Texas House Bill 4938

This bill would dissolve the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and its responsibilities would be carried out by other agencies.

The concern with this bill is that the other agencies would not have the experience in matters held by the TPWD nor would the newly acquired TPWD duties be a priority. This could lead to less manpower, budget, and attention given to Texas’ many state parks, wildlife and lands.

We believe this is bill would hurt the wildlife, fisheries, and lands of Texas. Therefore, we oppose it.

We also believe this bill to be self serving. Texas State Representative Pat Curry (R-Waco), the legislator who introduced the bill, is a high fenced deer breeder. He has spoken negatively about the government body that regulates deer breeding in Texas and now is actively trying to dismantle this government body, TPWD. He has also introduced a bill earlier this year which would abolish the Texas Animal Health Commission which regulates livestock but also regulates captive whitetail deer.

Both of these departments are involved in chronic wasting disease testing and management. Historically, CWD has been a thorn in the side of deer breeders in Texas as deer breeding farms have taken issue with TPWD as they regulate deer farms, force population reduction and have taken other measures in an attempt to prevent CWD from spreading in Texas’ wild whitetail population.

For more on this, read Dac Collins’ Outdoor Life article on this topic, here.