Sidney Carroll Miller (born September 6, 1955) is an American politician from Stephenville, Texas. He is the Texas Agriculture Commissioner, serving since January 2015. He is a Republican.
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 ran for re-election in 2026, but was beaten in the Republican primary by Nate Sheets.
Early life and education Miller was born in De Leon, Texas. He graduated from De Leon High School. 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 an agricultural business known as Miller Nursery, where he grows trees, shrubs and decorative plants near Stephenville, Texas.
Texas House of Representatives In 2003 and 2007, Miller introduced bills to legalize the export of horse meat from Texas for human consumption abroad. The bill would have repealed a 1949 state law that prohibits the sale or transport in Texas of horsemeat intended for human consumption. 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.
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.
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.
Ethics Commission cases Beginning in 2013, the Texas Ethics Commission has investigated four ethics complaints against Miller filed by attorney Mark McCaig.
"Frustrated with the commission's lag time in resolving the issues," McCaig withdrew the complaintsJim Malewitz, Regulators fine Texas ag chief Sid Miller for sloppy accounting, Texas Tribune (June 17, 2017). in a 2016 letter. Nevertheless, the Commission continued investigating, and dismissed one complaint in December 2016.David Saleh Rauf, Ethics commission dismisses complaint over Sid Miller campaign loan, San Antonio Express-News (December 22, 2016). 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."
Texas Agriculture Commissioner
2014 election
2018 election
On November 13, 2017, Miller announced he would seek re-election in 2018. 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.
2022 election
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.Erin Douglas, Sid Miller wins Republican primary for Texas agriculture commissioner, Texas Tribune (March 2, 2022).
2026 election
On March 3, 2026, Miller would lose renomination in the 2026 Republican primary by a margin of 52% to 47% to Nate Sheets, who was backed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. This would mark the first time in years that a statewide Republican official in Texas had lost their primary race. The loss also came in spite of the fact that Miller had received a late endorsement from Republican U.S. President Donald Trump.
Tenure 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 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.
Operation Maverick 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 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.Sid Miller, When it comes to barbecue, trust but verify, Texas Tribune (May 23, 2017).
Mississippi trip 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. 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."
School nutrition 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. Eight of the state's ten largest school districts, including Dallas, Fort Worth, Fort Bend County, Austin, and Laredo, said that they would retain their local policies of providing nutritious foods and not serving soft drinks.Judith Rayo, "Banned foods won't be coming back," Laredo Morning Times, July 22, 2015, pp. 1, 7ALiz Crampton, Big Schools Don't Fry: Not All Districts Warm to Miller's Initiative, Texas Tribune (July 1, 2015). The move was criticized by nutritionists and experts in public health; a spokeswoman for Miller's department said that the policy change was intended "to be a symbolic move giving more control to schools, not a directive for districts to reinstall fryers or soda machines."
Farm Fresh Initiative Shortly after taking office, Miller created the Farm Fresh Initiative (including Farm Fresh Fridays), a farm-to-table program for Texas schools. The initiative has led many school nutrition programs to expand the program beyond one day of the week.
Agriculture department fee increases In October 2015, Miller directed the TDA to increase 117 agriculture-related fees effective January 1, 2017. In announcing the fee increases, Miller said the changes were necessary to recover regulatory costs. The fee increases were criticized by the San Antonio Express-News, which urged Miller to drop the fee increase and legislators to determine whether the department is underfunded."Fee hikes another bad Sid Miller idea", San Antonio Express-News, November 14, 2015, p. A14 Early in 2017, Miller called for raising his agency fees by another $5 million after $11 million in increases in 2016 for higher costs of licensing, registration, and inspection. Miller called the proposed increase "essential money" to keep his department operating and blamed legislative cuts for the need for the higher fees. The fee increase proposals were criticized by some, such as Republican State Representatives Ron Simmons and Larry Gonzales.
In the first nine months of 2015, Miller awarded $413,700 in one-time cash bonuses to 144 Agriculture Department employees, more than any statewide elected official. The bonus awards were criticized by government watchdog groups because of Miller's proposal to raise $20 million in fees for licenses, registrations and other services, and because Miller had dubbed himself a "fiscal hawk".
In an editorial, the San Antonio Express-News questioned why Miller as a state House member voted against increased appropriations for the agriculture department but as commissioner sought additional revenue for the department. When a $50 million budget request submitted by Miller was rejected by lawmakers in 2015, the commissioner proposed higher fees for department certifications, inspections, and registrations, a proposal rejected by a bipartisan group of state legislators as well as the American Farm Bureau Federation and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Representative John Otto of Dayton, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said that fee hikes could result in lost revenue to the department because farmers and ranchers may choose alternative services. In an editorial, The Express-News urged Miller to drop the fee increase and legislators to determine whether the department is underfunded.
War on credit card skimmers Throughout 2016 and 2017, Miller carried out a "war on credit card skimmers". The inspection initiative was designed to fight the illegal practice of capturing (or skimming) credit card information from gas pumps. Miller appeared in a video with tips to avoid being skimmed; the initiative received national attention.
Oklahoma trip In February 2015, Miller sought state reimbursement for expenses incurred on a trip to Oklahoma, saying that he had an appointment with Oklahoma legislators, a scheduled tour of the Oklahoma National Stockyards, and a meeting with Oklahoma's chief agriculture official. Miller stated that the travel was for a public business purpose based on a brief chat with state legislators at the Oklahoma State Capitol, but the legislators said that they did not invite Miller or expect him on the day in question, the president of the stockyards said that Miller did not go on tour, and Miller later acknowledged "that he requested the meeting with the Oklahoma agriculture official - and then did not show up."
The Houston Chronicle subsequently reported that during the trip, Miller visited a doctor in Oklahoma City to receive a "Jesus shot"—an injection administered consisting of Dexamethasone, Kenalog, and Vitamin B12 that is "administered only by a single Oklahoma City-area doctor who claims that it takes away all pain for life." Miller subsequently said that he had received the medication in the past to treat chronic pain, but declined "to confirm or deny whether he received the injection during the February 2015 trip." Miller later reimbursed the state $1,500. After an investigation, the Texas Department of Public Safety declined to pursue any charges against Miller.
Feral hogs