State Agencies Undergo Sunset Review Process – State Preservation Board
Over the past few weeks, I have been outlining Texas’ sunset review process. The agencies I have covered so far include the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners, the Texas Lottery Commission and the Railroad Commission. As a reminder, in order to identify and eliminate government waste, duplication and general inefficiencies in state agencies, the Texas Legislature established the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission (Commission) in 1977. The sunset review process is designed to review each of these agencies every twelve years. This review is done by taking up a certain number of the state agencies each session when the Texas Legislature convenes.
In last week’s article, I covered the Railroad Commission of Texas. This week we will review the State Preservation Board (Board). The Board was formed in 1983, by the state’s 68th Texas Legislature. The Board was established by the Legislature for the purpose of preserving, maintaining and restoring the State Capitol and General Land Office Building, as well as their contents and grounds for the benefit of citizens of Texas. Today, the Board also provides ground keeping services for the Texas Governor’s Mansion and is responsible for operating the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.
On the Board’s website they outline and summarize their duties and responsibilities as follows:
- Providing housekeeping, maintenance and grounds keeping services at the Capitol, Capitol Extension, Capitol Visitors Center, Capitol Visitors Parking Garage, and the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum;
- Approving all changes involving construction, restoration and repairs in the Capitol, Capitol Extension, General Land Office building, and on their grounds;
- Providing educational and curatorial services for the Capitol;
- Care for the Capitol Historic Artifact Collection, which includes Capitol furniture, art and other decorative works;
- Operating an education and tourism center at the Capitol Visitors Center;
- Providing interpretation and guided tours of the Capitol and Capitol Visitors Center;
- Scheduling and managing public events and exhibits at the Capitol;
- Scheduling and managing the Legislative Conference Center, Historic Court Rooms, and Extension Auditorium for Capitol occupants;
- Operating the Capitol Gift Shops;
- Managing the Capitol Extension Cafeteria;
- Operating the Capitol Visitors Parking Garage and maintaining the Capitol Complex Parking Meters;
- Operating the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum; and
- Providing maintenance and grounds keeping services for the Texas Governor’s Mansio
The Board is overseen by a six member board which is composed of the Texas Governor, the Texas Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Administration, the Chair of the House Committee on House Administration and an individual who represents the public. If you are interested in learning more about the State Preservation Board, you can go to their website at https://www.tspb.state.tx.us/tspb.htm . Some of the other agencies we will review include The Board of Pardons and Paroles, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and a number of other agencies currently going through the sunset process.
