The five-member Texas Transportation Commission will be replaced by a single Governor-appointed commissioner if the Texas Sunset Review Commission’s recommendations are adopted by the Legislature during the upcoming session. Commissioners Tuesday backed the proposal 7-5.

Some members of the Sunset panel preferred the transportation commissioner to be elected by the voters, while others, such as Sunset chairman Carl Isett (R-Lubbock), preferred retaining the present five seats while making them regionally appointed positions.

Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) pushed for an elected commissioner and suggested a requirement (approved 7-4) that no commissioner may have served in the Legislature for 10 years prior to taking office (note: this prohibition is considered by many transportation officials to be a move to keep Rep. Mike Krusee [R-Round Rock] from being appointed commissioner).

Either way you slice it, the lack of consensus indicates that the future of how Texas’ transportation system is managed is still up in the air

“I thought very long and hard about the structure of TxDOT, and I don’t think there’s a silver answer in what we’re trying to accomplish,” said Sen. Glenn Hegar (R-Katy), vice chairman of the Sunset panel, who supports a one-commissioner structure.

Isett said following the vote that he did not anticipate the decision would make it through the Senate in the spring. Hegar said the discussion will likely dominate the upcoming session. Sunset panel member Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon (D-San Antonio) said she intends to file a bill to require popular election of the Transportation commissioner.

Other proposed changes suggested by the Sunset commission include:

* Assembling a Transportation Legislative Oversight Committee to examine TxDOT activities.

* Hiring a private-sector consulting firm to review the quality of management and to conduct and audit of the agency.

* Siphoning away four TxDOT divisions – including the vehicle licensing and the motor carrier offices — and reorganizing them to form a new Department of Motor Vehicles, similar to what is in place in other states.

Isett said the goal is to restructure TxDOT for maximum effectiveness and restore its reputation in the eyes of the public.

“Because of our concerns and the concerns of Texans on how this agency has operated in the past,” he said, “I think it is incumbent upon us to help create an agency that Texans can be proud of again. And we have, I believe, the best road system this agency has created, and we want to be best of class in virtually every category in respect to transportation.”

Isett said he did not believe the “culture of the organization” would change following one legislative session, but over a period of years — “That when we’re done we will have a transportation agency that will reflect the Governor’s vision to keep Texas moving, relieve congestion, create alternatives to the I-35 corridor; and one in which there is more surety in the process and surety in the funding, and one where internal controls will be put into place that will give us the transparency that Texans and users should have …”

Isett said transportation departments in Texas have been “in gridlock” since the 1920s in terms of funding, and new solutions are required to implement road projects.

Other suggestions approved by the Sunset Advisory Commission are as follows:

* Renew the TTC for four years instead of the standard 12, at Isett’s suggestion.

* Establish a rail transportation division within TxDOT.

* Require the chief financial officer of TxDOT to report directly to the commissioner/commission.

* Adopt a new funding allocation formula and a 10-year cash forecast.

* Assemble a contract advisory team to review Comprehensive Development Agreements (CDAs), comprising the Comptroller, Governor, Director of Information Resources, and Attorney General.

* Submit a plan to sell the South Orient Railroad (from San Angelo to Presidio) by Feb. 28 to the private sector for continued use as a railway.

The commission discussed the following items:

* Giving a state turnpike authority power to act in areas without a regional mobility authority or toll authority, at the suggestion of Sunset panel member Linda Harper-Brown. (Isett said he would rather have that discussion in the January meeting.)

* Placing prohibitions on overweight vehicles on state highways in order to control road wear, at the suggestion of Sunset panel member Charles McMahen, a non-legislator member of the commission.

John D. Esparza, president and CEO of the Texas Motor Transportation Association, who attended the Sunset meeting, said he had concerns about McMahen’s suggestion to put weight limits on all state highways. “I don’t believe it will go very far,” Esparza told LSR. “I understand the idea behind it but also agree that there are a lot to be considered when we talk about oversize/overweight vehicles on our state’s infrastructure.”

In a press statement, Amadeo Saenz, TxDOT executive director, said the Sunset review process is over all a productive experience.

“The dedicated employees of TxDOT have worked hard over the last six months to implement several of the commission’s recommendations,” Saenz said.

“I look forward to working with the Legislature during the course of the session and remain committed to the continued improvement of the department’s transparency and efficiency over the coming months.”

During a Texas Transportation Commission meeting Dec. 17 (see related story pg. 8) in which members discussed the Sunset commission’s decisions, TTC chairwoman Deirdre Delisi said the recommendations are by no means final.

“The final form of the bill may not even resemble what the Sunset Commission came up with,” Delisi said.

Jefferson Grimes, deputy director of the TTC’s public affairs division, who briefed the TTC at their Wednesday meeting on the Sunset panel’s recommendations, employed football terms to explain the situation.

“We’re at the two-minute warning of the first half,” Grimes said, “as we will indeed be back before Sunset in January.”

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