Other priorities include reducing public exposure to pollutants from older vehicles and equipment and preparing for increased and long-term use of zero-emission vehicles. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton 's office, which filed lawsuits against Volkswagen Group of America Inc. and parent company Audi of America in 2015, could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon. Adrian Shelley, director of the Texas office of left-leaning advocacy group Public Citizen, said in a statement that the state's plan to dedicate $31 million to the zero-emissions vehicle program is a step closer to clean transportation in Texas but said some of the "most cost-effective projects" were absent from the plan. "Volkswagen vehicles fitted with emissions-cheating devices spewed tons of illegal nitrogen oxide pollution into the air, which in turn forms ground-level ozone," Shelley said.