The Sunset process is a key legislative oversight tool that has significantly streamlined and improved Texas government since it was created by the Texas Legislature in 1977. Sunset promotes a culture of continuous improvement in state government by providing an objective, nonpartisan public forum for evaluating the need for state agencies and their effectiveness, efficiency, and responsiveness to the public.
Changes made through the Sunset process demonstrate its positive impact, with a proven track record of abolishing unnecessary state agencies and programs, lowering state expenditures, and modernizing outdated state laws. Key Sunset outcomes, highlighted in the textbox Sunset’s Impact Since 1977, illustrate Sunset’s success.
The Sunset process has led to major improvements in almost every area of state government. Sunset recommendations also have eliminated duplication among agencies and programs, increased public participation and government accountability, and improved the quality and efficiency of government services. The process has also reduced state regulation of businesses and occupations, while continuing to protect the public and providing a more equitable path to working in Texas. A timeline of key events describes how the Sunset Commission and the review process have evolved over time.
Sunset's Impact Since 1977
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2025 Legislative Session Highlights
During the 2024-25 biennium, Sunset evaluated 13 entities, some of which related to criminal justice, information technology, and natural resources. Ultimately, the 89th Legislature adopted many of the Sunset Commission’s recommendations, passing a state budget and Sunset bills that contained 76 percent of the commission’s funding and statutory recommendations. Together, the commission’s seven funding recommendations, 100 statutory changes, and 106 management directives will result in approximately $135 million in net savings to the state over the next five years by eliminating waste and inefficiency, positioning the state to better serve and protect the people of Texas.1 These savings increased the total savings as a result of the Sunset process from $1 billion to $1.1 billion since 1985 and increased the Sunset Commission’s return on investment from $16 for every $1 appropriated to $17. Significant changes adopted through the Sunset process this biennium are highlighted below.
Streamlining Program Operations to Achieve Savings
Insufficient oversight and evaluation of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s (TDCJ) inmate rehabilitation program has resulted in costly program placement timelines and potential risks to public safety. The Legislature required TDCJ to develop a strategic plan that would reduce program placement timelines. Sunset staff estimated the statutorily required reduction in program placements would result in over $147 million in savings to the state over the next five fiscal years.
Ensuring Responsive Governance
The Sunset Commission’s review of the Texas Lottery Commission (TLC) found the commission often played a passive role in critical functions, leaving the agency with no clear vision for its future and struggling to adapt to current circumstances. The Legislature abolished TLC by declining to pass a Sunset bill for TLC and transferred TLC’s state lottery and charitable bingo functions to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) through Senate Bill 3070. SB 3070 includes many of the Sunset Commission’s statutory recommendations for TLC and requires a limited-scope Sunset review of the state lottery during the 2028-29 biennium.
The structures of the Department of Information Resources’ (DIR) board and advisory committees could better reflect the agency’s primary customer base of other public entities and better solicit customer feedback. The Sunset bill restructured the agency’s governing board and adjusted DIR’s advisory committees to better represent and serve government entities with widely differing information technology (IT) needs.
Requiring Necessary Strategic Planning
A staffing crisis in the state prison system is compounded by the projected growth of the inmate population and the location of prisons in places where hiring sufficient correctional officers is nearly impossible. To tackle this problem more strategically, the Sunset bill required TDCJ to create a long-term facilities plan that identifies facility and capacity needs.
The Sunset Commission found that four river authorities under review — the Angelina Neches River Authority (ANRA), Lower Neches Valley Authority (LNVA), Sabine River Authority of Texas (SRA), and Trinity River Authority of Texas (TRA) — need improved strategic planning and decision-making processes to support the entities’ goals. Sunset directed all four river authorities to develop or strengthen formal strategic planning processes.
Leveraging Data and Information Technology
With decades-old technology and paper-based and manual processes, TDCJ was in significant need of modernization. Sunset directed TDCJ to establish an office of modernization and strategic initiatives and develop plans to improve data practices and phase out outdated processes.
The Sunset Commission found DIR could further secure the state’s cybersecurity by improving reporting to the Legislature on cybersecurity and requiring state agencies to obtain certain third-party information security assessments periodically. The Legislature enacted the commission’s recommendation to require DIR to require state agencies obtain tests and assessments every two years. The newly-created Texas Cyber Command will take over this requirement as a part of the transfer of cybersecurity functions from DIR to the command through House Bill 150.
The Sunset Commission found the Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) did not consistently collect data necessary to inform the agency’s decisionmaking processes. The Legislature adopted recommendations requiring BPP to collect and analyze data and incorporate findings into training for BPP staff.
The Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) struggled to balance long-term IT planning and goals with short-term achievable fixes. Additionally, the agency did not systematically collect data that could improve compliance. Sunset directed TEC to holistically evaluate and prioritize its IT projects and to collect and use data to improve TEC’s compliance efforts.
Enhancing Contracting and Procurement
The Sunset Commission found that while DIR generally does a good job managing its contracted services and programs, the agency could better ensure the state gets the best deal on IT by more consistently updating vendor pricing information and by providing agencies more budgetary flexibility on staff augmentation services. The Legislature required DIR to provide more training and assistance to other agencies with IT procurements.
TEC lacked a formal, consistent process for monitoring the performance of the agency’s electronic filing system contract. Sunset directed TEC to improve its contract monitoring practices and to ensure training for key contract management staff.
The Sunset Commission found four river authorities under review — ANRA, LNVA, SRA, and TRA — could all benefit from improved procurement and contracting processes. Sunset directed the river authorities to adopt standard best practices in contracting and procurement, including evaluating and documenting vendor performance and adopting formal contract management and monitoring policies
Other Notable Achievements Since 1977
Nationally recognized best practices for state regulatory programs. Much of Sunset’s work focuses on reviewing occupational licensing and regulatory agencies to identify unnecessary or subjective barriers to working in Texas. Sunset’s own nationally recognized model of best practices for evaluating regulatory laws, agencies, and programs ensures the regulation serves a needed purpose and is fair, impartial, and transparent to the public and regulated businesses and individuals.
Sunset’s model has enabled the Texas Legislature to streamline and reduce regulation and continue to protect the public while removing legal barriers such as unnecessary residency and education requirements, subjective licensing qualifications, and excessive hours of training, practice, and continuing education. Although Sunset did not make licensing recommendations for the 89th Legislative Session, in the prior two sessions, Sunset eliminated 68 types of licenses, registrations, and permits held by more than 100,000 businesses and individuals in low-risk fields such as cemetery brokers, real estate instructors, and guard dog trainers. Furthermore, Sunset eliminated eight low-risk health regulatory programs and improved the efficiency and effectiveness of 17 other occupational licensing programs by moving them to more appropriate agencies.
Improve efficiency of state licensing and regulatory programs. TDLR’s functionally aligned structure allows it to eliminate duplicative administrative functions and maximize efficiency by performing similar licensing, customer service, and enforcement processes across all its programs. However, the 2020-21 Sunset review found that decades of receiving new or troubled programs stretched TDLR’s ability to take on additional responsibilities without jeopardizing the quality of service to licensees and the general public. Acknowledging this challenge, the TDLR Sunset bill eliminated 29 unnecessary licenses; streamlined the regulation of barbers, cosmetologists, and driver training providers; and directed TDLR to be more data-driven in its inspection and enforcement processes to focus its resources on the highest risks to the public.
Modernization of Prohibition-era alcoholic beverage laws. During the 2018-19 review of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Sunset found that Texas regulated the alcoholic beverage industry under laws that were largely unchanged since they were enacted in 1935, shortly after Prohibition ended. The Sunset review strengthened the agency’s ability to regulate the influential alcoholic beverage industry; simplified a byzantine licensing structure by reducing licenses and permits from 75 to 36; collapsed separate beer and ale regulatory programs based solely on alcohol content into a single malt beverage category and lowered state taxes on malt beverages; streamlined a lengthy label approval process; and allowed small brewpubs to sell malt beverages to-go. Elected officials, regulators, and stakeholders praised the unprecedented modernization of alcoholic beverage laws achieved through the Sunset process.
Aligned regulation of behavioral health professions. The Legislature consolidated four behavioral health regulatory agencies into a new umbrella licensing agency based on Sunset’s findings of serious problems such as backlogs in processing licensing applications and investigating complaints. The Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council now oversees and coordinates the licensing and regulation of marriage and family therapists, professional counselors, psychologists, and social workers. This new structure aligns and improves regulation, standardizes licensing and enforcement, and creates administrative efficiencies and economies of scale, while also preserving each profession’s individual standards.
New financing tools and transparency for state transportation projects. Sunset reviews of the Texas Department of Transportation provided new tools to meet transportation needs, including creating the State Infrastructure Bank to help fund local transportation projects, encouraging privatization of engineering services, and improving monitoring of highway contracts. Sunset also focused on restoring legislative and public trust in the department, resulting in a more integrated and understandable transportation planning process, a system to measure progress in meeting state transportation goals, a public involvement policy, and procedures for handling complaints.
Streamlined, more accountable state pension plans. The Sunset process led to a more equitable state pension system for teachers and state employees by allowing people who had contributed to both the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas to combine their years of service for retirement eligibility. Sunset legislation also changed pension calculations, increasing pension checks for many retired teachers. Sunset strengthened oversight of the ERS’ board and transparency of the agency’s alternative investments, provided more opportunities for stakeholder input in the group benefits program, and enabled members to directly participate in the insurance appeals process.