The Texas legislature created the Sunset Advisory Commission by enacting the Texas Sunset Act, Chapter 325 of the Texas Government Code in August, 1977. By initiating this act, Texas became the second state to establish sunset provisions into their state laws. The Texas government gives it the name “sunset” because this refers to an agency, law, or program that will expire on a certain date unless it is approved by the legislature. The Sunset Advisory Commission was founded in order to prevent government scandals that were occurring at the state and federal levels. State's sunset provisions typically all believe that government agencies and programs should be reviewed. So that the Sunset Advisory Commission can consider innovative changes to improve an agency's or program's actions. However, most of the time, the Sunset Advisory Commission immediately abolishes government branches, unless the legislature decides to continue them. “Through the actions of the Sunset process, for every dollar spent on Sunset provisions, the state of Texas earns about twenty-five dollars in return” (John). In the state of Texas, the Sunset Advisory Commission is composed of a 12 member legislative body. “This includes five senators and a public member who is appointed by …show more content…
This occurs when the Sunset Commission holds a hearing about the final results of the Sunset Staff report and the agency overall. Then, after the first hearing, the Sunset Commission organizes a meeting to vote on which provisions it should recommend to the Legislature. The Sunset Commission will also listen to several public testimonies and will take any public input and immediately publish it on the Texas Sunset Review website. Finally, once the Sunset Commission has voted, they will recommend to the legislature which actions it should proceed