SOUTHLAKE, Texas — Republicans have controlled all aspects of Texas politics for nearly 25 years now.
But even the GOP is admitting their government may have gotten too big.
“I think there’s going to be places where there are opportunities for agencies to right size,” State Representative Giovanni Capriglione told us on Inside Texas Politics.
State Representative Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, is the chair of the new Delivery of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Committee in the Texas House. The committee’s co-chair is also from North Texas, State Representative Salman Bhojani, D-Euless.
Rep. Capriglione said the goal is to find inefficiencies in state government and excessive regulations.
“The reality is there’s always an opportunity to improve the work that the government has done, whether it’s Texas or the federal government — government gets bigger,” said the Republican. “And every now and then, it’s a time and an opportunity for us to look at what’s happened, to see opportunities to make things more efficient, cheaper, faster, better.”
Lawmakers say they are also looking for fraud and waste, such as folks who receive unemployment benefits when they shouldn’t.
And even though the committee is only a couple of weeks old, Capriglione said there’s no shortage of places to start searching.
“I’ve gotten so many tips, so many ideas. This has, effectively, become 1-800 whistleblowers,” the chairman relayed. “There’s, unfortunately, people who take advantage of government services and so we want to make sure that the people who are supposed to be getting access to it are able to get access to those services.”
Capriglione provided another example of improved efficiency: digital driver’s licenses.
The Republican said he’ll soon file a bill to do just that. And if you need a new picture, for example, you’d just use your cellphone instead of having to drive to a crowded DPS office.
But the tricky thing about becoming more efficient is that it can often cost jobs, especially with fast-emerging technologies such as AI.
“I know, and you all know, that if you’re able to use technology, okay, you’re able to go and, quite frankly, replace the efforts and the work that are being done by individuals and, at a minimum, augment it. Why have 10 people doing this one thing when maybe one person can do 10x what they used to do,” Capriglione told us.
There are 13 members total on the DOGE committee, with eight Republicans and five Democrats. No committee meetings have been scheduled yet.