BG Reads | News You Need to Know (January 17, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
NEW -> Episode 70 - Jim O'Brien, Host of The Lobbying Podcast (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
How Austin's failed rail elections are shaping strategy in 2020 (CBS Austin)
In November, Austin voters will be asked to make a historic investment in transit. The proposition will likely include a multi-billion dollar expansion of bus and rail lines. For two decades Austin voters have been hesitant to approve rail at the polls but this time many leaders are hopeful for a different outcome.
Tuesday Capital Metro and the City of Austin revealed what's being called a "once in a generation" decision about transit in Austin called Project Connect. Options include expanding bus and rail lines -- even tunneling some of that rail underground in downtown.
"I think the community wants to know-- what do we need to do to fundamentally change transportation in this city?" says Austin Mayor Steve Adler.
It's a conversation that's been going on for more than two decades. Austin's first major rail election happened 20 years ago this November. Back then Texas State Senator Kirk Watson was Austin's mayor. The proposal to get rail started lost by a thin margin… (LINK TO STORY)
City studies higher fines and fees for parking (Austin Monitor)
Around 30 percent of Austin’s downtown traffic congestion can be attributed to drivers circling in search of a parking space. In order to solve that problem, Austin Transportation Department’s Parking Enterprise division has launched an effort to address the specific policies that are leading to worsening traffic and driving up carbon emissions in the process.
Parking Enterprise Manager Jason Redfern said the division is now at the conclusion of the first phase and moving into the second phase of updating those policies.
According to the Downtown Austin Parking Strategy, a 2017 study prepared by transportation consulting firm Nelson\Nygaard, cheap on-street parking is the chief culprit. The study found that cheap hourly rates encourage less parking turnover, with some people using prime on-street spaces all day long, and make people less willing to pay the higher rates of off-street parking.
In effect, the report claims that cheap rates entice people to circle around town in search of a parking spot at a good bargain while making it less likely they will find one.
Redfern told the Downtown Commission on Wednesday that “the premium up-front parking spaces that are easy access” have sat at around $1.20 an hour for three decades in contrast to the average hourly rate of a downtown off-street space of $3.65. With only 9 percent of downtown’s total parking capacity located on-street, Redfern said the department is looking to narrow the gap in average cost so that people don’t have such a strong incentive to park on-street… (LINK TO STORY)
Council may pump $100K into Permian pipeline legal battle (Austin American-Statesman)
Austin City Council members will vote on a resolution Thursday earmarking as much as $100,000 to the city manager to participate in civil litigation against the Permian Highway Pipeline.
The 42-inch, 430-mile buried natural gas pipeline would run from just north of Fort Stockton in West Texas through the Texas Hill Country en route to the Houston area. It has drawn the ire of landowners and local governments along its route who have raised concerns about both property rights and environmental consequences. Council members approved a resolution in June opposing the pipeline and directing city staffers to conduct a study of the potential impacts to Austin’s water quality related to the pipeline, including threats to the endangered Austin blind salamander and Barton Springs salamander. In August, Austin Watershed Protection completed a report that found applicable regulations were not strong enough to guarantee that the environment, including Barton Springs, would not be harmed by the pipeline’s operation or construction… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
National groups getting involved to help Democrats win Texas House in November (Dallas Morning News)
As Texas Democrats look to win a majority in the Texas House for the first time since 2001, national groups are aiming at competitive statehouse races where they believe their funding and organizing can get the minority party over the hump.
On Thursday, Swing Left, a national group aimed at helping Democrats win in swing districts, and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, a group formed to elect Democrats to statehouses across the country, will announce their top targets for the year. Several seats in Texas are on their list. “We think that Texas is flippable this year,” said Catherine Vaughan, chief strategy officer for Swing Left. The group will announce an initial slate of 12 Texas legislative districts it will target in 2020. That includes Texas Senate District 12 in North Texas, represented by incumbent Republican Jane Nelson, as well as 11 other seats in the Texas House. Two of those seats, House District 65 in Denton County represented by Michelle Beckley and House District 132 in Katy represented by Gina Calanni, are held by Democrats. The group plans to play defense there… (LINK TO STORY)
New campaign finance reports help crystalize fight for state House majority (Texas Tribune)
The fight for the Texas House came into focus Thursday with the release of the first major wave of campaign finance reports since the battlefield was set.
Across targeted districts, most incumbents in both parties are at least holding their own in the money race and staying ahead of potential general election challengers, some of whom have their own primaries to get through first. The latest filings, which covered the past six months in most cases, also illuminated the growing constellation of groups devoted to the House fight, which Republicans are regrouping for after the downfall of Speaker Dennis Bonnen a few months ago.
Democrats are effectively nine seats away from the majority, a major prize ahead of the 2021 redistricting process. They see as many as 22 pickup opportunities, eying seats where Republican incumbents won by less than 10 percentage points last time and where Beto O'Rourke won or came within 10 points as well… (LINK TO STORY)
Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn back new North American trade deal to replace NAFTA (Texas Tribune)
U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, both Texas Republicans, joined with most of their colleagues from both sides of the aisle to pass the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a new North American trade deal.
The new USCMA deal, negotiated by President Donald Trump, will replace the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. Among other changes, the new trade deal will strengthen enforcement of labor and environmental laws and increase the threshold for how much of a car must be manufactured in a country to avoid tariffs.
"This deal is a win for Texas farmers, ranchers, businesses, and manufacturers, and will ensure greater economic opportunity for every American," Cruz said in a statement after the vote… (LINK TO STORY)
Biden says he would consider Castro, O'Rourke for VP, Cabinet positions (The Hill)
Former Vice President Joe Biden says either of his former 2020 competitors from Texas — Beto O’Rourke and Julián Castro — could be his running mate in 2020. “I'd consider either or both of them,” Biden said in an interview with the Dallas Morning News and KXAS-TV. “I’ve spoken to each of them, and spent some time talking to them.”
Biden was apparently unfazed by the fact that Castro — a former Obama cabinet member who aggressively went after Biden during the earlier primary debates — is now campaigning for Elizabeth Warren, another of Biden’s competitors. “I guarantee you there’s going to be Latinos in my cabinet and I guarantee there will be Latinos in my White House,” said Biden, who also said he would consider both Castro and O’Rourke for cabinet post… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Trump impeachment trial begins as senators are sworn in (Wall Street Journal)
The impeachment trial of President Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress opened in the U.S. Senate on Thursday with a ceremonial reading of the House-passed articles, followed by the swearing-in of the senators, who pledged to be impartial in the case. The steps marked the official start of the trial, only the third such proceeding against a president in U.S. history. At least two-thirds of the senators would have to vote to convict Mr. Trump to remove him from office. Mr. Trump has denied wrongdoing.
By noon on Thursday, every senator was seated at his or her desk, a rare sight during the ordinary legislative business, when it is common to see senators delivering speeches to an empty chamber. Senators typically don’t sit in their assigned seats even during roll call votes, preferring to stroll around and chitchat. As they waited for the formal “exhibition” of articles, some senators scrolled on their cellphones or talked quietly to each other. At 12:05 p.m., House managers, who will act as prosecutors during the trial, arrived at the ornate doors of the Senate. They walked in two-by-two, led by Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.). Freshman Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D., Texas) trailed as the seventh. A Democratic aide said the order was chosen according to seniority… (LINK TO STORY)
White House violated the law by freezing Ukraine aid, GAO says (Politico)
The White House budget office violated the law when it froze U.S. military aid to Ukraine, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a new report. President Donald Trump ordered the hold on the critical security assistance in July, a slew of senior White House officials testified to House impeachment investigators late last year. It was a move that coincided with an effort by the president and his allies to pressure Ukraine to investigate Trump’s Democratic rivals.
“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” the GAO wrote in an eight-page report released on Thursday. Trump’s decision to withhold nearly $400 million in military aid, which he reversed in September after House investigators began probing the move, is at the heart of the articles of impeachment the House passed last month, and it will be a central focus in the Senate’s impeachment trial that begins later Thursday. The report undercuts an oft-stated defense of Trump’s decision to hold the aid back: that it was a lawful exercise of the president’s authority. “I have never seen such a damning report in my life,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “I mean, this is a nonpartisan thing. I read it twice. ... To have something saying this is such a total disrespect of the law. It’s unprecedented.”… (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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