State needs a similar effort to Musk’s federal crusade.

This commentary was originally published at The Dallas Morning News here. It is being republished with permission from the author.

One of the most amazing political phenomena Americans have seen in ages is Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy making the rounds on Capitol Hill ramping up the new commission called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Unlike most previous efforts to bring efficiency to government, there are going to be no studies that produce reports but few results, often due to opposition in Congress. Instead, Musk and Ramaswamy plan to use executive authority under existing law and Supreme Court guidance to tame federal spending.

How much they can accomplish against the federal leviathan remains to be seen, but the willingness and expertise seem to be there.

There has also been DOGE talk in Texas. State Rep.-elect David Lowe of North Richland Hills recently tweeted: “We need our own @DOGE in Texas. Texas Film Commission is a perfect example of — Cut It.” Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, has worked diligently to take on Texas’ bureaucracy, tweeting, “Texas government was smaller when DEMOCRATS were in charge.” And Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, has formed the D.O.G.E. Caucus.

But the prospects for a Musk-Ramaswamy-like DOGE in Austin are more tenuous than those in Washington, D.C.

During his first term, Trump was as big a spender as the next politician. But he does seem to have changed over the last four years — perhaps because of his zeal for cutting regulations and his personal experience with government bureaucracies. However, there is no indication that Texas political leaders who have presided over the state’s recent spending and regulatory sprees have had a similar revelation.

During its 2023 regular and special sessions, members of the Texas Legislature appropriated $219 billion in state funds for the current biennium, up 32% over 2021 and up from $144 billion in 2017. And it looks like more spending is on the way for 2025.

It looks like more spending is on the way for 2025. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have already called for another $5 billion in subsidies for natural gas generators. Abbott recently announced his support for similar subsidies for nuclear generators. Meanwhile, Texas school districts are salivating over the prospect of new funds, which were promised them in 2023 but which died along with school choice during the special sessions. All of this will be funded by Texas taxpayers; no cost savings there.

Neither does there seem to be much support for taming government regulation in Texas. The Public Utility Commission of Texas has essentially taken over the Texas electric grid during the last three years. The Texas Medical Board continues to cudgel those who practice medicine in ways that do not meet the approval of Big Medicine. And the Texas Ethics Commission’s efforts to shut down citizen participation in government are ongoing. Few legislative leaders appear concerned about these actions.

To its credit, the Texas Legislature did attempt to buy down school property taxes by $18 billion last session in what was billed as the largest property tax cut in Texas history. But it did not work out as planned. School property taxes, the target of the effort, fell by less than expected and are heading back up again this year, even as tax rates decline, while city and county property tax revenue jumped by over 10%. Not much bang for the taxpayer buck. What happened?

More spending is what happened. We’ve already seen the recent high growth in state spending; local governments, counties and school districts did the same last year, which meant that property taxes had to increase to pay for the higher spending.

This points to the main challenge that Musk, Ramaswamy, Harrison, Cain and others who want to tame spending are going to face; politicians love to spend money. Our money. And as long as they keep spending our money, our taxes will continue to increase. There are no free lunches and there are no cost savings without spending cuts.

Are spending cuts possible? Absolutely. We may see some in Washington, D.C., for the first time in decades. But I believe we are going to need a culture shock in Texas like we are seeing now in Washington before they happen here.

This commentary was originally published at The Dallas Morning News here. It is being republished with permission from the author.

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