Texas Register, Volume 39, Number 1, Pages 1-152, January 3, 2014 (open access)

Texas Register, Volume 39, Number 1, Pages 1-152, January 3, 2014

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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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.
Date: January 3, 2014
Creator: Texas. Secretary of State.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Register, Volume 39, Number 2, Pages 153-236, January 10, 2014 (open access)

Texas Register, Volume 39, Number 2, Pages 153-236, January 10, 2014

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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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.
Date: January 10, 2014
Creator: Texas. Secretary of State.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: FY2014 Budget and Appropriations (open access)

State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: FY2014 Budget and Appropriations

This report provides a brief overview of the FY2014 State Department, Foreign Operations and Related Programs funding request, as well as top-line analysis of pending House and Senate State-Foreign Operations appropriations proposals.
Date: January 3, 2014
Creator: Epstein, Susan B.; Tiersky, Alex & Lawson, Marian L.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Army's Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV): Background and Issues for Congress (open access)

The Army's Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV): Background and Issues for Congress

This report provides background information on the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) and it discusses the Army's proposed replacement to the Vietnam-era M-113 personnel carriers, which are still in service in a variety of support capacities in Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCTs).
Date: January 6, 2014
Creator: Feickert, Andrew
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Defense: FY2014 Authorization and Appropriations (open access)

Defense: FY2014 Authorization and Appropriations

This report discusses the Department of Defense (DOD) budget plan, both the version of the FY2014 National Defense Authorization Act passed by the House (H.R. 1960) and the version reported by the Senate Armed Services Committee (S. 1197.
Date: January 8, 2014
Creator: Towell, Pat & Belasco, Amy
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Implementation of Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS): Issues for Congress (open access)

Implementation of Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS): Issues for Congress

This report analyzes data from a variety of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) presentations, testimony, and other sources to present a historical overview of program performance to date. It identifies an ongoing gap between the number of facilities that have received final risk tier assignments and the total number of regulated facilities.
Date: January 6, 2014
Creator: Shea, Dana A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Threats to U.S. National Security Interests in Space: Orbital Debris Mitigation and Removal (open access)

Threats to U.S. National Security Interests in Space: Orbital Debris Mitigation and Removal

This report discusses the National Security Space Strategy. After decades of activities in space, Earth's orbit is littered with man-made objects that no longer serve a useful purpose that potentially threaten U.S. national security interests in space, both governmental (military, intelligence, and civil) and commercial. Congress has broadly supported the full-range of these national security interests and has a vested concern in ensuring a strong and continued U.S. presence in space.
Date: January 8, 2014
Creator: Hildreth, Steven A. & Arnold, Allison
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Monetary Policy and the Federal Reserve: Current Policy and Conditions (open access)

Monetary Policy and the Federal Reserve: Current Policy and Conditions

This report discusses how the Federal Reserve (Fed) handles monetary policy, including background information about the execution of monetary policy, the recent and current stance of monetary policy, and current legislation and Congressional oversight that would affect the Fed's practices.
Date: January 7, 2014
Creator: Labonte, Marc
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
China and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Missiles: Policy Issues (open access)

China and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Missiles: Policy Issues

This report discusses the security problem of China's role in weapons proliferation and issues related to the U.S. policy response since the mid-1990s. China has taken some steps to mollify U.S. and other foreign concerns about its role in weapons proliferation.
Date: January 3, 2014
Creator: Kan, Shirley A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Nonstrategic Nuclear Weapons (open access)

Nonstrategic Nuclear Weapons

This report provides basic information about U.S. and Russian nonstrategic nuclear weapons. It begins with a brief discussion of how these weapons have appeared in public debates in the past few decades, then summarizes the differences between strategic and nonstrategic nuclear weapons. It then provides some historical background, describing the numbers and types of nonstrategic nuclear weapons deployed by both nations during the Cold War and in the past decade; the policies that guided the deployment and prospective use of these weapons; and the measures that the two sides have taken to reduce and contain their forces. The report reviews the issues that have been raised with regard to U.S. and Russian nonstrategic nuclear weapons, and summarizes a number of policy options that might be explored by Congress, the United States, Russia, and other nations to address these issues.
Date: January 3, 2014
Creator: Woolf, Amy F.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: A Glimpse at the Legal Background (open access)

National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: A Glimpse at the Legal Background

This report reprints the text of the five National Security Letter (NSL) statutes as they now appear and as they appeared prior to amendment by the USA PATRIOT Act (to which form they would be returned under S.1125 and H.R. 1805).
Date: January 3, 2014
Creator: Doyle, Charles
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) (open access)

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)

This report gives a brief overview of P.L. 110-49, the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007. Although both the President and Congress are directly involved in formulating the scope and direction of U.S. foreign investment policy, this law broadens Congress' oversight role; it also explicitly includes the areas of homeland security and critical infrastructure as separately-identifiable components of national security that the President must consider when evaluating the national security implications of a foreign investment transaction.
Date: January 2, 2014
Creator: Jackson, James K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Nuclear Power Plant Security and Vulnerabilities (open access)

Nuclear Power Plant Security and Vulnerabilities

This report discusses the physical security at nuclear power plants and concerns of radiological sabotage, a deliberate act against a plant that could directly or indirectly endanger public health and safety through exposure to radiation.
Date: January 3, 2014
Creator: Holt, Mark & Andrews, Anthony
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: A Glimpse at the Legal Background (open access)

National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: A Glimpse at the Legal Background

This report discusses the USA PATRIOT Act (107-56) and its expanded authority to issue national security letters (NSLs). A report by the Department of Justice's Inspector General (IG) found that in its pre-amendment use of expanded USA PATRIOT Act authority the FBI had "used NSLs in violation of applicable NSL statutes, Attorney General Guidelines, and internal FBI policies," but that no criminal laws had been broken.
Date: January 3, 2014
Creator: Doyle, Charles
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
State Government Fiscal Stress and Federal Assistance (open access)

State Government Fiscal Stress and Federal Assistance

This report examines the current status of state fiscal conditions and the role of federal assistance in state budgets. It begins with an overview of state budgeting procedures and then provides budgetary data comparing state fiscal conditions in FY2008 to FY2013. This report concludes with an assessment of the consequences current levels of state fiscal stress may have for the 113th Congress.
Date: February 14, 2014
Creator: Dilger, Robert Jay
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Emergency Relief for Disaster Damaged Roads and Transit Systems: In Brief (open access)

Emergency Relief for Disaster Damaged Roads and Transit Systems: In Brief

This report describes Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) assistance for the repair and reconstruction of highways and bridges damaged by disasters (such as Hurricane Sandy in 2012) or catastrophic failures (such as the collapse of the Skagit River Bridge in 2013). It begins with a brief discussion of the legislative origins of federal assistance and then addresses eligibility issues and program operation.
Date: January 28, 2014
Creator: Kirk, Robert S.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Role of TARP Assistance in the Restructuring of General Motors (open access)

The Role of TARP Assistance in the Restructuring of General Motors

This report provides background information on General Motors' capital crisis in 2008-2009 and discusses the U.S. government assistance to the motor vehicle industry.
Date: January 16, 2014
Creator: Canis, Bill
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Navy Virginia (SSN-774) Class Attack Submarine Procurement: Background and Issues for Congress (open access)

Navy Virginia (SSN-774) Class Attack Submarine Procurement: Background and Issues for Congress

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) program. The Navy's proposed FY2014 budget requests $5,285.3 million in procurement and advance procurement (AP) funding for the program. Decisions that Congress makes on procurement of Virginia-class boats could substantially affect U.S. Navy capabilities and funding requirements, and the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base.
Date: February 3, 2014
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Trends in Discretionary Spending (open access)

Trends in Discretionary Spending

This report provides a graphical overview of historical trends in discretionary budget authority (BA) from FY1976 through FY2011, enacted levels for FY2012 spending, and the levels consistent with President Obama's proposals for FY2013 through FY2017. It also includes a background on functional categories and a section discussing historical spending trends.
Date: January 24, 2014
Creator: Austin, D. Andrew
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Constitutional Analysis of Suspicionless Drug Testing Requirements for the Receipt of Governmental Benefits (open access)

Constitutional Analysis of Suspicionless Drug Testing Requirements for the Receipt of Governmental Benefits

This report gives an overview of the issues related to federal or state laws that condition the initial or ongoing receipt of governmental benefits on passing drug tests. These regulations are vulnerable to constitutional challenge, most often due to issues of personal privacy and Fourth Amendment protections against "unreasonable searches."
Date: January 29, 2014
Creator: Carpenter, David H.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
United States Fire Administration: An Overview (open access)

United States Fire Administration: An Overview

This report describes and analyzes the United States Fire Administration's (USFA's) FY2013 budget proposal, as well as related information and legislation.
Date: January 23, 2014
Creator: Kruger, Lennard G.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Temporary Protected Status: Current Immigration Policy and Issues (open access)

Temporary Protected Status: Current Immigration Policy and Issues

This report is a brief overview of current policies regarding temporatry protected status (TPS), which is relief from removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). It includes information about humanitarian migrants, temporary protected status, other blanket forms of relief, nationalities receiving protections, and issues with TPS, as well as recent legislation.
Date: January 14, 2014
Creator: Wasem, Ruth Ellen & Ester, Karma
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Asian Carp and the Great Lakes Region (open access)

Asian Carp and the Great Lakes Region

This report provides an overview of four species of non-indigenous Asian carp that are expanding their range in U.S. waterways, resulting in a variety of concerns and problems. This report details the environmental and economic threats from this invasion, as well as ways to combat the spread of Asian carp in U.S. water.
Date: January 23, 2014
Creator: Stern, Charles V.; Upton, Harold F. & Brougher, Cynthia
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP): Implementation and Status (open access)

Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP): Implementation and Status

This report provides a brief outline of the programs created under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), changes made by Congress, and a summary of the current status and estimated costs of the program. It also provides an Appendix that contains detailed discussions of the individual TARP programs.
Date: January 15, 2014
Creator: Webel, Baird
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library