KOLKHORST: FUNDING IN BUDGET FOR NEW BRENHAM DPS OFFICE

  

State Senator Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) has announced that appropriations have been secured in the state’s budget to build a new driver’s license office in Brenham. 

A release from Kolkhorst’s office states that in the Department of Public Safety’s bill pattern, a rider in Senate Bill 1 includes “$8,750,000 in fiscal year 2026 from the General Revenue Fund, for the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to purchase or construct, furnish, and equip a driver license office located in Brenham, TX.  Any unexpended balances as of August 31, 2026, are appropriated for the same purposes for the biennium beginning September 1, 2026.”

DPS has been operating a temporary driver’s license office at the Blinn College Student Center since last summer, following an attack on the main office on April 12, 2024 when a stolen 18-wheeler rammed into the facility.  Two individuals, Bobby Huff of Giddings and Cheryl Turner of Brenham, both succumbed to fatal injuries from the attack, while several others were injured.  Kolkhorst said, “This new office is meant to be built to honor the two lives that were lost in that senseless act of violence and for those who suffered injuries.”

Kolkhorst said she has been quietly working on securing this funding since the tragedy, and that while she originally submitted the rider for the budget back in March, she wanted to wait until the funding request was confirmed before announcing it.  She said she is grateful to her Senate colleagues and to Representative Trey Wharton for ensuring the money set aside in the Senate would carry forward in the House of Representatives. 

Kolkhorst has been in contact with DPS officials, who are already in the planning stages for a new facility.  DPS will work with the Texas Facilities Commission to determine the location and design of a larger building that will function both as a driver’s license office and highway patrol offices.

DPS will continue providing services at Blinn College until the new facility opens.  Kolkhorst said she and the community are “very grateful” to Blinn for allowing DPS to operate a temporary driver’s license office on their campus.