Governor Greg Abbott signed the bill into law, aimed at enhancing government efficiency in Texas, costing $22.8 million over five years.
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One of the first bills signed by Governor Greg Abbott this legislative session created Texas’ own Delivery of Government Efficiency (DOGE), similar to the one created by President Trump and headed by Elon Musk.
The Texas Delivery of Government Efficiency Committee aims to do just that, make the state government more efficient, at a cost of $22.8 million over the next five years.
The “Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office” will be charged with helping other state agencies identify “unnecessary and ineffective rules.” It will also advise agencies on ways to make regulations more effective, streamline the regulatory process, reduce department costs and increase public access to regulatory information.
“I think there’s low-hanging fruit all over the place when you look at the vast amount of regulations, there’s so much slicing and dicing that can and needs to be done,” Governor Greg Abbott said.
Additional reporting by KENS 5
The City of San Antonio is keeping an eye on the committee.
“Obviously the federal effort has had some impacts on us,” said Jeff Coyle, assistant city manager for the city of San Antonio. “Not enough for us to know yet. I think they created the the team or the department and what they end up doing, we’ll wait and see.”
At the federal level, DOGE has made controversial moves, initiating mass layoffs, shutting down agencies, terminating contracts, cutting spending from education to medical research.
“Cities financial relationships are much different with the state than they are the federal government,” Coyle said. “We receive a lot of federal funding every year. We don’t receive a lot of state funding. There’s a few limited programs.”
Mayor Ron Nirenberg is critical of the creation of the department.
“I think it’s a little ironic that after 30 years of controlling state government and all branches of it, Republicans have decided that it’s time to be looking for waste,” he said. “You know, regulatory relief and government efficiency is something that we are very supportive of. My hope, though, is that it’s not done on the backs of the public and creates harm to them and to the environment, so long as it is, there’s a balance for the public.”
The members of the committee have been appointed by the Governor. They include two local representatives, Rep. Ellen Troxclair and Representative Liz Campos.
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