Reverse the Railroad Commission's Public Comment Ban

Reverse the Railroad Commission's August 18 vote eliminating public comment at open meetings. Commissioners Wayne Christian and Jim Wright voted 2-1 to strip Texans of their only direct access to elected regulators — and they did it without letting the public comment on the policy itself. Virginia Palacios, who has spoken at nearly every commission meeting since 2021, said it plainly: "You just approved an agenda item on public participation without allowing public participation." That's not a technicality. That's contempt for the people this commission serves. The replacement — staff-run listening sessions that elected commissioners won't even attend — is not accountability. The Railroad Commission regulates the largest oil and gas industry in the country, oversees more than 155,000 inactive wells and 11,000 orphaned wells, and answers to Texas voters. Three minutes at a public meeting was already a limited right. Taking it away entirely, and replacing it with sessions where residents speak to staff instead of the commissioners who actually vote, is a move designed to insulate Christian and Wright from scrutiny. Push to reverse this policy and restore direct public comment at open meetings.