AUSTIN, Texas — A new state committee tasked with investigating fraud, waste and inefficiencies in Texas state government held its first meeting at the state Capitol on Wednesday.
The Delivery of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Committee is similar to Elon Musk’s federal Department of Government Efficiency.
The new DOGE committee in the Texas House of Representatives is seeking out fraud and waste.
“Today we set the course for a new era of accountability in Texas government,” the committee’s chairman, State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R-Westlake), said.
He said inefficiencies and excess regulations have been accepted and tolerated in state government for too long.
Republicans have controlled all aspects of Texas politics for more than two decades, but Capriglione said the new committee is not a sign Republicans have mismanaged the state for the past 20 years.
“It is 100% everybody, whether it’s a person at home looking at their budget or those of us in state government, there is always an opportunity to do better,” Capriglione said. “The focus on this committee is to make sure that we’re leaving no stone uncovered, that we’re going and looking at every single spend that we have in the state.”
During the DOGE committee’s first hearing on Wednesday, state lawmakers heard testimony from more than a dozen state agencies. Throughout the hourslong hearing, lawmakers asked questions about spending, technology and operations, many with an eye toward doing things better or more efficiently.
Capriglione said the committee will operate with precision to expose bloated government, dismantle outdated regulations and eradicate fraud and abuse. He said it isn’t a copycat of what Musk is doing.
“Everything in Texas is a little bit bigger and a little bit better, and that’s what we’ll be doing here in this committee,” Capriglione said. “We’ll be looking at using scalpels, and we’ll also be able to use sledgehammers. We’re going to look at everything, and we’re going to do this with bills. We’re doing it with legislation, and we’re going to do it with investigations if need be.”
The DOGE committee has 13 members, eight Republicans and five Democrats. State Rep. Salman Bhojani (D-Euless) is the committee’s co-chair.
Bhojani said it’s important to modernize the state government and eliminate inefficiencies.
“Texas can lead the way in responsible, efficient government. Ensuring tax money is being responsibly should be a bipartisan goal,” Bhojani said. “My focus is not on cutting essential services or devaluing hardworking public servants. I’m here to work with you, not against you, to improve how we serve Texans.”
Musk has been reshaping the federal government through firings and freezing federal grants as he works to slash federal spending and reduce the workforce. DOGE wants to achieve $2 trillion in budget cuts.
Layoffs on the table?
When asked whether his committee could recommend giving pink slips to some state workers, Capriglione said they would make many recommendations on how to save money “in whatever form that is.”
“The goal of what all the taxpayers want is we want to be able to get the services they want. A source is good, but only to the people that go in to serve those,” he said. “If there are places where there are some workers that are not aligned with how we do that, we need to retrain, reskill them. Either way, we want to go and be able to make sure that the work is getting done and the best possible people are doing that.”
The first agency to testify on Wednesday was the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, a 12-member legislative commission tasked with identifying and eliminating “waste, duplication and inefficiency” in Texas state agencies. The commission heavily scrutinizes agency services or programs and changes to operations and activities.
Asked if the DOGE committee duplicates the work done by the Sunset Advisory Commission, Capriglione said it is important to have “an independent third party to go and look at what’s been done and what’s going on.”
“This is an opportunity for us to go and look at what’s been done over the last two years and possibly longer,” he said. “The size of government is growing. We have almost 270,000 different rules and regulations. This is a great opportunity. The timing is right for us to go and find those that are duplicative, unnecessary or too costly or burdensome for folks.”
Sunset Commission Executive Director Eric Beverly said 79 state agencies have been abolished since 1977. Thirty-seven agencies were completely abolished, and 42 had their functions transferred to other agencies.
State Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R-Arlington) noted that some of the software the state uses is from the 1990s or older, before asking about the efficiency of revamping outdated technology and resources.
State Rep. Mike Olcott (R-Aledo) pointed out that state agencies contract out services that are potentially a waste area.
“A lot of the waste that’s happening at the state level is from the consulting contracts that are done by the various agencies, and the idea that maybe if some of these agencies were to do more in-house, that would pose potential big savings,” Olcott said.
As they look for fraud, inefficiencies and excessive regulations, lawmakers have identified other possible avenues, including cracking down on people who receive unemployment benefits when they shouldn’t and digital driver’s licenses.
“I expect there will be rules, regulations, agencies, commissions and committees that we will look at to see whether we will keep doing them. We’re going to talk about a report of reports. We have a whole report of all the reports and studies we’re doing that probably no one looks at,” Capriglione said. “We have commissions that don’t meet or maybe a meeting about things we no longer need to be met about. There’s always an opportunity to merge agencies or abolish them if they are no longer necessary.”
The first hearing on Wednesday also included testimony and questioning of staff from the Texas Education Agency, Comptroller of Public Accounts, the Employees Retirement System, the Legislative Budget Board and the inspector general’s office of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
The committee is expected to continue working over the next two years, not just during this legislative session but throughout the interim until the next session in 2027.