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Bonnen, Huffman appointed to sunset panel
Published November 22, 2009
Several state agencies could face the knife in the next legislative session, and two Brazoria County legislators recently met as members of the commission charged with finding government fat.
Texas Speaker of the House Joe Straus appointed state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, to serve as vice chair of the Sunset Advisory Commission, and Lt. Governor David Dewhurst appointed state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Southside Place, as a panel member. Both will serve four-year terms.
Bonnen will serve as the commission’s chair the two years after serving as vice chair. The commission includes members of both houses of the Legislature.
The newest members took their seats on the commission at an initial hearing Tuesday after they were appointed two weeks ago.
Huffman said she is excited to be a part of the commission because it is a good opportunity to learn about the state agencies that have an effect on roads, electricity and the environment.
“I plan to look real hard into these issues,” said Huffman, whose district includes part of Brazoria County.
Bonnen said he was honored to be named to the commission and hopes to find ways to save taxpayer dollars.
“This will be a great opportunity,” he said.
The Sunset Advisory Commission questions the need for a state agency and specifically looks to cut redundancy and waste. It meets throughout the next year and will develop recommendations before the 82nd regular session of the Legislature in 2011. Its recommendations could include cutting the size of an agency, moving its functions to another agency or eliminating it altogether. In most cases, the agency is abolished if legislation is not passed to keep it operating.
In the past session, legislators abolished the Texas Residential Construction Commission and transferred the Board of Tax Professional Examiners and the Polygraph Examiners Board to the state’s Department of Licensing and Regulation.
About 130 state agencies are subject to sunset review. The committee is set to look at 28 agencies next year, including a partial review the Texas Department of Transportation.
The Legislature adjourned its five-month regular session June 1 without passing a safety net measure that would allow the Department of Transportation to continue. In a special session, legislators later passed a bill to keep it operating until 2011.
Huffman and Bonnen said the agency has faced tough criticism for not operating with transparency and not listening to public opinion.
“Clearly transportation needs are going to grow,” Huffman said. “It is inadequate in some areas,” she said of the state’s highway system.
Bonnen said he hopes the transportation department will develop a “willingness to listen.” The agency spends too much time and money seeking projects, like the Trans-Texas Corridor, the public doesn’t want, Bonnen said.
“We’ve been arguing with TxDOT now for several years,” he said.
Another big agency up for review next term is the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality.
Federal government projections recently showed the Houston non-attainment region, which includes Brazoria County and seven other counties, could meet the limit for the lung-irritating pollutant ozone of 84 molecules of ozone for every billion molecules of air. The federal standard, set in 1997, states the areas should be less than 85 parts per billion over an eight-hour period.
Gov. Rick Perry had sought an extra nine years, to 2019, for the area to comply with the standard.
“Overall, it’s done a fair job,” Bonnen said of the TCEQ.
Bonnen once chaired the House Environmental Regulations Committee, which works closely with TCEQ on environmental legislation.
“We’ve done outstanding and we’re showing some great improvement,” he said.
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UNDER REVIEW
Twenty-eight reviews are scheduled for the Sunset Advisory Commission in advance of the Legislature’s 82nd regular session to begin in January 2011. Some of the agencies facing review:
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs
Texas Department of Insurance
Texas Juvenile Probation Commission
Public Utility Commission of Texas
Railroad Commission of Texas
Texas Department of Transportation
Division of Workers’ Compensation
Texas Youth Commission
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