Texas. Sunset Advisory Commission

The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission was created by the Texas Sunset Act, Senate Bill 54, 65th Legislature, Regular Session, in 1977. The Sunset Act is a comprehensive law that provides for automatic termination of state agencies that have a date for review or abolishment set in statute. The act forces the state government to evaluate its activities periodically and to abolish, or to allow the sun to set on, inefficient or unnecessary operations. Agencies subject to the act must periodically prove to the legislature, through the commission's review process, that they provide a necessary service in an effective manner. If the legislature does not pass a law to recreate the agency before its expiration date, the agency is abolished.

The Sunset Advisory Commission reviews all agencies scheduled for termination in a particular year by gathering self-evaluation reports from the agencies, conducting public hearings, and preparing reports to the legislature with recommendations to continue or abolish the agencies. If the commission recommends continuing an agency, it must also provide draft legislation that continues the agency's operations and corrects any problems identified during the review.

The statute sets specific time frames for the review process and lists thirteen criteria for determining whether a need for the agency exists. Both the agency's self-evaluation report to the commission and the commission's final report to the legislature must address each of these criteria. The criteria include the agency's efficiency of operation, the extent to which statutory objectives have been achieved, the extent to which existing advisory committees are needed and used, the extent of duplication or overlapping jurisdictions and possibilities for consolidation with other agencies, and an assessment of whether the agency has recommended statutory changes that benefit the general public rather than the regulated entity. Other criteria include the promptness and effectiveness with which the agency handles complaints, the extent to which the agency has encouraged participation by the public, the extent of compliance with federal and state requirements regarding equality of employment opportunity and the rights and privacy of individuals, compliance with the Public Information Act and Open Meetings Act, and the degree to which the agency conforms to its six-year strategic plan.

The commission's report on an agency must include a recommendation to abolish or continue the agency and may also contain recommendations to correct problems identified during the review. The statute requires the commission to follow-up on agencies that were continued after sunset review to determine whether they have implemented any recommended changes. The commission may also expand the scope of sunset review to include agencies not under review that overlap or duplicate the programs of the agency being reviewed.

In 1985, House Bill 1583, 69th Legislature, Regular Session, was enacted, requiring the commission to comment on the proposed creation of regulatory agencies or advisory committees. In this sunrise process, the commission reviews proposed legislation creating new agencies and sends a written response to the bill's author and to the chair of the committee hearing the bill.

The policy-making body of the agency is a ten-member commission. Membership of the commission consists of four state senators and one public member appointed by the Lieutenant Governor, and four members of the House of Representatives and one public member appointed by the Speaker of the House. Public members serve two-year terms, and legislative members serve four-year terms staggered so that half the membership from each house expires every two years.

The staff of the Sunset Advisory Commission is divided into three sections: review projects, administrative services, and support projects. The agency is administered through a director and an assistant director.

Governor William P. Clements established the Task Force on Public Utility Regulation through Executive Order WPC-89-6 on July 25, 1989. The Sunset Advisory Commission provided clerical support to the task force. This staff support was outside the normal duties of the commission as defined by its statutory authorization, V.T.C.A. Government Code, Chapter 325. A series of public hearings were held by the task force, with assistance from Sunset Advisory Commission staff, to receive comments from interests concerned with public utility regulation. After the task force issued its final report, its records remained at the offices of the Sunset Advisory Commission.

The Ad Hoc Committee on Medicaid Liens and Estate Recovery was appointed March 24, 1988 by Representative Jack Vowell, chair of the Sunset Advisory Commission, to examine the estate recovery policy for Medicaid expenditures laid out in Senate Bill 298, 70th Legislature, 1987 (enacted in response to Sunset staff recommendations in 1986), to determine whether it was good public policy and benefited the state, and to develop specific recommendations for rules or implementation for use by the Texas Department of Human Services. The committee reported to the Sunset Advisory Commission in June 1988.

(Sources include: the appraisal report prepared by State Archives staff (February 1996, revised November 1999); Guide to Texas State Agencies, 11th ed. (2001); the agency's website, http://www.sunset.state.tx.us/ (accessed June 2006); and contents of the records.)

From the guide to the Sunset Advisory Commission records, 1977-2005, (Texas State Archives)