The Texas Railroad Commission has taken another step toward a new identity.

It’s about time.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/05/02/texas-railroad-commission-sunset-bill-passes-senat/

Senate Bill 212 would rename the three-member panel the Texas Energy Resources Commission. Appropriate, given that the RRC has not a single thing to do with train regulations. It has everything to do with energy regulation Texas.

So, why not have a name that reflects its duties? Because over many legislative sessions, some dyed-in-the-wool old goats didn’t want to change the name because, well, they thought history and tradition were important than relevance.

It’s been a ridiculous resistance effort from the get-go.

I’ve lived in Texas nearly 30 years and the Railroad Commission has had nothing to do with trains almost during that entire time. The RRC once regulated trucking rates, but gave that up too in the 1980s to concentrate on energy regulation.

The Railroad Commission had a member, Kent Hance – the current chancellor of the Texas Tech University System – who wanted Texas to become an ex officio member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Texas does consider itself a “whole other country,” but that seemed a bit pretentious.

The Senate vote to rename the RRC passed with a 21-0 vote, which is a sizable mandate to do something that makes sense.

Besides the new name can morph into a nice acronym: TERC.

Let’s do it, legislators.