BG Reads | News You Need to Know (April 1, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
*NEW* BG PODCAST EPISODE 81: Ilissa Nolan, Executive Director, Texas Hemp Coalition (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Coronavirus-related layoffs surge in Austin (Austin American-Statesman)
The coronavirus outbreak’s immediate impact on Austin’s job market is starting to become clear.
Documents released Tuesday by the Texas Workforce Commission show that more than 900 metro-area employees have been laid off this month — some temporarily, others permanently — due to the downturn caused by the virus.
The layoffs — involving 910 total employees at six companies with area operations — are detailed in WARN letters sent to the Texas Workforce Commission. A WARN letter — which stands for Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act — is a federally mandated notice employers must provide to state governments in the event of major layoffs.
The layoffs are far from the total number of job losses in the Austin metro area this month. Not all layoffs reach the threshold required to trigger a WARN letter, and some companies that have laid off workers might not yet have submitted letters.
The list of WARN letters released by the commission Tuesday includes layoff notices from 34 companies with operations in Texas. Those companies are laying off or furloughing a combined 4,439 Texas workers, according to commission data… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin City Council mulling financial aid package for city’s most vulnerable residents (Community Impact)
For Austinites most at risk due to the widespread economic fallout from the coronavirus, City Council members are working on a relief package that would provide direct financial assistance to help residents with rent, food, medication and shelter.
City Council is expected to vote on a new program and budget amendment at its April 9 meeting that would send city budget funds to a range of local organizations that provide direct assistance to vulnerable Austinites. Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza, who is leading the effort, said the program would focus on rent, food, medication and shelter assistance to residents who may be left behind by the federal government’s stimulus package.
“There are a lot of families left out of that package,” Garza said of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump on March 27. “They won’t get a check; they won’t qualify for additional unemployment. We just want to reach our most vulnerable people.”
Garza said City Council would look to draw funds from the city budget to send money to nonprofit organizations that have already been helping the community but have had their capacities tested amid the influx of people now in need following the coronavirus. Garza said the hope is, if City Council approves the program April 9, money would be available to the organizations within two weeks… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
City takes precautions for critical employees (Austin Monitor)
Electricity. Water. Trash pickup. The city of Austin provides all these services and we take it as a given that they will be there when we need them.
Even as most Austinites have been ordered to stay home, the employees who make sure we still have lights, water and trash removal are still working during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some of them are able to work from home, but of Austin Energy’s approximately 1,700 employees, about one-third must report to job sites, according to the utility’s spokesperson Jennifer Herber.
About half of Austin Water’s 1,150 employees are still working on-site to keep water and wastewater treatment plants operating, Greg Meszaros, the utility’s director, told the Austin Monitor on Tuesday. The other half are working from home, he said.
Meszaros said the water utility has a sequestering plan for a pandemic and has purchased supplies, including cots, in case they need to take that step. He said implementing the plan will depend on the level of the virus among employees as well as in the community, but he would not want to sequester workers too soon.
Austin Resource Recovery employees are still doing their jobs, too, with extra protection aimed at keeping them safe. According to city spokesperson Bailey Grimmett, the department has issued rubber gloves to collections workers, to be worn on top of the regular puncture-safe gloves the workers wear on the job every day. ARR has also ordered masks, but due to a nationwide shortage, masks are going first to hospitals and medical personnel, he said in an email. However, ARR has issued hand sanitizer to each employee and disinfectant spray for drivers to use on their vehicles “before, during and after each route.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas' Unemployment Benefits System Is At A Standstill. The State Wants People To Keep Holding. (KUT)
When Brian Biehl found out Wednesday that he’d been furloughed from his job at a company that makes software for restaurants in Austin, the first thing he did was take his dog for a walk.
“You know, [to] kind of assess the situation,” he said.
Then Biehl made some calls to see about another job. In the meantime, though, he would apply for unemployment benefits. He started online. But the website for the Texas Workforce Commission, which handles unemployment benefits in the state, told him to call. That wasn’t so easy… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Gov. Greg Abbott tells Texans to stay home except for essential activity in April (Texas Tribune)
Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday told Texans to stay at home for the next month unless they are taking part in essential services and activities, announcing a heightened statewide standard to stem the spread of the new coronavirus. He also announced that schools would remain closed until at least May 4.
During a news conference at the Texas Capitol, Abbott declined to call his latest executive order a shelter-in-place or stay-at-home order, arguing such labels leave the wrong impression and that he wants Texans to know, for example, they can still go to the grocery store. But in an interview afterward, he said "it's a fact" that the executive order nonetheless brings Texas up to speed with states that have issued orders with those labels… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Unprecedented Push To Educate Remotely Means Big Ask Of School Technology In Texas And Beyond (Texas Public Radio)
When Gov. Greg Abbott closed schools on March 19 to slow the spread of COVID-19, he kicked off an unprecedented push to educate students remotely in Texas.
Kenneth Thompson has been running nonstop for weeks, and he is tired.
The Chief Information Technology officer for the San Antonio Independent School District is trying to put a device in each students’ hands — 4th through 12th grade.
“We're doing in three weeks what we have planned to do in five years,” Thompson said.
It hasn’t been easy. But he says they've made progress. The district released 17,000 laptops to students immediately and has started scrounging for more.
Companies like Dell and Lenovo are so inundated with school requests from across the country they can only offer delivery in May and beyond, said Thompson.
“Everybody is pulling off the same shelf, if you will,” he said.
But with some luck, one of his staff members found a local reseller with 30,000 Chromebooks.
He bought them all… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
It's Census Day. Here's what you need to know about the 2020 count (CNN)
Households across the United States have been receiving invitations to complete the 2020 census for weeks. But another milestone in the count is here.
April 1 is known as Census Day.
And around the country, local officials are encouraging residents to complete census questionnaires this week.
"Lots of people are home right now, as you should be. But the truth is, it's also a great time to fill out your census," Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a video message.
The results of the 2020 census will impact the lives of people around the country. And everyone living in the US plays a role in shaping them… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Coronavirus brings quick changes to state alcohol laws (The Hill)
States are temporarily relaxing laws on alcohol purchases, providing a major win to the beer, wine, and spirits lobby during the coronavirus pandemic.
The new rules are intended primarily to provide relief for restaurants and small businesses and to keep alcoholic products available to customers.
But the developments mark a sudden shift in state alcohol laws, which traditionally have been resistant to change. In recent weeks, the alcohol industry has seen a decades-long wish list on easing sales restrictions fulfilled.
New York state for example is allowing restaurants to add beer, wine and spirits to takeout and delivery options. And Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) deemed liquor stores "essential" businesses, allowing them to remain open.
Those changes are being implemented by a wide range of states across the country. Maryland and New Jersey also call liquor stores essential, while California, Nebraska, Vermont, Kentucky, Colorado and the District of Columbia allow restaurant takeout and delivery orders for alcohol. Maryland and Texas are allowing alcohol deliveries to customers, just to name a few… (LINK TO FULL 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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