Ep. 133 - Should Texas Build a Statewide Prosecutor for One County? | Rep. Carl Tepper

Texas State Representative Carl Tepper joins Brad Swail on Texas Talks to discuss some of the major issues being examined by the House Select Committee on Governmental Oversight.

Tepper discusses the committee’s examination of district attorneys and criminal prosecution, including the scrutiny surrounding the Travis County District Attorney’s Office and possible approaches lawmakers could consider during the 90th Texas Legislature.

The conversation then turns west to a highly unusual question: Could counties currently in New Mexico eventually become part of Texas? Tepper discusses interest from communities along the Texas-New Mexico border, the economic and cultural ties between those counties and West Texas, and what would have to happen for a boundary change to move forward.

Finally, Tepper and Brad discuss oversight of taxpayer-funded contracts, nonprofits and local government programs, including questions surrounding homelessness spending in Austin and how governments should respond when publicly funded programs fail to meet their goals.

00:00 — Introducing Rep. Carl Tepper
01:08 — Texas' Governmental Oversight Hearings
02:53 — Crime & Repeat Offenders
04:39 — Scrutiny of District Attorneys
05:12 — What Could the Legislature Do?
07:22 — Could Texas Expand Into New Mexico?
08:32 — Why New Mexico Counties Are Looking at Texas
11:05 — How a Texas-New Mexico Boundary Change Could Work
11:57 — Rural & Frontier Texas
14:38 — Safeguarding Taxpayer Funds
15:09 — Austin's Homelessness Spending
16:51 — Accountability for Government Contracts
19:10 — Closing

Watch Full-Length Interviews: https://www.youtube.com/@TexasTalks

Follow us on social media

X: @Texas_Dispatch

Instagram: thetexasdispatch

LinkedIn: The Texas Dispatch

TikTok: texas_talks_podcast

Find more at The Texas Dispatch

Your source for state news, policy, and investigative journalism.

https://thetexasdispatch.com