TPEA is contacting you at your home email address to alert you to a critical issue affecting TXDOT employees and to request immediate advocacy action on your part.
The TXDOT Sunset legislation, HB 300, is scheduled to be considered by the full House of Representatives on Thursday, May 7. A section of HB 300 as passed out of committee mandates a 40 percent reduction in staffing levels for engineers and other staff involved in the design of highways. The effort to reduce TXDOT staff is being promoted by private consulting engineers who believe that reducing state engineering personnel will force the outsourcing of more engineering work and will increase their business.
TPEA believes this provision is bad public policy that will increase the costs of designing state highways and will cost taxpayers more in the long run. TPEA is supporting an amendment by Representative Drew Darby of San Angelo that will require an independent cost analysis of whether it is more cost efficient for TXDOT to perform these engineering services or to outsource more of this function.
Please note that no independent, impartial cost analysis has been performed to assess whether this forced outsourcing will achieve cost savings or increase costs to taxpayers. The 40 percent engineering staffing reduction is completely arbitrary. TPEA is supportive of a fair, independent cost study of this matter. In fact, the Appropriations Bill already requires such a study.
TPEA is requesting that you contact your local State Representative and ask him or her to support the Darby amendment to HB 300 to assure that taxpayers' interests are protected by requiring a fair and independent cost analysis before outsourcing engineering services to expensive consulting engineers.
Click here to find the Austin phone number for your local State Representative.
If you are unsure of who is your local State Representative, follow this link and input your home address.
It is very important that any communications you undertake must be done on your personal time and they must be done on a personal phone! DO NOT contact legislators using a state phone, and do so only on your break or lunch time, or other personal time.
Please also alert your co-workers about this situation and ask them to communicate as well. Again, make sure they understand this must be done on personal time and using a personal phone.
Please contact your local State Representative's office and ask him or her to support the Darby amendment to HB 300 to assure a fair and independent cost analysis of TXDOT engineering services and to protect taxpayers' interests. Please be polite and positive. In all likelihood, you will be talking with staff in your Representative's office. Tell them you are a constituent and you want your position noted and given to your elected State Representative. Ask if it's possible for your Representative to contact you to let you know his or her position on this issue. HB 300 is scheduled to be debated on Thursday, May 7, so please begin contacting State Representatives as soon as you receive this message and continue through Thursday.
In addition to contacting your local State Representative, TPEA is asking you to contact the other key State Representatives listed below and ask them to support the Darby amendment to HB 300 for the reasons cited above.
The Representatives and their Capitol office phone numbers are:
Rep. Jim Dunnam, Waco, (512) 463-0508
Rep. Larry Phillips, Sherman, (512) 463-0297
Rep. David Swinford, Dumas, (512) 463-0470
Rep. Garnet Coleman, Houston, (512) 463-0524
Rep. Allan Ritter, Nederland, (512) 463- 0706
Rep. Mark Homer, Paris, (512) 463-0650
Rep. Jerry Madden, Richardson, (512) 463-0544
Rep. Susan King, Abilene, (512) 463-0718
Rep. Leo Berman, Tyler, (512) 463-0584
Rep. Fred Brown, College Station, (512) 463 -0698
Rep. Brandon Creighton, Conroe, (512) 463-0726
Rep. Joe Deshotel, Beaumont, (512) 463-0662
Rep. David Farabee, Wichita Falls, (512) 463-0534
Rep. Stephen Frost, Atlanta, (512) 463-0692
Rep. Pete Gallego, Alpine, (512) 463-0566
Rep. Ryan Guillen, Rio Grande City, (512) 463-0416
Rep. Joe Heflin, Crosbyton, (512) 463-0604
Rep. Chuck Hopson, Jacksonville, (512) 463-0592
Rep. Jim Keffer, Eastland, (512) 463-0656
Rep. Jim McReynolds, Lufkin, (512) 463-0490
Rep. Geanie Morrison, Victoria, (512) 463-0456
Rep. Richard Raymond, Laredo, (512) 463-0558
Rep. Larry Taylor, Friendswood, (512) 463-0729
Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, San Antonio, (512) 463-0616
Thank you.
Watch TPEA’s website www.tpea.org for special event announcements and to read about TPEA’s future schedule.