BG Reads | News You Need to Know (April 2, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
*NEW* BG PODCAST EPISODE 81: Ilissa Nolan, Executive Director, Texas Hemp Coalition (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Forecasters size up city’s lost tax revenues from sales, hotels, alcohol due to Covid-19 (Austin Monitor)
Early analysis shows the city will lose $1 million per month in mixed beverage taxes while the local bar and restaurant industry is shut down, with a forthcoming economic model expected to give a picture of the loss in sales taxes. Because sales taxes make up the largest portion of the city’s General Fund, that decrease is expected to have a major impact on spending and the next budget cycle.
Ed Van Eenoo, the city’s deputy chief financial officer, told the Austin Monitor that last year the city reaped $14.2 million in mixed beverage revenues, which would translate to around $1 million a month being lost because of measures taken to slow the spread of Covid-19 locally… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
First responders, medical professionals across Texas worry about inadequate personal protective equipment supplies (Community Impact)
In hundreds of emergency service districts across the state, firefighters and emergency medical technicians ensure the safety of millions of Texans. But amidst a national and statewide shortage of personal protective equipment such as masks, goggles and gowns, Cliff Avery—the executive director of the Texas State Association of Fire and Emergency Districts, also known as SAFE-D—said first responders are worried about their ability to protect their communities into the future.
“Masks and gloves are important, but what’s really important is the people wearing those masks and gloves. If we lose a firefighter to quarantine or an EMT gets sick, we don’t have a vast supply of people to replace them,” Avery said.
On March 3, the World Health Organization warned of a “severe and mounting disruption” to PPE supplies, and last week, Texas Medical Association President David Fleeger called the shortage of PPE in Texas “unacceptable” in a statement… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
'The goal isn’t profitability': How Austin retailers are fighting to stay open, pay rent during pandemic (Austin Business Journal)
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when many retailers and restaurants have closed their doors, one East Austin butcher shop quickly pivoted by closing its dining room and expanding its grocery offerings.
As a result, Salt & Time’s sales volume has actually increased, chef and co-owner Ben Runkle said. Whether that will translate to profits is unknown at this point, he said, and not really the focus right now.
“We are not trying to make money through this,” Runkle said. “If we can just keep paying our bills and keep our staff employed, that’s more than enough. We will worry about profitability later on.”
That’s a sentiment echoed repeatedly by retail and restaurant owners across Austin as they grapple with the fallout of the pandemic, with no clear end in sight. For many, April 1 was the day they had to decide whether they had enough cash on hand to pay rent or make other arrangements with their landlord. Many are also getting the documentation together that they will need to apply for some relief through the $2 trillion federal coronavirus relief package, known as the CARES Act, which includes $349 billion for small business loans through the Paycheck Protection Program… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Local governments, already hard hit by the coronavirus, are facing a fresh budget threat: economic recession. (Texas Tribune)
While city leaders in Texas are trying to slow down the novel coronavirus pandemic, their financial officers are already warning about the damage a new economic recession will have on local budgets.
“We work on the budget year round, and we anticipate even the worst scenarios," Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said at a press conference Tuesday. "This one is even worse than anyone had imagined.”
Texas cities' two biggest sources of money are typically property taxes and sales taxes. The protracted public health crisis' effect on property taxes is still unclear. But there is certain to be a massive financial blow to sales tax revenues since officials shuttered businesses and limited Texans' movements outside their homes as a necessary public health precaution to slow the virus' spread. That's according to Bennett Sandlin, the executive director of the Texas Municipal League, an organization that represents local governments across the state… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Pandemic revives hope of federal aid for Texas highways, ports, rural internet (Houston Chronicle)
Lawmakers have been talking about striking a deal to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure for years. It might take a pandemic to finally get them to do it, and Texas officials are already working on their wish lists, with ports, highways, high-speed internet and more potentially on the line. There’s growing talk of tackling infrastructure as the next step in Congress to stave off economic collapse from the coronavirus outbreak, following the $2 trillion stimulus package that passed last month.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday that House Democrats are beginning work now on the next package, including “bold action to renew America’s infrastructure.” President Donald Trump appears to be on board. “With interest rates for the United States being at ZERO, this is the time to do our decades long awaited Infrastructure Bill,” Trump tweeted. “It should be VERY BIG & BOLD, Two Trillion Dollars, and be focused solely on jobs and rebuilding the once great infrastructure of our Country!” In Texas that could mean a massive injection of federal funding to rebuild highways and bridges, expand ports and brace waterways for future floods. The federal push could also expand much-needed broadband — which 2 million Texans don’t have — with many Americans now stuck at home, relying on the internet for work, school, telemedicine and more… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas reeling into recession from double blows of coronavirus and oil slump, Comptroller Glenn Hegar says (Dallas Morning)
Texas’ usually buoyant economy has just run over two sharp nails — coronavirus and low oil prices — and the resulting slowdown is dramatic, Comptroller Glenn Hegar said Wednesday. “There’s no doubt that Texas is going to be in a recession — just like pretty much the rest of the world,” he said. While data showing the scope of the state’s economic contraction won’t be out for another few weeks, Hegar said early signs from counties that collect sales tax on motor vehicle purchases and rentals showed significant declines for a limited part of last month — all that’s been reported so far.
Other, nongovernmental measures have revealed that lower-income, hourly workers in Dallas and other major Texas cities already have been slammed with layoffs, leaving them vulnerable, he said. In the entertainment sector, movie theater box office receipts nationwide have virtually gone to zero, which hurts another cadre of workers, he said. On and on the trouble goes, and the pain is just becoming fully visible, said Hegar, the state’s chief tax collector and revenue estimator. State recovery probably will be slow, not galloping, he said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Fauci's security is stepped up as doctor and face of U.S. coronavirus response receives threats (Washington Post)
Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-diseases expert and the face of the U.S. response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, is facing growing threats to his personal safety, prompting the government to step up his security, according to people familiar with the matter. The concerns include threats as well as unwelcome communications from fervent admirers, according to people with knowledge of deliberations inside the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice.
Fauci, 79, is the most outspoken member of the administration in favor of sweeping public health guidelines and is among the few officials willing to correct President Donald Trump's misstatements. Along with Deborah Birx, the coordinator for the White House's task force, Fauci has encouraged the president to extend the timeline for social-distancing guidelines, presenting him with grim models about the possible toll of the pandemic. "Now is the time, whenever you're having an effect, not to take your foot off the accelerator and on the brake, but to just press it down on the accelerator," he said Tuesday as the White House's task force made some of those models public, warning of 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the United States. The exact nature of the threats against him was not clear. Greater exposure has led to more praise for the doctor but also more criticism… (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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