“If Gov. Perry really cared about investing in Texas and creating high-wage jobs here, he'd fight to restore public education funding,” said Sen. Wendy Davis, a member of the Senate Committee on Economic Development. “Instead, our governor is taking a junket to California — really, I think, for political drama rather than for any economic impact.”

Perry's pet funds — meant to spur job growth and boost the economy — are drawing a hard look from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, who called Thursday for a state audit or regular review of the taxpayer-funded entities.

Davis, D-Fort Worth, and Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, stepped up calls for greater oversight of the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Emerging Technology Fund after a Perry aide who oversees the entities struggled to provide hard evidence that the funds were generating jobs as intended and providing an ample return on the state's multimillion-dollar investment.

Davis said she plans to ask the state auditor to investigate the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Emerging Technology Fund, both of which are operated out of the governor's office. She also is calling for the two programs to undergo sunset review, which is a thorough probing by lawmakers that other state agencies must undergo regularly.