Drive a state-owned vehicle, for free!!! How do I apply?

Wouldn’t it be very nice if I could have a car that was meant for work related purposes, but “occasionally” used it for personal purposes and not pay for the car note or gas each month. That would be amazing and that is what is actually happening by many state employees. In the Dallas Morning News, an article entitled Texas House bill would make workers pay for personal use of state cars, reports that there are roughly 1,300 state employees at 95 state agencies that commute to work in state-owned cars, and NEVER use them for any other work related purposes. 

State Representative Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, has filed a bill that would require all state employees to pay for their personal trips and errands. Hodge doesn’t believe that taxpayers should have to flip the bill for state employee’s to use state-owned vehicles for personal use. Hodge found in a study that most of the state employees are driving their vehicles to and from work and are never called out for an emergency. TxDOT says that many state employees are given cars to provide a minimum response time in emergency situations. 

Terri Hodge, I am very pleased to hear that you are backing a bill that will stop state employees from taking advantage of a privilege. The tax payers should not be paying for someone to pick up their dry cleaning and then picking up their child from soccer practice. If you are an state employee that must respond to emergencies 24 hours a day, which the bill does exclude, I perfectly understand. But, if you are working 8-5, monday through friday, and you have a state-owned car, GIVE IT UP! 

Who is actually monitoring the allocation of these vehicles? Who is determining who is eligible for a state-owned vehicle? With Texas having a poorly funded education system, shouldn’t the state end all unnecessary distribution of state-owned vehicles to employees who don’t need them? There many other important issues that our tax dollars could support. Healthcare, education, transportation, and our economy seem to high on the totem poll, but we rather give our cars for people to run around in and not really use them for work. So, to our great elected officials, I do hope that you all pass this bill and end this nonsense.