North Texas lawmakers agree that the Texas Department of Transportation needs an overhaul, but they have no complaints about the operation of the Wichita Falls district.

Texas House members Friday gave an initial stamp of approval to having one statewide elected commissioner at the helm of the embattled state transportation agency. The proposal also calls for the election of 14 regional commissioners.

Currently the governor appoints the five-member transportation commission that oversees the agency, so the House move is seen as a slap at Republican Gov. Rick Perry’s power.

The bill still must have another House vote before moving to the Senate.

The move in the Legislature comes on the heels of a scathing state “sunset” report, which called for a revamp of the department’s governing board and its dealings with lawmakers and the public.

The review and call for a revamp came “against a backdrop of distrust and frustration with the Department and the demand for more transparency, accountability and responsiveness,” the sunset report said. “Many expressed concerns that TxDOT was ‘out of control,’ advancing its own agenda against objections of both the Legislature and the public.”

The bill as fashioned by Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, would remove some duties from the agency, including driver’s license oversight. It also would establish a legislative oversight committee to study and make recommendations for the operation and needs of the state transportation system.

“No longer will the public be in the dark about construction projects in their own towns,” Isett said, as he introduced the legislation. “No longer will the public trust be disregarded.”

“I agree with the overall conclusion,” said Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, who serves on the Sunset Commission. “Transportation policy decisions need to be returned to the oversight of Legislature.”

Estes said he sees the problems in TxDOT as issues of culture rather than governance. He said he had the “highest regard for TxDOT employees on the regional level,” but was critical of the agency’s Austin-based bureaucracy.

“Sometimes we pretend to tell them what to do and they pretend to listen,” he said, calling for greater responsiveness from TxDOT to the Legislature.

Estes said he does not favor having one statewide elected commissioner.

Rep. David Farabee, D-Wichita Falls, said the revamp “appears to be an effort by the House to make TxDOT and the role it plays more consumer friendly.”

Farabee said he “could not be more happy with our local TxDOT family,” referring to the Wichita Falls district office.

“They’ve worked hard on having projects ready to go when funds were ready to go for projects such as the U.S. 82 extension or the Falls Flyover or the Overhead (the Lloyd Ruby overpass across central Wichita Falls). Our projects have developed nicely,” Farabee said.

“TxDOT is more than accountable to local people” in rural areas, Rep. Rick Hardcastle, R-Vernon, agreed. But he said that is not always the case in the state’s larger urban centers.

He believes the Legislature should have more authority over TxDOT, but believes the final result will be a system where the governor appoints commissioners subject to the approval of the lieutenant governor and speaker of the house.

The Senate must also pass a TxDOT revamp and differences will have to be hammered out with the House version before moving on to Perry for his signature.

“We just put our seasoning in the pot,” Farabee said of the House legislation.

All three North Texas lawmakers think substantial changes to TxDOT will result from this legislative session.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

At a glance

The three lawmakers who represent North Texas agree, in principal, with two major components of a Texas House of Representatives proposed overhaul of the Texas Department of Transportation.

• Existing highways should not be converted into toll roads as some TxDOT plans proposed. They also believe toll roads should be clearly marked as such and motorists who choose not to use them should have ample opportunity to take a good alternate route.
• “Red light cameras” should be scrapped. The cameras snap pictures of the license tags on cars than run stoplights. Both Rep. David Farabee, D-Wichita Falls, and Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, referred to the practice as “Big Brother is watching.”