From Texas Standard:
Texas has more than 150 state agencies -- everything from the Affordable Housing Corporation to the Workforce Commission. Do these agencies provide too much oversight and bureaucracy? That's what the Sunset Commission is tasked with finding out. A group of lawmakers from the Texas House and Senate, along with two members of the public, do periodic reviews to make sure state agencies are needed and that they're operating as they should.
The work they do doesn't usually get a lot of attention, unless an agency is on the chopping block. Now it appears a handful of , even though that's not what the commission wants. , a Republican member of the House from Van, a town east of Dallas, sits on the Sunset Commission. Flynn and other members of the commission review 15 to 20 agencies every 12 years and send bills to the Texas House floor, reflecting their recommendations to update or discontinue the agency. The commission's job is to evaluate whether some should be combined or cut altogether using input from the public, legislators and the agencies themselves. Flynn describes the process as 鈥済rueling.鈥�
But this session, decisions the commission had made on the fate of the agencies hit a snag when the recommendations moved to the legislative floor. One of those sidetracked bills involves the , which Flynn says performs an important function. But he鈥檚 not too concerned about the agency鈥檚 future.
鈥淭here鈥檚 kind of a safety net there,鈥� Flynn said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not going to lock the doors tomorrow.鈥�
Holding a special session of the Legislature to revisit the stalled bills doesn鈥檛 interest Flynn, who said he鈥檇 be surprised if the medical board鈥檚 bill would even prompt further legislation.
The function of the Texas Medical Board is to license doctors and to protect the health and safety of Texans.
鈥淭his is a fight that has nothing to do with the physicians or the Texas Medical Board," Texas Medical Association President Carlos Cardenas said. "And everyone at the Capitol knows that.鈥�
Written Louise Rodriguez.
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