Abolition of transportation commission is urged in state report

June 4, 2008

By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News

Lawmakers would wrest away from the governor much of his influence over the state transportation department under a series of sweeping proposals issued Tuesday by the Sunset Advisory Commission staff.

The report urges the Legislature to abolish the Texas Transportation Commission, whose five members are appointed by the governor to set transportation policy for Texas. The commission oversees about $8 billion in spending each year.

In its place would be a single transportation commissioner who, while appointed by the governor, would be subject to lawmaker review every two years. In addition, the Legislature would create a new transportation oversight committee that probably would keep the new commissioner on a shorter leash than the current commission.

The proposals follow seven months of staff work designed to set the conditions under which the state transportation agency – with nearly 15,000 employees – would be allowed to continue. By law, every agency must be reauthorized after a thorough review by the Sunset Advisory Commission at least every 12 years.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday that he would not oppose replacing the commission with the single commissioner but said adding an additional legislative committee was unnecessary.

"We already have several oversight committees, if you will, with the Senate Finance, House Appropriations and the two transportation committees – I don't think that adding another layer of oversight would help solve Texas' transportation problems," spokeswoman Allison Castle said.

Ms. Castle said the governor has already taken steps to address lawmakers' concerns, including appointing his former chief of staff, Deirdre Delisi, as commission chair and directing her to improve relationships with the Legislature.

"We're already righting the ship under the leadership of Chairman Delisi," she said. "TxDOT has taken some steps to correct some of its biggest challenges, including creating more accountability and mending relationships with lawmakers."

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and others said TxDOT's less strident leadership of late is an improvement, but they said the report's strong measures only underscore how much farther the agency has to go.

"I am optimistic that the new chair, Deirdre Delisi, will shake things up at TxDOT and get the agency moving because as reflected in the sunset commission's recommendations, people want change," Mr. Dewhurst said through a spokesman.

Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, and a member of the Senate transportation committee, said some of the staff proposals – including making the single commissioner directly answerable to lawmakers – may prove unworkable. "Do you know anyone who would want that job? With 181 bosses, plus the governor and the lieutenant governor?" she said.

But for now, she said, most lawmakers will embrace the report's condemnation of an agency that many feel has lost its way in pursuit of a seemingly toll-roads-or-no-roads philosophy.

"This is somewhat a vindication for many of us involved in transportation," Ms. Shapiro said. "No matter how many times we've been saying this system is broke and we need to fix it, we never could. The sunset commission does its homework and tells it like it is. This document is quite scathing."

If lawmakers do fight to wrest more control of transportation policy away from the governor, the 2009 session could pick up just about where it ended in 2007.

In that session, lawmakers tried to put a halt to most toll roads in Texas. But just months after the session's end, TxDOT announced plans to pursue more than 80 highway projects as toll roads, with many of them expected to be built by private companies.

The staff recommendations in Tuesday's report will be debated by the commission's 11 members, 10 of whom are lawmakers. A final report in September will serve as the starting point for legislation that must be passed next session to keep the agency operating.

State Rep. Linda Harper Brown, R-Irving, a sunset commission member, said the proposals will be subject to debate and modifications. "This is a good starting point for the discussion of the reformation of TxDOT," she said.

At the core of the report is the question of trust – and the contention that the agency's approach to private toll roads has eroded trust among lawmakers and the public.