Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Chairman Jerry Madden

In a direct challenge to Gov. Rick Perry, a House committee approved legislation Monday demanding new, outside management to rehabilitate the scandal-wracked Texas Youth Commission.

Perry last month named Jay Kimbrough special master to oversee investigations into the scandal and chose veteran prison official Ed Owens as acting executive director. But key senators had voted for a conservator instead, and on Monday, the House Corrections Committee joined that chorus.

Committee Chairman Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, immediately said House Bill 2686 faces an uncertain future, even though the committee voted 5-1 in favor.

Madden, who voted no, said he was unsure whether the Calendars Committee would send the bill to the House floor, but if it does, he said it probably would pass.

"We'll see what happens," Madden said.

The development came as committee members pressed to subpoena top aides to Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott to learn specifics about what the aides knew about problems at the Youth Commission and when.

Two staff members — Alfonso Royal from Perry's office and Will Tatum from Abbott's office — did not show up to testify at Monday's hearing. Both had been contacted about problems in prosecuting cases in which two administrators and a guard at the West Texas State School were accused of being sexually involved with incarcerated teenagers.

Ted Royer, Perry's deputy press secretary, said he wouldn't speculate about what the Legislature might do but added, "Our goal is to work with members to solve the problems of TYC."

Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, questioned why Kimbrough, who formerly was a top official in Abbott's and Perry's offices, is heading the investigations as special master, and why Royal, a policy analyst who learned about the stalled sex-assault inquiry months ago, is Owens' contact in the governor's office.

"That doesn't lead the public to have confidence in the investigation," he said.

Kimbrough said he has no recollection of discussing any Youth Commission problems "with anybody" while he was in either office.

And he said that although his special master role might not be specified in statute, as some lawmakers have charged in demanding a conservatorship, his role directing the investigations while Owens oversees a reform plan for the agency is working well.

The committee also was supposed to hear Monday from Melody Vidaurri, the Youth Commission's security operations director. But Madden stopped her testimony, ruling that her answers in a public hearing could endanger ongoing criminal investigations. That sparked a tense exchange among members.

"There's been enough hushing up this stuff," Dunnam said, adding that although he did not want to jeopardize any investigation, "to say we can't know what is happening is unbelievable."

Several committee members pressed to subpoena witnesses, including Royal and Tatum. Madden declined.

Others asked for a rare executive session of the committee to question witnesses. Madden said he would consider that.

Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, said he drafted a resolution to allow the latter.

"We have to be able to find out what the specific problems were if we want to fix them, and to do that, we have to hear from the people who were involved," he said.

Madden said both Perry's and Abbott's offices have offered to make aides available to talk with committee members individually but not under oath. Dunnam and others balked at that.

"Any information, aside from information that would affect the criminal investigations, should be shared publicly," Dunnam said. "I don't know what's wrong with getting it out."

Rep. René Oliveira, D-Brownsville, suggested that committee members have the same responsibility as Congress to get to the bottom of alleged wrongdoing. He said, "If we do not do that, we are failing in our responsibility."