{"id":15191,"date":"2012-07-18T07:00:29","date_gmt":"2012-07-18T12:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=15191"},"modified":"2012-07-17T17:12:38","modified_gmt":"2012-07-17T22:12:38","slug":"railroad-commission-takes-a-step-towards-closing-the-revolving-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/07\/18\/railroad-commission-takes-a-step-towards-closing-the-revolving-door\/","title":{"rendered":"Railroad Commission Takes a Step Towards Closing the Revolving Door"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo courtesy of RRC<\/p>

Barry Smitherman is Chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas<\/p><\/div>\n

The Railroad\u00a0Commission\u00a0of Texas<\/a>, which, despite its name, actually oversees oil and gas drilling in the state, enacted a new “revolving door<\/a>” policy this week.<\/p>\n

Up until now, the commission had followed what’s already in the state employee ethics handbook. The new rules, proposed by commission chair Barry Smitherman, take things a bit further.\u00a0\u201cAdopting this policy is an\u00a0important step to maintaining the public trust,\u201d Smitherman said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince [Smitherman] became chair<\/a>, he\u2019s been reviewing all the policies and procedures at the commission, and this is one that he found was deficient,” says Casey Haney, the chairman’s chief of staff. “So we thought it was important to address it sooner rather than later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the new policy, for the first two years after leaving the commission, former commissioners and executive directors must send all of their communications with the agency through the open records coordinator at the commission, just as any outsider would. The idea is to set up a more formal barrier.<\/p>\n

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