plans--including those participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), which covers nearly 8 million federal employees, dependents, and retirees-- provide coverage for many specialty drugs. Enrollees may be required to pay a portion of specialty drug costs through a copayment--a flat dollar amount--or coinsurance--a percentage share of the drug's actual costs. To manage the high and rising costs of these drugs, some health plans have begun to require enrollees to contribute a greater share of their costs, such as by increasing the use of coinsurance. Congress asked us to examine the costs that …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Until mid-2008, prices for a broad range of physical commodities, from crude oil to crops such as wheat, had increased dramatically for several years--raising concerns and leading to a debate over the possible causes. Some market participants and observers have attributed the price increases to fundamental economic factors related to supply and demand. Others have suggested that the price increases resulted from speculation in the futures contracts by hedge funds and investors in commodity indexes. Like stock indexes, commodity indexes track the composite price of a basket of long futures positions in physical commodities. The indexes' investment strategy is passive, remaining the same regardless of whether prices are falling, rising, or flat. Two commonly referenced commodity indexes are the Standard & Poor's Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (S&P GSCI) and Dow Jones-American International Group Commodity Index (DJ-AIGCI), which are based on a broad range of physical commodities, including energy products, agricultural products, and metals. Since around the mid-2000s, pension plans, endowments, and other institutional investors increasingly have used investments in commodity indexes to obtain exposure to commodity prices as an asset class, typically to diversify their portfolios or hedge …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government spends about $10 billion each year to provide meals to over 30 million students through the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. However, a 2007 study estimated that of this amount, $860 million (8.6 percent) in school year 2005-2006 was paid improperly because of errors in the number of meals counted and claimed for reimbursement. These programs are administered by the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) through state agencies that, in turn, oversee local school food authorities (SFA). SFAs that participate in the lunch and breakfast programs receive federal cash reimbursements through the state agency for each meal served, and in the lunch program they also receive USDA commodity donations based on the number of meals served. In return, SFAs must serve meals that meet federal nutrition requirements and offer meals free or at a reduced price to students whose family's income falls below certain thresholds. While most of the roughly 13,700 SFAs in traditional public school districts in the United States manage their own programs, about 13 percent choose to contract with private companies known as food service …

A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Biennially, the Judicial Conference, the federal judiciary's principal policymaking body, assesses the need for additional judges. The assessment is based on a variety of factors, but begins with quantitative case-related workload measures. This statement focuses on (1) whether the judiciary's quantitative case-related workload measures from 1993 were reasonably accurate; and (2) the reasonableness of any proposed methodologies to update the 1993 workload measures. This statement is based on work completed and reported in 2003 and discussed in testimony on June 17, 2008."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On May 13, 2008, the President submitted to Congress a proposed Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Russian Federation for Cooperation in the Field of Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy (henceforth referred to as the U.S.-Russia 123 agreement) in accordance with the review requirements established under Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (AEA), as amended. The United States has agreements for peaceful nuclear cooperation governing nuclear exports to nearly 50 countries, Taiwan, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Such agreements provide the framework and authorization for civilian nuclear cooperation, but do not guarantee that cooperation will take place or that nuclear material or technology transfers will occur. The proposed agreement with Russia would, among other things, establish the legal basis for the Department of Energy (DOE) to work with Russia on large-scale development of nuclear energy. However, owing to Russia's status as a nuclear weapons state, the size of its nuclear complex, and past proliferation concerns, including weaknesses in the Russian export control system, an agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation between the United States and …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter formally transmits the briefing slides in response to section 1119 of Pub. L. No. 110-315, the Higher Education Opportunity Act. This act mandated GAO study the financial and compliance audits and reviews required or conducted for the Federal Family Education Loan and Federal Direct Loan Programs. On August 6 and 7, 2009, we briefed the staff of congressional committees on the types of audits, reviews, agreed-upon procedures, and reconciliations that are required or conducted for these programs. At congressional request, we have incorporated additional information on the agreed-upon procedures engagements required by the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act and the reconciliations performed by the Department of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid. In a forthcoming report, we will provide an assessment of whether these audits and reviews as designed provide comparable coverage of the two loan programs. That report will also discuss how the Department of Education ensures that these audits and reviews comply with statutory and regulatory requirements and how the Department uses them to oversee these loan programs."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) was enacted on February 17, 2009, to help stimulate the United States economy by creating new jobs, as well as saving existing ones, and investing in projects that will provide long-term economic benefits. Estimates show that the Recovery Act's combined spending and tax provisions will cost $787 billion over 10 years--about $207 billion in tax reductions plus about $580 billion in additional federal spending. These funds are being provided directly to federal agencies and also distributed to states, localities, other entities, and individuals through a combination of formula and competitive grants and direct assistance. About $280 billion of the funds will be administered through state and local governments. The Recovery Act delineates an important set of responsibilities for the accountability community. The inspectors general across government are expected to audit the programs, grants, and projects funded under the Recovery Act, both within their particular agency or department and collectively. To address the collective oversight at the federal level, the Recovery Act established the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board to help prevent waste, fraud, and abuse. In addition, the …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Recovery Act established relatively few requirements for the design of the TIGER grant program. In addition to the requirements outlined in the opening paragraph of this report, the act requires that the department (1) award grants of no less than $20 million and no more than $300 million with no more than $300 million awarded for projects in any one state; (2) give priority to projects that are expected to be completed by February 17, 2012; (3) give priority to projects that require a contribution of federal funds in order to complete an overall financing package, although the federal share of the costs for which expenditure is made may be 100 percent; and (4) ensure a balance in addressing the needs of rural and urban communities and an equitable geographic distribution of funds. In its May 18 interim notice, the department created two tiers of selection criteria--primary and secondary. The primary selection criteria are (1) long-term outcomes (state of good repair, economic competitiveness, livability, sustainability, and safety) and (2) jobs creation and economic stimulus. The secondary criteria are innovation and partnership. Within each criterion, the department has …