The Texas Legislature's House Committee to Investigate the Administration of Relief in Tarrant County, Texas was created by House Simple Resolution No. 6, offered by Representative Farmer on September 19, 1935 during the 1st Called Session of the 44th Legislature. Farmer's resolution noted that a substantial amount of money had been given to Tarrant County (containing Fort Worth) for the purpose of providing relief to needy citizens. The citizens, however, had made numerous complaints regarding the administration of the funds, claiming that the administration was discriminatory, appeals were not allowed, laws were frequently violated, public funds were misused, people were denied access to public records, and caseworkers showed favoritism and occasionally requested “immoral” favors. Farmer requested a committee of three to thoroughly investigate the issues raised by the citizens of Tarrant County and report back to the House in two weeks. The resolution passed and Representatives Farmer (Chair), Smith, and Greathouse were appointed to the committee. The members promptly went to Tarrant County and conducted hearings from September 21 through 23.

On September 27, Representative Petsch offered a simple resolution complaining that the manner in which one of the committee members was conducting the investigation had been conducive to inciting misinformed Tarrant County citizens to discontent and riot. Petsch requested that no further hearings be held, except in Austin, and that no further witnesses be called, save for officials and employees of the Texas Board of Control and other relief agencies. The resolution did not pass, but later in the day Representative Lanning offered House Simple Resolution 25 adding two additional members to the committee and allowing it to choose its own chair. Lanning's resolution was adopted and Butler of Brazos County and Davison of Fisher County were appointed. The new committee members also went to Tarrant County and the entire committee held hearings on September 28 and 29. The committee also held meetings in Austin and talked to the Texas State Board of Control and others administering relief in Texas.

The majority and minority committee reports were delivered to the House on October 8, 1935, during the 1st Called Session of the 44th Legislature. The majority report substantiated most of the citizen complaints, found that a few were suspicious but unproven, and found no sufficient evidence for one charge. The report made a few recommendations, but fundamentally placed the blame on the system as a whole and the necessary speed with which it had had to be established. The minority report was written by Representative Farmer, who believed that the individual caseworkers were responsible for the majority of the problems and noted that the system had no standards, no grievance board, and no coordination or cooperation. He also noted cases of nepotism, various prejudices and biases, and a he said/she said incident. No direct legislation appears to have resulted from either committee report, though the findings may have been incorporated into plans for the old age assistance program worked on during the following legislative sessions.