BG Reads | News You Need to Know (April 14, 2020)
[BINGHAM PODCAST]
SPECIAL EPISODE - ATX COVID-19 COMMUNITY UPDATES (4.10.2020): Housing & Human Rights (LINK TO SHOW)
SPECIAL EPISODE - ATX COVID-19 COMMUNITY UPDATES (4.8.2020): Public Health & Safety (LINK TO SHOW)
BG PODCAST EPISODE 82: Metro Discussion with Mayor Larry Wallace, City of Manor (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin, Travis County Extend Stay-At-Home Orders, Require Public To Wear Face Coverings (KUT)
Austin and Travis County are extending their stay-at-home orders until May 8, officials announced Monday.
The new orders will go into effect when the original ones expire at 11:59 p.m.
Under the extended orders, people are required to wear fabric face coverings when conducting essential work or activities.
“Everyone over the age of ten must wear a face covering over their nose and mouth when in a public building, using public transportation or ride shares, pumping gas and while outside when six feet of physical distancing cannot be consistently maintained,” the city said in a statement… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Click here to review the official updated Stay Home - Work Safe order (PDF)
City aims to fast-track displacement prevention program as Covid-19 destabilizes residents (Austin Monitor)
The Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department is attempting to accelerate progress on the first effort of its Displacement Prevention programs as more households find themselves unable to pay monthly rent or home mortgages due to Covid-19.
Erica Leak, policy and planning manager for the department, told City Council’s Housing and Planning Committee on Monday that the Tenant Stabilization Program was intended to be available this summer but the department is in discussion with the Purchasing Office to expedite the process as much as possible. Leak said the city released solicitation for the three-year, $750,000 contract before the impacts of Covid-19 had reached the community.
The city announced the program in early March as the first initiative in its Displacement Prevention Portfolio, a set of programs managed by the Austin Housing Finance Corporation and funded by the city’s housing trust fund. The programs offer financial assistance and resources to help households avoid and recover from displacement caused by rising housing costs.
The Tenant Stabilization Program will administer up to $3,000 per year in rental assistance as well as eviction prevention support and tenant relocation services to low-income households through selected nonprofit organizations. Participating organizations will be in charge of marketing the program, approving applicants and administering funds. The program will serve households earning up to 60 percent of the median family income, or $56,760 for a four-person household… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
City of Austin converts Butler Hike and Bike Trail into one way, decreases parking access at parks to reduce gathering sizes (Community Impact)
Shying away from completely shutting down the city’s parks and trails, Austin will instead reduce parking availability at its parks and convert its most popular trail, the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail along Lady Bird Lake, into a one-way trail in an effort to mitigate potential gatherings.
The move comes as much of the city remains shut down to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the highly contagious upper-respiratory illness that has halted much of daily life across the globe. The changes to the parks system will begin April 13 and be in full force by April 17, according to a press release from the Austin Parks and Recreation Department.The city shut down all of its parks and trails over the Easter holiday weekend, a historically busy time for the city’s outdoor amenities. Speaking at a news conference on April 8, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said he remained worried about crowds continuing to gather at the city’s parks and along its trails and he wanted the city to consider completely shutting down the parks and trails system indefinitely… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas redistricting could be affected by coronavirus-related delays of census (Texas Tribune)
A delay in census counting because of the coronavirus pandemic could push Texas redistricting into legislative overtime next summer.
Trump administration officials on Monday proposed delaying reapportionment counts and the distribution of redistricting data by four months, which would kick the delivery of data Texas lawmakers need to redraw political districts from March 2021 to July. That puts it past the end of the next scheduled legislative session.
The proposal must be approved by Congress. Under that plan, census counting would extend to Oct. 31.
The once-a-decade count of everyone living in the U.S. is used as a roadmap for the hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds Texas gets every year. It also determines the political future of the state. State lawmakers use the detailed census data to redraw political districts to adjust for population growth so districts are roughly equal in size… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Coronavirus numbers show glimmer of hope, but with red flags (Austin American-Statesman)
Launching a week when he hopes to pivot toward economic recovery, Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday revealed that recent numbers provide a “glimmer of hope” that the spread of the coronavirus might be slowing in Texas. But Abbott said the numbers — which showed slower growth in deaths and confirmed COVID-19 cases, as well as a decline in overall hospitalizations, over the past three days — came with “a whole bunch of red flags attached.” “If those trends continue, it truly will mean that Texas is moving in the right direction,” Abbott said, quickly adding, “It’s too early to decisively make that call.”
Abbott’s tentative prognosis came at a late morning news conference at which he announced that Goldman Sachs and the LiftFund, along with other community development financial institutions, are partnering to provide $50 million in partially or wholly forgivable loans to help small businesses in Texas that have been affected by COVID-19. The governor was joined by Janie Barrera, president and CEO of LiftFund, a nonprofit lender, and John Waldron, president and COO of Goldman Sachs, via Zoom to announce the initiative. The loans, which will be made through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, are aimed at enabling small businesses to stay intact and continue to pay their employees for what Abbott described as “the remaining few weeks until these businesses can be opened back up.” To that end, Abbott said he would issue a new executive order in the next few days outlining his plan for reviving a Texas economy that, like those across the country and around the world, has been laid low by encompassing efforts to limit the spread and death toll of the pandemic. Abbott said he would also announce this week whether Texas classrooms, which are closed at least through May 4, will reopen at all this spring… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Governors on East and West coasts form pacts to decide when to reopen economies (CNN)
States on the country's East and West coasts are forming their own regional pacts to work together on how to reopen from the stay-at-home orders each has issued to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. The first such group to be announced came Monday on the East Coast. Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said his state, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island and Massachusetts each plan to name a public health and economic official to a regional working group. The chief of staff of the governor of each state also will be a part of the group, which will begin work immediately to design a reopening plan.
Later on Monday, the West Coast states of California, Washington and Oregon also announced they are joining forces in a plan to begin incremental release of stay-at-home orders. Governors of the three states will collaborate on their approach to getting back to business in "in a safe, strategic, responsible way," as announced by California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. The collaborative approach by governors on both coasts underscored the massive and complex calculations that the nation is facing as it looks at steps to reopen the economy at both the federal and state levels. Though the President has asserted that he has the authority to determine when the economy will reopen, governors and mayors around the country have moved swiftly in recent days to make it clear that they control the levers of power in their own states and cities with their ability to maintain closures of businesses and schools, and to enforce social distancing through their police departments… (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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