AUSTIN — State Representative Brooks Landgraf (R-Odessa) helped save the Department of Public Safety (DPS) driver license offices in West Texas from the chopping block.

The official decision came Wednesday morning, as the Sunset Commission declined to recommend closure of a large number of DPS driver license offices in rural communities across the state, including Andrews, Kermit, Monahans among others in West Texas. This decision means that the offices are no longer in danger of closing.

“To close DPS driver license offices in the Permian Basin while we are experiencing unprecedented population growth and skyrocketing demand for commercial drivers in the midst of this oil boom would have only intensified the challenges we already face,” Landgraf stated.

State Representative Landgraf immediately took action to prevent the proposed closures. Last week, Landgraf drove to Austin to meet with top DPS leaders and also wrote a letter to the Sunset Commission urging against the proposed DPS license office closures in the Permian Basin.

“I want to thank my fellow West Texans who helped me plead the case to DPS and the Sunset Commission that we need driver license offices now more than ever in the Permian Basin,” Landgraf said. “I’m proud our hard work paid off, and I look forward to working with DPS during the next legislative session to make sure these needed services are better provided across West Texas.”