Does Texas Need an Independent Inspector Generals Office to Root Out Fraud & Waste?
Senator Bob Deuell proposes the creation of such an office for the “main” state agencies in today’s Dallas Morning News and Governor Rick Perry’s office indicates support. The issue came up after controversial firings at the Texas Education Agency’s Inspector General’s office – currently big agencies like TEA have their own inspector general’s office. Deuell and Perry are right to examine whether more efficiency and independence could be achieved by a centralized inspector general’s office that investigated waste, fraud, and abuse at multiple agencies. Moreover, it may be possible to separate this function from the agencies being monitored without creating an entirely new government agency. First, there is already the State Auditor which has a Special Investigations Unit. Texans can call the Auditor’s Office at 1-800-TX-AUDIT to report malfeasance at state agencies. To the extent existing inspector general offices within agencies have additional legal powers, those could be added to th
