Most legislatures have enhanced their capacity for oversight of the executive branch and participation in performance management by creating special legislative offices to carry out program evaluation and performance audit activities. Currently, 48 states have specialized legislative program evaluation offices charged with carrying out research and oversight studies of executive agencies; only Ohio and Oregon do not.26 Texas has three such offices: the Legislative Budget Board, the Sunset Advisory Commission and the State Auditor's Office. In addition, Washington had a legislatively created, separate transportation audit unit from 2003 to 2006, the Transportation Performance Audit Board.27
Legislative program evaluation offices vary widely in size and responsibilities, but typically are bipartisan research units that are intended to act as independent, impartial sources of information about executive agencies and to provide recommendations to improve their operations.28 They generally review the effectiveness, efficiency and legality of state executive agencies, as well as the extent to which those agencies are following legislative intent. Their evaluations can greatly affect transportation governance and DOT operations. For example, the South Carolina Legislative Audit Council published a highly publicized audit of the DOT in 2006. This audit resulted in a restructuring of the DOT that placed it in the governor's cabinet, created a legislative oversight committee and allowed for periodic audits.29
Some legislative program evaluation offices also conduct sunset reviews. Such reviews evaluate the functions of a state entity to assess whether it should continue to exist. In a true sunset process, an entity is automatically abolished unless the legislature or responsible legislative committee chooses to affirmatively continue it. Most states with sunset provisions in state law focus the process on smaller boards, commissions and regulatory agencies rather than on large executive departments. Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas, however, perform regular sunset reviews of the DOT30 In Arizona and Florida,31 the process occurs every 10 years, in Louisiana every five years, in Tennessee every eight years and in Texas every 12 years. In most cases, when the sunset process is applied to large, ongoing executive departments, it is used primarily to add another layer of accountability for those entities rather than to seriously consider their discontinuation. In 2009, however, the Texas DOT was reviewed, but the bill to continue it was not enacted. Instead, a special session was called in which the DOT was granted an extension until another, limited-scope review in 2011. Unless continued, the Texas DOT will now expire on Sept. 1, 2011.32
Legislatures also sometimes review non-legislative program evaluations or performance audits-such as those performed by an executive branch state auditor-in addition to performing their own. In California, for example, when a non-legislative program review is released, the legislature often holds an oversight hearing to understand the findings of the report. In Washington, the legislature must consider performance audits conducted by the state auditor and submit an annual report detailing legislative implementation of the auditor's recommendations.33 Twenty-six states34 reported legislative review of non-legislative evaluations as a mechanism for oversight of their DOTs.