Abbott signs first bill of session into law, creating a Texas DOGE

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Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday signed the first law of this year’s legislative session, a bill creating a new regulation-cutting agency inspired by Elon Musk’s federal Department of Government Efficiency.

“Texas can have our own DOGE,” Abbott said Wednesday. “What this law is going to do is make government more efficient and less costly.”

Senate Bill 14, which passed both the House and Senate with bipartisan supermajorities, establishes the “Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office” at a cost of $22.8 million over the next five years.

Abbott signed the bill with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, House Speaker Dustin Burrows and the bill’s sponsors — Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, and Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford — by his side.

“The fewer regulations we have, the more efficient they are, the easier they are to understand — is going to help Texas business and economy continue to boom, which is why I'm excited this is the first bill that is being signed,” Burrows said.

With five weeks left in the biennial legislative session, SB 14 is the first bill to reach Abbott’s desk. The Senate and House have each passed other priority measures — including a school voucher program that Patrick put on a glide path last week when he endorsed the House’s proposal — but some, like the budget, differ slightly across chambers and still require final approval before they can go to the governor.

The “Big Three” — Abbott, Patrick and Burrows — all touted the bill signing as one of the earliest in recent sessions, which have been bogged down in part by bitter relationships between the governor’s office, Patrick and former House Speaker Dade Phelan.

Patrick called the early bill signing “the first proof of efficiency.”

The “Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office” will be charged with helping other state agencies identify “unnecessary and ineffective rules.” It will also advise agencies on ways to make regulations more effective, streamline the regulatory process, reduce department costs and increase public access to regulatory information.

The governor will be responsible for appointing members of the panel, which will be supported by up to 18 full-time staff members.

The new law also states that courts in Texas are not required to defer to a state agency’s interpretation of the law in legal challenges of regulations. It follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the Chevron doctrine, which for 40 years required the court to follow government agencies’ determination of the law when statutes were ambiguous, as long as it was reasonable. The doctrine was a prime target for those looking to roll back the power of federal agencies.

SB 14, which was designated a priority bill in the Senate, is part of a broader push by Republican elected officials to continue to make Texas more attractive to businesses and corporations. In 2023, the Legislature created a specialized business court, and lawmakers this session are looking to pass tighter restrictions on lawsuits.

Some Democrats in opposition to the bill questioned why the new agency was necessary on top of the state’s Sunset Advisory Commission, which already regularly assesses the continued existence and performance of state agencies and regulations.

Republicans who opposed the measure, including Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, called the bill an expansion of government.

“The point of DOGE is to cut government, reduce spending and shrink the bureaucracy,” Harrison said on the House floor. “Unfortunately, this bill does the exact opposite.”

Other states have also established groups inspired by DOGE, including Kentucky, Iowa, Oklahoma, New Hampshire and Louisiana.

The Texas House created its own Delivery of Government Efficiency committee this session with the goal of eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in government.

During the bipartisan committee’s first hearing in March, Capriglione, the panel’s chair, said: “At times, we will use a scalpel, carefully dissecting inefficiencies to make government work smarter. At other times, we will wield a sledgehammer, tearing down systemic waste and corruption that may have gone unchallenged.”

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