In this case, a legislator wants to overhaul the Texas Water Development Board:
The board, created in 1957, is overseen by six part-time board members, who serve on a volunteer basis after being appointed by the governor. But state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, wants to change the structure to three full-time members, also appointed by the governor.This seems to be an effort to change and amateur part time board into a full time professional one. Is this part of a broader trend?
Senate Bill 4, introduced by Fraser, would make those changes. According to a fiscal note for the bill, this would carry a price tag of nearly $1.3 million for expenses such as salaries and office space.
“I haven’t had a lot of luck communicating” with the six part-time directors, Fraser said at a committee hearing this week. The new structure, he said, would mirror that of the Public Utility Commission and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. With full-time directors, “when there’s a question about something, I can pick up the phone and call,” Fraser said, and they can be at the Capitol in minutes.
