Recovery Act spending top government story in 2009
. . . continued from page one
Following are some of the other news highlights of 2009:
January
Dr. Francisco Cigarroa was named chancellor of The University of Texas System. Cigarroa was serving as president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio at the time of his appointment, had previously announced he would be stepping down from that role and planned to return to practicing medicine. He replaced former Chancellor Mark Yudof, who left the UT System last year to head up the University of California System.
Just three months after the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) was removed from conservatorship and five months after a new executive director was named, the members of the Sunset Advisory Commission voted to recommend merging the TYC and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission into a single agency.
San Antonio Republican lawmaker Joe Straus was elected Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives on the opening day of the 81st Legislature, ending Rep. Tom Craddick's hopes of a fourth term as Speaker.
Child Protective Services (CPS) Assistant Commissioner Joyce James was selected to serve as Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) deputy commissioner.
Joanne Molina was tapped to serve as the Health and Human Services' Commission's deputy executive commissioner for social services.
February
Thomas Ruocco, former Assistant Special Agent in charge of the San Antonio Division, Austin Resident Agency of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was announced as the new chief of Criminal Law Enforcement for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Kelly "Bart" Bevers was reappointed to serve as inspector general for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
Tom Pauken was reappointed chairman and employer representative of the Texas Workforce Commission.
Sasha Rasco and Audrey Deckinga were named assistant commissioners of the Department of Family and Protective Services.
Continued downsizing at facilities and more staff reductions within the Texas Youth Commission were announced by TYC Executive Commissioner Cherie Townsend. At the West Texas State School in Pyote, the capacity for youth at the facility was ordered reduced to 48. Some 110 staff positions were eliminated, including 67 that were filled. TYC officials said the facility will be turned into a modified security facility whose focus would be on chemical dependency and abuse treatment.
March
John Tintera was chosen as executive director for the Texas Railroad Commission, the state's top energy regulatory agency.
Gen. Jose S. Mayorga was appointed Adjutant General of Texas for a term set to expire Feb. 1, 2011.
Anita Givens was named by Education Commissioner Robert Scott as associate commissioner of standards and programs at the Texas Education Agency.
In spite of a downturn in the nation's economy, more than 50 local government entities - including more than 40 Texas public school districts - were asking voters to approve more than $1.7 billion in bond issues.
Many of the entities seeking funding for new construction or renovation as a result of Recovery Act funding were hoping to take advantage of current lower construction costs. The state of the economy was resulting in even greater competition for construction projects, with many public sector entities receiving unusually large numbers of bids for projects. In many cases, those bid prices were millions of dollars lower than expected.
April
William "Bill" Gimson was announced as the first executive director of the newly established Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
Laura Taylor was named the Texas Education Agency's associate commissioner for accreditation.
May
The federal Recovery Act allocated $155 million as Texas' share of $835 million that was being spread among 850 projects in 37 states and the District of Columbia. In Texas, $19.6 million of the funding was headed to Fort Hood, $23 million was dedicated to projects at Fort Sam Houston and the remainder of the $155 million was earmarked for projects at Fort Bliss.
Col. Lamar Beckworth was named interim director of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) after previous Director Col. Stanley E. Clark resigned from that post amid allegations of sexual harassment from at least two DPS employees.
An audit of the Texas Youth Commission showed that although the agency had improved its investigation into alleged abuse and mistreatment of some of its residents and had strengthened security and monitoring regarding those youth, the agency still needed to strengthen its management of state resources, including contracts, staffing levels and facilities and its intake and investigation processes.
Texas residents approved more than $1.37 billion in local bond funding during in elections throughout the state. Despite the recession and a slumping economy, voters approved 73 percent of the $1.88 billion total on the ballots. The funds were earmarked for local capital improvement projects such as new hospitals, new schools, renovations, park improvements and infrastructure over the next few years.
To streamline vehicle registrations in the state, the Texas Legislature approved the creation of a new state agency - the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Registrations and three other functions were transferred away from the Texas Department of Transportation but vehicle inspection and drivers licensure stayed with the Texas Department of Public Safety.
June
Milton Rister, who had served as executive director of the Texas Legislative Council since February 2006, announced he was leaving that position.
Deborah Cartwright was named director of the State Comptroller's Property Tax Assistance Division by Texas Comptroller Susan Combs.
An immediate top-down management and organizational review of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) was approved by the Texas Transportation Commission.
Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) Commissioner Adelaide "Addie" Horn announced her retirement after three decades of public service.
The Office of Rural Community Affairs was getting ready for its new name. The state agency dedicated to rural Texas communities would change its name to the Texas Department of Rural Affairs (TDRA).
July
Texas was counting up its drought losses as 100-degree temperatures and scant rain were the norm throughout many areas of the state. Officials with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service put a dollar figure of $3.6 billion on agricultural losses in the state, saying losses could climb as high as $4.1 billion by the end of the year.
Charles Matthews announced plans to resign from his post as chancellor of the Texas State University System, effective February 2010.
John Cox, chief information officer (CIO) for the Texas Education Agency (TEA), was named associate commissioner for information technology and agency operations.
August
Former Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) government relations liaison Michael Kelley was named chief of the Driver License Division of DPS.
Dorca Zaragoza-Stone took over as deputy director for the Office of Administrative Services at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
Tom Suehs was chosen as the new executive commissioner of Health and Human Services, replacing Albert Hawkins, who had announced his retirement.
September
The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) was declared "officially open for business" by CPRIT Executive Director Bill Gimson, as the institute released five cancer research requests for applications only three months after the institute received its first funding.
The Texas Lottery closed out its fiscal year with more than $3.72 billion in sales, an increase of more than $17 million from FY 2008.
The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation announced it would commit $10 million to establish a Texas Student Data System for K-12 students in Texas. Goals for the system were announced as having the capacity to enter and store information that allows educators to make decisions, predict performance levels and graduation rates, change the course of individual students at risk and better prepare all students for college and beyond.
October
The Texas Department of Transportation announced it was having to return more than $742 million in transportation funds awarded by the federal government in a rescission of federal unused funds. The federal government is pulling the plug on $8.7 billion in existing contract authority - unobligated federal dollars - from state transportation budgets because there is no money in the Highway Trust Fund.
Brian Rawson, executive director of the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) and the state's Chief Technology Officer, resigned his position at DIR to return to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) as Director of Statewide Data Initiatives. Named by the DIR board chair as interim executive was Karen Robinson, who previously served as Director of Administration and Technology for the Office of the Governor.
Justice Eva M. Guzman, justice of the 14th Court of Appeals, was appointed to the Supreme Court of Texas, replacing Justice Scott Brister who resigned. Guzman's term will expire at the next general election.
Ken Levine, who served the Sunset Advisory Commission for nearly three decades, was appointed interim director of the commission, filling the spot left vacant by the retirement of longtime Sunset Director Joey Longley.
Some 65,000 new students were enrolled in Texas community colleges from fall of last year to this fall, representing an 11 percent increase in enrollment statewide. Officials of the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) called this increase a "positive development" in a letter to the state's leadership marking Texas community colleges' response to the increased demand for higher education opportunities throughout the state.
November
Texas residents approved $857 million, or 63.5 percent, of the $1.35 billion in bond propositions up for vote. The amount is significantly lower than the May 2009 bond election number when residents said "yes" to $1.37 billion, or 73 percent, of the $1.88 billion up for vote. Asking local residents to approve additional financing for municipal and K-12 projects was apparently a difficult sell in the current economic environment.
Some $2 billion in transportation projects were announced to be funded by Proposition 12 bond proceeds. The Texas Transportation Commission approved 74 staff-recommended projects from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Proposition 12 was approved by Texas voters in 2007, but only earlier this year did the Texas Legislature authorize use of those bond proceeds.
December
Chris Traylor, associate commissioner for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) since 2006, was named commissioner of the Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS), effective Jan. 1, 2010.
More than $2.7 billion in 13 different grant programs was announced for state and local governments, private sector entities and others through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Preparedness Grants. The federal agency announced the 2010 funding opportunities aimed at strengthening the United States' ability to prevent, protect, respond to and recover from terrorist attacks, disasters and other emergencies.
The federal government's decision to allow the state to reopen the Texas Permanent School Fund (PSF) Bond Guarantee Program came at a good time for many school districts in Texas. The program, which has been backing property-tax supported bonds for facilities for years and saving school districts millions on construction projects, was closed in March.
Donna Nelson of Austin was reappointed by Gov. Rick Perry to the Public Utility Commission (PUC).
