BG Reads | News You Need to Know (January 23, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
NEW -> Episode 71: Carrie Simmons, Texas Lobbying Group (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
As Project Connect vote looms, what Austin can learn from Nashville's transit defeat (Austin BUSINESS JOURNAL)
As Austin gears up for a mass transit vote, officials would love to emulate the success of other cities — like Seattle approving a massive plan in 2016.
Ahead of a potential vote this November, they also want to learn from cities that fell short, such as one of Austin's kindred cities — Nashville.
Austin transit advocates watched in horror in May 2018 as Nashville-area voters soundly rejected a $5.4 billion light rail and bus rapid transit plan. The transit defeat in Middle Tennessee caused concerns in Central Texas in light of previous Austin transit plans failing in 2000 and 2014, as well as how similar the two Southern state capitals are with their growing reputations, booming economies and musical backgrounds.
But a newly released report offers fresh insights into why Nashville's referendum flopped at the ballot box and what lessons other cities can learn from it. The report — assembled by New York-based advocacy group TransitCenter — is the most robust look yet at Nashville's failed campaign, which voters shot down by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.
The report found that the mayor's administration and campaign team made three key mistakes at the time, including: drafting the plan in too insular a group; staking the campaign on African American support, only to alienate those voters; and failing to conduct "robust public engagement" in order to move quickly and avoid leaks… (LINK TO STORY)
Study finds Austin is most expensive city in the nation for minimum wage workerS (CBS Austin)
Four Austin City Council members on Tuesday said ending arrests and citations for low-level marijuana offenses is the right thing to do from a cultural, criminal and fiscal perspective.
The council on Thursday will consider a resolution that would effectively end criminal action against individuals with small amounts of marijuana, while preventing the city from expending additional resources to developing new testing capabilities required to distinguish narcotic marijuana from legal hemp.
The resolution would not apply to felony-level trafficking offenses.
State lawmakers during the last legislative session legalized the production of hemp, which can contain up to 0.3% THC, the intoxicating agent in marijuana. But since only a small number of labs are capable of testing marijuana for THC content, a slew of city and county attorneys offices, including Travis and Williamson counties, washed their hands of prosecuting such cases, saying such testing was too hefty of a financial burden… (LINK TO STORY)
Ellis attempts to get scooters and other contaminants out of city waterways (Austin Monitor)
When Council Member Paige Ellis was crafting the concept for a clean creeks initiative, she and her staff saw an opportunity to address one of the city’s more visible sources of creek and river pollution.
When electric scooters end up in creeks, whether intentionally or unintentionally, it presents a problem not only for the health of the city’s creek system, but also for those who rely on those dockless mobility devices to get around town, Ellis told the Austin Monitor.
City Council will consider a resolution from Ellis today that would direct the city manager to prepare a study with recommendations to improve the overall health and safety of city creeks, rivers and springs, giving specific attention to how the city can keep battery-operated mobility devices out of its waterways.
Micromobility providers are naturally invested in making sure their dockless units are on the streets for business. By city ordinance, the companies are required to retrieve a dockless vehicle from a body of water within an hour of it first being reported.
If, however, a scooter or bike sinks below the surface of the water and out of sight, those companies are off the hook, since they lack the special equipment and resources to search for and retrieve the vehicle. “Even when you think the creek looks clean, you’d be surprised how much junk is in it,” Ellis noted… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
CBD products are everywhere in Texas since the state legalized hemp. Experts warn: buyer beware. (Texas Tribune)
In 2017, business was slow for Sarah Kerver. She was a sales rep for a Colorado-based company trying to push hemp and CBD products in Texas. But customers were apprehensive.
“No one wanted to touch [CBD]. No one wanted to talk about it. No one was interested in carrying this product in any sort of spa or retail space,” Kerver said.
Today, the market for CBD, or cannabidiol, is exploding. Stores are popping up across the state selling tinctures and topicals. It’s being mixed into smoothies and coffee at cafes. Spas are advertising CBD massages and therapies. And much of the sudden spike in popularity is thanks to a Texas law last year that legalized hemp, the plant from which CBD is derived.
“You go anywhere now, and you find something that says ‘CBD’ on it,” said Kerver, who’s now in talks with Austin distributors interested in carrying her CBD product line, called 1937 Apothecary… (LINK TO STORY)
Texas A&M chancellor fires back at Harvard over criticism of controversial beef study (Texas Tribune)
Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp called out Harvard on Wednesday after some Harvard faculty alleged that Texas A&M food scientists are beholden to the beef industry.
Sharp fired back with an open letter urging Harvard University President Lawrence S. Bacow to investigate faculty who he says “mischaracterized scientific research and falsely accused Texas A&M scientists of selling out to industry interests.”
The accusations against scientists at A&M — the leading agriculture school in the nation's largest beef-producing state — coincide with an emerging scientific dispute over the health benefits of curtailing meat consumption. And A&M is pushing back hard in defense of its researchers… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Bezos tweets tribute to Khashoggi in wake of reports of Saudi phone hacking (The Hill)
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos posted a tribute to slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi on Wednesday in his first public message after reports linking a hack of his phone to Saudi efforts to affect coverage of the murder.
"#Jamal," Bezos tweeted, along with a photo of the Amazon executive and Washington Post owner with Khashoggi's fiancée at a memorial outside of the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, where Khashoggi was murdered.
The Guardian first reported on Tuesday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gained access to Bezos’s phone via a WhatsApp message.
Two United Nations human rights experts on Wednesday linked that hacking to an effort to influence the Post's coverage of Khashoggi's murder… (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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