BG Reads | News You Need to Know (December 9, 2019)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
NEW -> Episode 64: United States-Mexico policy and investment talk with Sergio Chavez, Intermestic Partners (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Hundreds express ire with Austin’s planned rewrite of land use rules (Austin American-Statesman)
A sizable number of residents registered their ire Saturday with the city of Austin’s ongoing effort to overhaul the decades-old land development code during a marathon public hearing.
The hearing was the only one before the Austin City Council on Monday considers preliminary approval of the code rewrite, which will dictate what can be built and where throughout the city of Austin.
In total, 703 people indicated their thoughts on the proposed rewrite with 483 — or about 69% — signing up as against the rewrite as it stands.
The land development code rewrite broadly aims to address a housing shortage by encouraging the construction of 135,000 new housing units in the next decade. The hope is that the city can do that while preserving neighborhoods and encouraging density near the city’s more well-traveled streets in so-called transition zones… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin Could Buy Montopolis-Area Hotel For $7.8 Million To House Homeless People (KUT)
The Austin City Council will vote Monday on whether to spend $7.8 million to buy and renovate a hotel off Riverside Drive in East Austin to house homelessness Austinites. The property could house at least 71 people.
The city says it's prepared to spend as much as $6.8 million on the 1.3-acre property at 7705 Metro Center Dr. and another $1 million on possible renovations to the Wyndham Microtel Inn, according to city documents.
The purchase is part of a larger strategy to more quickly house homeless Austinites by buying and converting hotels into what's called bridge housing – temporary housing without preconditions such as drug or mental health treatment. The Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, which will manage the property, will have on-site health and counseling services, as well as opportunities to connect people with housing resources. Council voted last month to do the same thing at a property near I-35 and Oltorf Drive… (LINK TO STORY)
Parks board expresses concern over metered parking in public parks (Austin Monitor)
After postponing their decision in October about parking meters on city parkland, the Parks and Recreation Board broached the subject again at its Dec. 3 meeting. Following a long discussion about the equity and access issues that accompany metered parking, the board voted to form a working group to investigate a solution to the parking problem.
“I think that the problem here is there are not enough good ways for people to get to these parks (and) there are not enough spaces for people to drive,” said Board Member Nina Rinaldi. “I don’t think addressing this through parking fees alone is the be-all, end-all.”
In an effort to encourage parking turnover, the city has installed metered parking at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, Zilker Park, Walsh Boat Landing, Butler Softball Fields and the park access across from the Central Library. The Parks and Recreation Department is planning to install meters in the Deep Eddy parking lot in spring 2020… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas is one of the most gun friendly states. These county officials want to keep it that way. (Dallas Morning News)
For nearly a dozen years, the routine has been the same for Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds. A constituent or two would approach him convinced that the federal government was coming for their guns and that he would help them. Deeds would do his best, one at a time, to reassure his neighbors that wasn’t the case. Then Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman and onetime presidential candidate, promised that if he were elected to the nation’s highest office, he really would confiscate military-style assault weapons.
Folks in Hood County, which sits about 90 minutes southwest of Dallas, freaked out. So, Deeds began researching his options and learned that cities and counties across the country were declaring themselves sanctuaries for gun owners and fierce defenders of the Second Amendment. Since the fall, nearly 20 Texas counties have adopted similar resolutions, according to the conservative news website The Texan. The latest -- and so far, the most populous -- is Collin County, which adopted its resolution Nov. 25. The counties -- including Hood, Ellis, and Palo Pinto -- represent a tiny fraction of local governments in Texas… (LINK TO STORY)
After Controversy, Texas Medical Board Is No Longer Writing Rules For Surprise Bill Law (KUT)
The Texas Medical Board will no longer be writing the rules for a new law outlawing surprise medical bills for some Texans. The law goes into effect Jan. 1.
During a meeting Friday morning, the board decided to relinquish its rulemaking authority after consumer advocates accused it of undermining the law.
Earlier this year, Republican and Democratic lawmakers came together to pass legislation that would shield people with state-regulated health insurance plans from getting expensive bills for out-of-network care – particularly in cases where patients cannot choose their provider… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Senate braces for brawl on Trump impeachment rules (The Hill)
Senators are bracing for a partisan brawl over the rules of President Trump's looming impeachment trial.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) will try to negotiate a deal on ground rules, similar to the arrangement made before the 1999 trial of then-President Clinton.
Talks haven’t started yet, as lawmakers wait for the House to write and vote on any articles of impeachment. But senators, pointing to the increasingly partisan atmosphere in the chamber, are skeptical the two leaders will reach an accord… (LINK TO STORY)
Ted Cruz calls impeachment ‘kangaroo court,’ pushes debunked theory that Ukraine interfered in 2016 election (Dallas Morning News)
Sen. Ted Cruz came out swinging on impeachment on Sunday, accusing Democrats of mounting a “show trial” meant to railroad President Donald Trump while averting their eyes from actual corruption regarding Democrat Joe Biden. “This is a kangaroo court in the House,” Cruz said. “The American people know this is a waste of time and this is Democrats putting on a circus.”
He insisted that Trump was justified in pressing Ukraine for dirt on Biden because Ukraine “interfered” in the 2016 election. That’s a theory that U.S. intelligence agencies have not endorsed. Trump critics consider the theory baseless, and a theme of Kremlin propaganda aimed at deflecting attention from Russia’s own election meddling while simultaneously driving a wedge between Kyiv and Washington. Cruz also likened Russia’s hacking in the 2016 election, which Vladimir Putin denies, to a public condemnation by Ukraine’s government when then-candidate Trump floated the idea of conferring U.S. recognition on Russia’s control of Crimea, the Ukrainian territory it had invaded and occupied for two years… (LINK TO STORY)
The Bingham Group, LLC is an Austin-based full service lobbying firm representing and advising clients on municipal, legislative, and regulatory matters throughout Texas.
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