6/04/2008

Sunset Report: Kill the Texas Transportation Commission


By MICHAEL LINDENBERGER, The Dallas Morning News

Sunset Report:
Kill the Texas Transportation Commission


The five-member commission that oversees the Texas Department of Transportation should be abolished and replaced with a single commissioner accountable to the governor and lawmakers, according to a 157-page report by the staff of the Sunset Advisory Commission, the panel created by the Legislature to regularly assess state agencies.

Read the rest of the article HERE

8 comments:

Sal Costello said...

FYI: 90% of the Sunset commissions recommendations are usually set in place.

This is a big win for us. It's not everything, but it's going to be a great year.

Coming soon at this blog: ENEMIES OF THE STATE - SEN. KIRK WATSON & GOV. RICK PERRY.

Anonymous said...

Congrats Sal! You're my hero! Congrats everone else who blogs here too!

Anonymous said...

While yes, this is a big win it is NOT without recognizing a main issue that is NOT going away.

Special interests will continue to control who runs what and what direction we all "swim in" UNLESS the legislature also provides changes in the campaign finance laws so our lawmakers are NOT continually bought.

I'm not trying to bust everyone's bubble here.

The determination by the Sunset is a big deal and a big win.

However, there is still this way that special interests can circumvent having 5 bought commissioners and having 1 more powerful bought commissioner.

The legislature needs to deal with this also, and Sal, people ought to know this.

www.pstern.statesmanblogs.com

Sal Costello said...

THAT is why it's so important for all of to show up on July 14th, at the public hearing.

Get everyone you know to do the same!

Sal
: )

Anonymous said...

Sal,

July 14th or 15th? I think it's the 15th.

Sal Costello said...

Yes, (typo) the 15th.

Thanks
Sal

Anonymous said...

Abolish the commission?

I say abolish TxDOT -- except as a pass-through of our federal and state tax money down to locals.

TxDOT's centralized control over funds needs to be dismantled & the money passed straight thru to local jurisdictions -- counties, MPOs, RMAs (reformed to be elected) -- based on some transparent formula like # of people, & # of miles of rd on the state system, etc.

that way, something like Trans Tx Corridor or toll road conversions of existing rds can't be forced down our throats. our tax money couldn't be held back as extortion -- dispensed as "matching funds" for toll roads.

Anonymous said...

You have got to understand that TxDot is trying their hardest to get away from the public. They figure the least public involvement they have the better. For instance, in some districts, like Wichita Falls, they have a super foreman. That's one supervisor per two or three towns thay they don't live in. That way if the public has a complaint or a problem about what's going on in there area, they have to drive maybe 30 or more miles to speak to the supervisor since the person overseeing that particular area is now just an assistant and can't make any decisions. I'm glad the commission stood up to TxDot and hopefully come July 15 something will be done about this and all the other problems TxDot faces.