Ag chief fumes over bid to limit powers
Legislators seek to shift oversight of gas pumps to different agency
AUSTIN — Lawmakers are again trying to undermine Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller’s consumer protection efforts, this time by taking away his power to oversee gasoline quality.
Despite Miller’s objections, the Texas Senate passed a bill 27-4 on Thursday that would shift regulation of motor fuel quality and metering to the state Department of Licensing and Regulation. A similar bill won committee approval in the House earlier this month and is expected to be brought to the floor in the coming weeks.
The move comes amid frustration from the Texas Food and Fuel Association that Miller’s agency is ratcheting up enforcement measures and inspection fees for vendors despite a low percentage of valid fuel complaints. Of 1 billion fuel transactions in Texas last fiscal year, there are just 187 transactions in which a problem was found, such as water in the gas, said Paul Hardin, president of the association representing gas stations and convenience stores.
The cost of the inspections varies depending on location, according to Hardin, ranging from $250 in urban areas to more than $500 in rural Texas.
Hardin has said his or
ganization has found Miller to be vindictive. The group endorsed his opponent in the 2018 Republican primary election.
“The industry is regulated by an elected position and a lot of times the industry is used … as political hay during the re-election process,” said Hardin, who added that elected officials can be seen on television talking about quality of fuel at gas stations, but “they’re not talking about the eggs they found cracks in at the grocery stores.”
Miller counters that the association is not to be trusted and shifting responsibility for overseeing gas quality to a new agency will “screw” consumers.
“As I’ve always said, here at TDA there are three things we do not tolerate: liars, cheats and horse thieves,” Miller wrote in a letter. “I can add TFFA to this list.”
Lawmakers last tried to water down Miller’s oversight of gas stations in 2017, requiring a third party to investigate gas stations for the Department of Agriculture after three complaints about a vendor are filed in a year. Miller opposed that law, complaining it allowed gas stations to “cheat at least three people” before the state can step in. He then required gas stations to pay for the inspections since they are no longer performed directly by the department.
That same year, Miller caught heat for how he enforced laws overseeing barbecue restaurant scales. He began enforcing a long-ignored law requiring pit masters to weigh food on a scale where customers can read the weight for themselves. Barbecue restaurant owners complained, saying they would have to undergo costly renovations to meet those standards. They convinced lawmakers to rewrite the law in 2017 to exempt scales weighing food that people are buying to eat immediately. When Miller was tasked with enforcing the law, he determined that the exemption would only apply to establishments where food to-go is not sold — meaning it would not apply to the vast majority of barbecue restaurants.
The agriculture commissioner’s job is largely to promote local products such as cattle and cotton, although the job also requires the commissioner act as a consumer watchdog to ensure people get their money’s worth when buying Texas products. The Department of Agriculture regulates scales for some 17,7000 retailers, including grocery stores, coffee shops and jewelers. The agency also inspects meters at airports used to fuel planes, gas station pumps and liquefied petroleum gas meters for filling small tanks for backyard gas grills.
Miller has positioned himself as a staunch defender of consumer protections since he was elected to lead the Department of Agriculture in 2014.
“This is isn’t about personalities or politics. This is about big money lobbyists pushing bad bills that protect their industry at the cost of every Texan that fills up at the pump,” Miller said in a written statement to the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News.