Earlier this month, Texas lawmakers established their own version of President Trump’s Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE). Trump created the agency to shrink the federal government and put Elon Musk in charge of the cost-cutting.
That has led to the gutting of many federal agencies — including the ones that manage public lands.
Now, one of the Texas lawmakers placed on the state’s DOGE committee has devised a similar plan: Abolish the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD). Under House Bill 4938, which State Rep. Pat Curry filed last week, TPWD would no longer exist, with all duties transferred to other state agencies.
According to the plan laid out in House Bill 4938, Curry’s plan means the Texas General Land Office would manage the state’s parks, historic sites, and other public lands. The Department of Public Safety would handle law enforcement and water safety, while the Department of Agriculture would take over conservation, wildlife management, and hunting and fishing.
All funds, contracts, property, and records of TPWD would also be transferred to the other state agencies. Even employees of TPWD could become employees of the other agencies.
The bill would take effect on Sept. 1, 2025. But first, it would have to pass through a House committee, and then get support from the Texas House and Senate, as well as the governor.
Rep. Curry’s office did not respond to requests for comment Monday. However, organizers at the Access Fund, a nonprofit watchdog for public lands, said they would oppose any advancement of the legislation.
“Our general sense is that the bill is not very viable and I don’t see a lot of signals from other members of the legislature that it’s legislation they want to support,” Brian Tickle, head of acquisitions at Access Fund, told GearJunkie. “In fact, it’s quite the opposite.”
‘Plenty of Fraud and Waste’
Texas’s new Committee on Delivery of Government Efficiency, as it’s called, has 13 members: five Democrats and eight Republicans, including Rep. Curry. It has been given a broad mandate, including jurisdiction over the management of state agencies, the “elimination of inefficiencies in the provision of state services,” and much more.
Rep. Curry, whose House district includes Waco, told local news last week that the Texas DOGE aims to trim costs from every level of the state government.
“We do have plenty of fraud and waste,” Curry told ABC 25. “With the help of AI and the ability for a group to spend time looking into things, we can run things a lot more efficiently.”
However, an overwhelming majority of Texas voters appear to support greater investment in the state’s parks. In 2023, a ballot initiative for a $1 billion fund aimed at creating new parks passed with support from more than 76% of voters. That has already led to new land acquisitions, like 2,000+ acres purchased last month for another state park near Colorado Bend.
But Curry, who won a November election to represent Texas House District 56, said he would reform the state’s “out of control” property taxes to make the state more affordable.
“We need to carry our Christian values into so many aspects of the law and running of our government. A lot has been lost on that,” Curry told the Baylor Lariat upon his election victory. “This campaign really became a calling from God.”
