BG Reads | News You Need to Know (January 24, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
NEW -> Episode 71: Carrie Simmons, Texas Lobbying Group (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin will not pay to test for marijuana, effectively decriminalizing small amounts of pot (Austin Monitor)
As law enforcement agencies in Texas figure out how to test suspected marijuana following the legalization of hemp in the state, the Austin City Council responded Thursday with its fix: a measure that effectively decriminalizes small amounts of pot.
“It’s the right thing for criminal justice reform, from a common-sense perspective, and it’s the right thing for racial equity,” Council Member Greg Casar, who co-sponsored the measure, said after the vote.
In a 9-0 vote, Council members asked police officers to stop citing and arresting people for low-level marijuana cases when they believe the county won’t be able to prosecute. Council members also voted not to spend city money on testing except in high-priority felonies, such as violent or trafficking offenses, leaving courts to figure out other means of distinguishing marijuana from hemp.
It’s still up to the police department’s discretion, however. In a tweet Wednesday, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said, “The City Council does not have the authority to direct APD not to enforce a state law.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Just figuring out how to clean up creeks may be costly (Austin Monitor)
When Council Member Paige Ellis and three of her colleagues decided to do something about contamination of Austin’s creeks and rivers from trash as well as scooters, they focused on how the Watershed Protection Department should prepare an extensive study so that Council could understand the scope of the problem and the cost of addressing it.
The original resolution from Ellis, Council members Natasha Harper-Madison and Greg Casar, and Mayor Steve Adler would have directed City Manager Spencer Cronk to prepare the study and deliver it to Council no later than June 12.
But at Thursday’s Council meeting, Council Member Jimmy Flannigan asked, how much is the study going to cost?
Jorge Morales, director of Watershed Protection, told Council the task would take about a year and cost around $500,000. That amount would include funding for a new full-time employee in his department – funding the department currently does not have, he explained.
Flannigan said the work certainly needed to be done but he wasn’t comfortable supporting the resolution without getting answers to the funding questions. And, while the amended resolution passed unanimously, there was no promise that such an expensive study would be funded in the 2021 budget… (LINK TO STORY)
Council members divided over hire of outside attorney in property protest rights lawsuit (Community Impact)
The first court date in the lawsuit between City Council and a group of citizens fighting for the right to protest property rezonings that result from the city’s ongoing land development code rewrite is less than a month away, and City Council has hired an outside attorney to defend them in court.
Some City Council members, however, objected to the city spending up to $121,000 to hire Austin-based firm Scott Douglas & McConnico to argue that property owners have no formal protest rights during comprehensive revisions of the land development code.
City Council Members Leslie Pool, Kathie Tovo and Alison Alter voted against the city using taxpayer money to fight against what Pool said are taxpayer interests—the right to formally protest their property’s rezoning. Council Member Ann Kitchen abstained from the vote. Together, the council members were the four nays in the 7-4 vote to approve the first reading of land development code rewrite in December… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
For Hemp To Work, Farmers Want Rules That Fit Reality (KUT)
Although there’s no shortage of people in Texas planning to get into the hemp industry, many of them have serious concerns about how it will be regulated. There is no regulation right now because it’s been illegal to grow hemp in Texas for almost 100 years.
But last year, the Texas Legislature passed a bill allowing farmers to grow hemp – the non-psychoactive cousin of marijuana – for fiber and CBD. Ever since, the Texas Department of Agriculture has been formulating regulations for the revived crop.
Farmers had a chance to weigh in on those rules at a public hearing in Waco on Wednesday, and one of the main points of contention was how the plant’s THC levels will be tested. If a plant contains more than 0.3% THC, it’s considered marijuana and must be destroyed. But some people, like Hondo tomato farmer Kevin Calloway, said the figure is too low. He argued the rule will cause lots of growers to lose crops and money.
“Texas is hot, dry and windy,” he said. “All of those are stressors; hemp produces high THC levels when stressed.”… (LINK TO STORY)
See also:
BG Podcast Episode 62: Cree Crawford, Founder and President, Ionization Labs
BG Podcast Episode 63: The Future of Texas Hemp Farming with Robert Head, CEO, Blue Cord Farms
With GOP supermajority at risk in 2020, Dan Patrick says Texas Senate may lower threshold to bring bills to the floor (Texas Tribune)
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Thursday the Texas Senate may further lower the threshold required to bring bills to the floor if Republicans lose one or two seats in November.
Patrick made the comment at a conservative policy conference in Austin while discussing the current makeup of the upper chamber, which has 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats. Currently, 19 votes are required to put legislation on the floor for passage. But Republicans are facing the real possibility of losing at least one caucus member in 2020. Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton, is running for reelection in a historically Democratic district after winning his seat in a 2018 special election upset.
"I'm right there at that number, and if we lose one or two seats, then we might have to go to 16 next session," Patrick said. "We might have to go to a simple majority because we will not be stopped in leading on federalism in the United States of America.”… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Senate Republicans confident they'll win fight on witnesses (The Hill)
Senate Republican leaders feel confident they will have the votes to block the Democrats’ attempt to subpoena additional witnesses and documents in President Trump’s impeachment trial, which could allow the proceeding to wrap up by the end of next week.
While the House impeachment managers have one more day to lay out their case against the president, GOP leaders don’t think there are four Republican votes to subpoena additional evidence to extend the trial, according to multiple Senate GOP sources.
Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) at most can win three Republican votes to subpoena White House witnesses such as former National Security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and likely will not even get that… (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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