On Tuesday, the Texas Senate showed once again the high level of influence that the oil and gas industry has on Texas governance. In a 29-2 vote, the Senate passed the Sunset bill (HB 1818) making very modest reforms and reauthorizing the Railroad Commission of Texas for another 12 years. The bill lacked many common sense amendments that would have fundamentally reformed an agency captured by the oil and gas industry.
The bill was generated after the Sunset Advisory Commission extensively reviewed the Railroad Commission and recommended a range of reforms to the agency including changing the agency’s name to better reflect its function. Most of the commission's recommendations were rejected in favor of HB 1818 which just barely counts as reform.
One amendment to the bill, proposed by Senator, José Rodríguez (D- El Paso), would have required the “Railroad Commission to develop a searchable online database of violations by oil and gas companies and complaints against them, along with inspection reports and enforcement actions taken by the agency.” In a party-line vote, that amendment was challenged and rejected.
The vote on HB 1818 came the day after the release of a report by the Texans for Public Justice (TPJ) report showing that the oil and gas industry is the second biggest contributor to texas lawmakers, including giving $11.3 million over the past two election cycles. A previous TPJ report “found that an estimated 60 percent of campaign contributions made to the three elected commissioners who oversee the Railroad Commission came from the oil and gas industry that they regulate.”
While the vote to reform the Railroad Commission produced only minor changes in an agency beholden to the industry they regulate, we at the Sierra club remain undaunted and will continue to work to enact change at the administrative level.