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Tobacco Control: Enforcement and Effectiveness of Federal and State Youth Access Laws

Description: This report reviews recent efforts to limit youth access to cigarettes through enforcement of federal and state laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors. Under the federal Synar Amendment, states must conduct compliance checks and enforce their minimum age-of-sale laws or risk losing block grant funds
Date: August 19, 1998
Creator: Redhead, C. Stephen & Austin-Lane, Joy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Nitrogen Oxides and Electric Utilities: Revising the NSPS

Description: Under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from utility boilers, combustion turbines, and combined-cycle units. The current NOx NSPS, set in 1979, does not reflect subsequent advancements in Nox control technology. As a part of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments,
Date: July 25, 1997
Creator: Parker, Larry
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality and Vehicle Emission Standards: An Overview of the National Low Emission Vehicle Program and Related Issues

Description: This report provides background information on federal emission standards for motor vehicles under the Clean Air Act and stricter standards originally developed to address the severity of air quality problems in California, explains the low emission standards and flexible compliance mechanisms to which states and manufacturers have voluntarily agreed under the National Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) Program, discusses the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) estimates of the program's air qualit… more
Date: January 4, 1999
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality and Motor Vehicles: An Analysis of Current and Proposed Emission Standards

Description: The extent to which emissions from motor vehicles and the amount of sulfur in commercial gasoline should be regulated has become a controversial issue. The EPA is proposing national limits on gasoline sulfur levels which would become effective in 2004. This report provides background information on the regulation of vehicle emissions in the United States, analyzes key elements of the National Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) program and the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Tier 2 proposal, sum… more
Date: September 2, 1999
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Competitiveness: Economic Issue or Illusion?

Description: While "competitiveness" has a clear meaning when applied to a baseball team, or a firm or industry, it is of limited usefulness when applied to a country's overall economic performance. Moreover, focussing on competitiveness can lead to questionable economic policies.
Date: May 5, 1994
Creator: Elwell, Craig K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Regulatory Structure for Egg Safety: Fact Sheet

Description: This report discusses the federal role in regulating egg safety. Although the egg industry is primarily responsible for ensuring the safety of its products, four federal agencies hold statutory responsibilities for egg safety.
Date: September 21, 1999
Creator: Vogt, Donna U.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Tracking Current Federal Legislation and Regulations: A Guide to Basic Sources

Description: This report is a guide to basic sources useful in tracking federal legislation and regulations. It has been prepared primarily for the use of constituents who wish to follow the federal government's legislative or regulatory activities at the local level. Brief annotations for the selected printed, telephone, electronic, and related sources describe their scope, focus, and frequency, include publisher contact information, and provide Internet addresses where available.
Date: May 7, 1998
Creator: Davis, Carol D.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Water Act and TMDLs

Description: Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act requires states to identify waters that are impaired by pollution, even after application of pollution controls. For those waters, states must establish a total maximum daily load (TMDL) of pollutants to ensure that water quality standards can be attained. Implementation of this provision has been dormant until recently, when states and EPA were prodded by numerous lawsuits. The TMDL issue has become controversial, in part because of requirements and costs … more
Date: September 11, 1997
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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NAFTA: A Broad Economic Perspective

Description: Most economists believe that the main economic benefit of NAFTA will be that, over time, it will increase productivity and incomes in the United States, Mexico and Canada. In this view, living standards of all three countries will be higher than without a NAFTA. In the near term, some reallocation of resources will occur within each country, generating gains for some producers and costs for others. New industries emerge, some industries expand, some contract, and some die. Since the Mexican and… more
Date: November 9, 1993
Creator: Wilson, Arlene
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Japan's Economy: From Bubble to Bust

Description: 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 economi… more
Date: March 8, 1994
Creator: Jackson, James K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Japan's Budget: Role in Economic Policymaking

Description: The Japanese economy has been in recession for three years, making it the longest recession in Japan's post-war experience. Groups within and outside Japan are calling on Japan to adopt aggressive fiscal policy measures to boost the Japanese economy and to aid in the recovery of the world economy. Japan has enacted a number of limited measures to stimulate, but it is unlikely to move more aggressively to adopt deficit-financing measures to stimulate its economy for a number of reasons: politica… more
Date: March 29, 1994
Creator: Jackson, James K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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South Korea's Economy and Trade

Description: South Korea has become a mid-level economy with a growing consumer market and industrial base. It now is in transition. It can no longer compete easily in low-wage, low-technology manufacturing with other countries of Asia, yet it does not have the technology and expertise to compete fully with industries from Japan, the United States, and Europe.
Date: July 15, 1994
Creator: Nanto, Dick K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Japan's Looming Bank Crisis: A Half Trillion Dollars in Non-Performing Loans?

Description: Japan's top 21 banks have reported Y13.6 trillion (US$136 billion) in non-performing loans, but experts consider the true figure to be in the range of Y40 to Y60 trillion (US$400 to US$600 billion). If 90, Japan's banks may take five to seven more years to write off their bad loans and restore health to their balance sheets. Current write-offs are being financed primarily by sales of stocks held by banks whose values have appreciated. This problem of bad loans is depressing Japan's economic gro… more
Date: August 19, 1994
Creator: Nanto, Dick K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Cost-Benefit Analysis: Issues in Its Use in Regulation

Description: This report sketches issues underlying broader use of cost-benefit analysis. It focuses on cost-benefit as one of several related frameworks for assessing regulatory actions or policies. Cost-benefit is the broadest of these frameworks, which also include impact assessment, risk assessment, and cost-effectiveness. Which analytical framework is appropriate depends on the regulatory context.
Date: June 28, 1995
Creator: Moore, John L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Current Economic Conditions and Selected Forecasts

Description: This report begins with a comprehensive presentation of current economic conditions focusing on income growth, unemployment, and inflation. The posture of monetary and fiscal policy is surveyed as are the forecasts of economic activity. It concludes with data on the factors important for economic growth.
Date: June 5, 1998
Creator: Makinen, Gail
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Environmental Reauthorizations and Regulatory Reform: From the 104th Congress to the 106th

Description: The 104th Congress pursued efforts to reform environmental regulations on several fronts: (1) revising regulatory decision making processes; (2) attaching specific reforms to funding bills; (3) establishing a House corrections day calendar of bills addressing specific regulatory problems; and (4) incorporating regulatory reforms into individual program reauthorization bills. The 105th Congress has pursued regulatory reform in four primary directions: (1) proposals to establish a comprehensive c… more
Date: January 8, 1999
Creator: Blodgett, John E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Delaney Clause: The Dilemma of Regulating Health Risk for Pesticide Residues

Description: Under the authority of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for establishing tolerances for pesticide residues in or on foods and feeds. Tolerances are legal limits to the amount of pesticide residues that can be found on a raw agricultural commodity at the farm gate or in a processed food. The FFDCA has two sections, 408 and 409, which set up different and inconsistent criteria for setting tolerances for pesticide residues i… more
Date: November 9, 1992
Creator: Vogt, Donna U.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Delaney Dilemma: Regulating Pesticide Residues in Foods -- Seminar Proceedings, March 16, 1993

Description: A provision in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Delaney Clause, appears to lower risks in the setting of tolerances for pesticide residues. It prohibits any substance from being added to processed foods if it induces cancer in man or animals. In reality, the provision created a dilemma because the zero-risk statute makes it difficult to regulate pesticides. Because of the prescription of Delaney, tolerances (legal limits) are established differently for carcinogens and non-carcinog… more
Date: May 19, 1993
Creator: Vogt, Donna U.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Food Additive Regulations: A Chronology

Description: The 104th Congress is actively debating proposals to reform several aspects of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) process for regulating consumer products, including its approval process for food additives. In June 1995, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced at a House Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee hearing several policy shifts in its food additive pre-market approval process which will soon be implemented.
Date: September 13, 1995
Creator: Vogt, Donna U.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Food Safety Agencies and Authorities: A Primer

Description: Several federal agencies, in cooperation with state governments, are responsible for regulating the safety of the U.S. food supply. In the wake of an outbreak of foodborne illness and the largest recall of suspected contaminated meat in U.S. history in August 1997, several policymakers have reopened the debate on creating a single, independent, federal food safety agency. They assert that this would provide more effective regulatory control over the entire farm-to-table food production and mark… more
Date: February 5, 1998
Creator: Rawson, Jean M. & Vogt, Donna U.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Science Behind the Regulation of Food Safety: Risk Assessment and the Precautionary Principle

Description: Although Congress, the President and agency administrators support the use of science as a basis for food safety regulatory activities, there are controversies about how science can best be used for this purpose. Supporters of science-based regulations regard conclusions from well-designed scientific studies as largely impartial and fair;
Date: August 27, 1999
Creator: Parish, Mickey
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Korea: Procedural and Jurisdictional Questions Regarding Possible Normalization of Relations with North Korea

Description: The Clinton Administration signed an agreement with North Korea on October 21, 1994, detailing steps to end the crisis caused by North Korea's nuclear program and pledging to "move toward full normalization of political and economic relations." Many details of the accord have not been disclosed, including the precise mechanisms to be used to provide light water nuclear reactors and annual shipments of U.S. heavy oil to North Korea, and a clear process to be followed in normalizing political and… more
Date: November 29, 1994
Creator: Davis, Zachary S.; Niksch, Larry A.; Nowels, Larry; Pregelj, Vladimir N.; Shinn, Rinn-Sup & Sutter, Robert G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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