Sid Miller

The bill would have repealed a 1949 state law that prohibits the sale or transport in Texas of horsemeat intended for human consumption.

Sidney Carroll Miller (born September 6, 1955) is an American politician from Stephenville, Texas.

He received an Associate of Arts degree from Cisco Junior College and in 1978, received a Bachelor of Science in Vocational Agriculture Education from Tarleton State University.

He operates a successful agricultural business known as Miller Nursery where he grows trees, shrubs and decorative plants near Stephenville, Texas.

In 2003 and 2007, Miller introduced bills to legalize the export of horse meat from Texas for human consumption abroad.

Neither measure was enacted; the legislation passed the House in 2003, but died in a Senate committee, while the 2007 measure never made it out of a House committee.

Six months after taking office, Miller reversed a ban, instituted in 2004 by then-Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, on soft drinks and fried foods in public schools.

Miller said that local school districts should have the freedom to make decisions regarding food choices for their schools.

In 2011, Miller authored legislation (dubbed the "Pork Chopper Bill") that allowed licensed hunters to contract with landowners to shoot feral hogs and coyotes on their property via helicopter.

From 2001 to 2013, Miller served in the Texas House of Representatives for District 59 in central Texas, being unseated in the Republican runoff election held on July 31, 2012, by physician J. D. Sheffield.

He has been criticized for his promotion of right-wing conspiracy theories and falsehoods.

Miller was born in De Leon, Texas.

He graduated from De Leon High School.

The conservative Miller was unseated in the Republican runoff election held on July 31, 2012, by osteopathic physician J. D. Sheffield of Gatesville in Coryell County.

In 2013, two complaints filed against Miller with the Texas Ethics Commission alleged campaign finance irregularities and failure to disclose loan repayments from his campaign.

Beginning in 2013, the Texas Ethics Commission has investigated four ethics complaints against Miller filed by attorney Mark McCaig.

He is the Texas Agriculture Commissioner, serving since January 2015.

He is a Republican.

Miller took office on January 2, 2015.

In his first official action as commissioner, Miller granted full amnesty to cupcakes at a press conference on January 12, 2015, in which he drew attention to a previous repeal of a ban on junk food in Texas schools.

In Miller's first nine months in office, he awarded $413,700 in bonuses to 144 staffers.

In 2015, the Texas Department of Agriculture under Miller launched "Operation Maverick", an effort to enforce consumer protection laws requiring Texas businesses to register scales used to buy or sell by weight with the agency.

In the program's first fifteen months, some 1,000 retailers were "notified they need to register their scales, which, depending on the industry and type of scale, can cost anywhere from $12 to $400."

In February 2015, Miller took a trip to compete in the Dixie National Rodeo in Jackson, Mississippi using Texas state funds.

Miller's office initially defended the use of state funds, explaining that the commissioner intended to meet with Mississippi agriculture officials.

When the meeting fell through, Miller reimbursed the state using campaign funds and $16.79 from his nursery's business account.

"Frustrated with the commission's lag time in resolving the issues," McCaig withdrew the complaints in a 2016 letter.

Nevertheless, the Commission continued investigating, and dismissed one complaint in December 2016.

In 2016, the Austin American-Statesman reported that Miller awarded two newly created $180,000/year positions to political allies, both of whom Miller owed a combined $116,000 in campaign payments.

In June 2017, the Commission resolved two of the complaints, sanctioning Miller for improper accounting in reporting political contributions and expenditures and fined him $2,750.

Miller's spokesman characterized the investigation as "nothing more than a politically motivated witch hunt" over "very minor technical issues."

On November 13, 2017, Miller announced he would seek re-election in 2018.

In 2017, following the initiative, the Texas Legislature passed a bill (approved by the House in a 146–1 vote and by the Senate in a 31–0 vote) to end the regulation of scales used by certain restaurants.

Miller opposed this bill, calling it "horse hockey" and urging Governor Greg Abbott to veto it.

He won the March 6, 2018, Republican primary with about 56% of the vote, defeating two challengers.

Miller won the general election, defeating Kim Olson.

Miller considered challenging Governor Greg Abbott in the Republican primary in 2022, but in June 2021 he announced he would seek re-election to a third term as Ag Commissioner.

He was challenged in the Republican primary by State Representative James White of Hillister, who announced his campaign the same month.

He won the March 2022 Republican primary with Trump's endorsement, obtaining 58.5% of the vote to White's 31.1% (a third candidate, rancher and economics professor Carey Counsil, received 10.4% of the votes.

In December 2018, the Texas Ethics Commission fined Miller $500 for the trip; a report released by the commission stated "No meetings besides the horse show appear on any official Texas Agriculture Department schedules," and that Miller "has not adequately explained why he initially reimbursed the state with political funds before reimbursing his political account with personal funds."