BG Reads | News You Need to Know (April 23, 2020)
[BINGHAM PODCAST]
*NEW* BG PODCAST EPISODE 83: Metro Discussion with Jason Giulietti, President, Greater San Marcos Partnership (LINK TO SHOW)
[BG BLOG]
Analysis: Why Rent Control Isn't An Option for Austin (LINK TO BLOG)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Sporting events, festivals could remain a year away, health authority says (Austin American-Statesman)
Gatherings like sporting events and festivals where large numbers of people are packed together still could be six months to a year away, interim Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said Wednesday.
His assessment came a day after he warned Austin City Council members that reopening the local economy too soon, or without adequate safeguards to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, could result in a return to more stringent social distancing orders for a longer period of time.
“I think a baseline expectation should be that this concept of social distancing, the personal hygiene, the public masking or public facial covering is going to have to continue until we reach herd immunity by one method or another, and that would be primarily through a vaccination,” Escott said.
Health officials however, don’t expect a coronavirus vaccine to be publicly available for at least a year, he said, so efforts to continue to decrease the transmission rate in local communities will have to continue.
Escott said models and predictions for the spread of the virus show the heart of the risk lies in physical interactions in the community.
“So if there are events, like sporting events, like festivals, where there are lots of person-to-person interactions, particularly within 6 feet, particularly when it’s people who are not related, that’s going to substantially increase the risk,” Escott said. “I can expect that at least for the next six months, and perhaps the next year, that events like that are going to be very, very difficult to have unless we have substantial increases in testing and other strategies to further mitigate the threat of those kinds of events.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Commissioners Court discusses ‘oscillation strategy’ to exit quarantine (Austin Monitor)
As the county’s May 8 end date for its stay-at-home order draws near, the Commissioners Court began to discuss the next steps in the battle to flatten the curve.
“There is no return to ‘normal,’” County Judge Sarah Eckhardt said at Tuesday’s meeting of the Commissioners Court. However, she did say there must be an end to the isolation measures taken by the city and the county. To achieve this reentrance of people into society, she explained that the proposed adaptive strategy will involve a targeted, restricted approach called the “hammer and the dance.”
The term, coined by Tomas Pueyo, refers to an ebb-and-flow technique in which the county will gradually allow some easing of social distance regulations while looking for signs of increasing cases of Covid-19. If cases are on the rise, government officials can respond by toning down commerce and increasing social distancing so as not to threaten the capacity of the health care system.
“The longer that we can draw this out, the better chance we have of identifying treatment strategies that work,” Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott told the commissioners. Per White House criteria, he said this approach can be implemented after 14 days of declining case data, including hospitalizations… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin-area businesses from Vulcan Video to Threadgill’s permanently shutter during coronavirus pandemic (Community Impact)
Orders to close down restaurant dine-in spaces and retail businesses to slow down the spread of the coronavirus have already claimed some of the most iconic local businesses in the Austin area. Reasons for closures have ranged from loss of income caused by the shutdowns to the hastening of retirement plans to the progression of development plans already in the works…. (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Pandemic creating insatiable appetite for warehouse space in Austin (Austin Business Journal)
Austin’s industrial real estate market stands to get a big boost following the COVID-19 pandemic, brokers said.
The explosive growth of e-commerce and supply chain issues experienced amid the pandemic has created an insatiable appetite for institutional-grade industrial real estate, said Otto Swingler, a vice president at Stream Realty Partners.
The pandemic, which closed the doors of most retailers, sped up the growth of e-commerce by at least a decade, he said.
Davis Bass, industrial project partner at HPI Real Estate Services & Investments, said the increased use of e-commerce will continue after the pandemic. “People will still want to use Amazon … which means more warehouses,” he said.
A few of the larger e-commerce companies have already needed to lease additional space in Central Texas because of the pandemic, Swingler said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
San Marcos becomes 1st Texas city to OK cite-and-release law (Austin American-Statesman)
San Marcos is now the first Texas city to use the force of law to compel police to give a citation instead of arresting residents for several low-level, nonviolent crimes. The San Marcos City Council voted Tuesday to pass a cite-and-release ordinance that would mostly require citations, instead of arrests, for the crimes of possessing less than 4 ounces of marijuana, petty theft, theft of services, graffiti, criminal mischief, driving with an invalid license and all Class C misdemeanors.
Neighboring cities like Austin and San Antonio have both adopted cite-and-release resolutions, but San Marcos was the first in the state to codify the idea into law. Austin police drastically reduced the number of people arrested on misdemeanor charges last year after adopting “Freedom City” policies that called on police to end most discretionary arrests, in which an officer could have chosen to issue a citation instead. In San Marcos, the motion passed 4-3. Council members Joca Marquez, Maxfield Baker, Mark Rockeymoore and Melissa Derrick supported the measure, and Ed Mihalkanin, Saul Gonzales and Mayor Jane Hughson opposed it. Rockeymoore said he is in favor of the ordinance because “certain populations are being arrested more than others” in San Marcos. “We believe this ordinance will send a strong, clear message to the police union and everyone else that we would like our officers to exercise their discretion within certain parameters,” he said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Gov. Greg Abbott promises far-reaching announcement on reopening Texas businesses, including restaurants, hair salons (Texas Tribune)
Gov. Greg Abbott could make an announcement as soon as Friday about reopening a wide range of Texas businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic, including restaurants, hair salons and retail outlets.
During a series of radio interviews Wednesday, Abbott gave the most details yet about the highly anticipated announcement, which he has been previewing since he announced preliminary steps to reopen the economy last week. He initially advertised the next wave of steps as scheduled for Monday but made clear in some of the interviews that they could now come sooner.
Abbott stressed in the interviews that he is seeking approval from medical advisers on the business reopenings and that they will reopen under new standards to slow the spread of the coronavirus. He also suggested his announcement's implementation could vary by county, depending on how prevalent the virus is in each place… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
H-E-B to extend store hours statewide starting April 27 (Community Impact)
H-E-B stores across Texas will begin operating under newly expanded hours starting April 27, according to a news release published to the company's website April 21.
Stores will be open from 7 a.m.-10 p.m., according to the release. Hours at Central Market locations will be expanded to 8 a.m.-10 p.m., and hours at Mi Tienda locations will be expanded to 7 a.m.-10 p.m.
The company announced in March it would reduce its hours of operation to 8 a.m.-8 p.m. in an effort to give employees more time to restock shelves. The new hours announced this week will be in place "until further notice," according to the April 21 release… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen suggests ordering 5% budget cuts for state agencies (Texas Tribune)
Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen has reached out to fellow state leaders to initiate conversations about the state’s economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting that the lower chamber would like to discuss a directive to all state agencies “to immediately identify and execute 5% budgetary savings.”
“It has become apparent that the time to engage in long-term economic planning is now,” the Angleton Republican wrote in an April 9 memo to Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, which was obtained Wednesday by The Texas Tribune. “While it is true that we do not have an immediate funding need or a lack of COVID-related emergency funding, all indications are that we will most certainly have a future state revenue concern due to lagging economic conditions statewide.”
In the memo, Bonnen also wrote that he would like to begin conversations about settling on instructions for legislative appropriations requests for budget planning for the 2022-23 cycle. The memo was shared last week with the House Appropriations Committee and its staff… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
What does the coronavirus mean for the future of UT System schools? (Austin American-Statesman)
When the coronavirus began to rapidly spread across the U.S., colleges and universities were faced with a momentous task: find a way to continue education without risking the health of their students and faculty. Over the course of about two weeks, many universities, including the University of Texas System’s 14 institutions, adapted thousands of classes for online delivery. It was one of the most “remarkable feats in higher education history,” said UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken, but the effects of the coronavirus pandemic are far from over.
As states consider the possibility of reopening, many questions remain about what will happen for Texas’ colleges, which are preparing for summer and fall registration. Milliken, who has served as chancellor since 2018, says UT System institutions are facing financial challenges from the pandemic, and when they can reopen their campuses, restoring revenue from housing, dining and campus events, has yet to be determined. “Fall, right now, is an open question, of course,” Milliken said in an interview with the American-Statesman. “As everyone knows, the ability to offer that experience on campuses is so valuable to people. But we are planning for a number of possible scenarios.” The system and its institutions have been following the advice of public health experts and other officials, including Gov. Greg Abbott, who has this week expressed interest in relaxing some of the social distancing rules. “We’re talking about how enrollments will be impacted, talking about ‘how we do a safe reopening and return?’ And we’re talking about how we address public higher education at a time when we all know that we need to educate more Texans,” he said. “We need to be a part of the state’s overall effort to emerge stronger than ever after this.”… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Democrats want Biden to go early with VP pick (The Hill)
Democrats are pushing Joe Biden to select his running mate sooner rather than later, saying this would give him more time to raise funds and unite the Democratic Party ahead of the general election fight against President Trump.
Presumptive Democratic nominees typically announce their pick before the party’s convention. But with the coronavirus pandemic sidelining the campaign and pushing back the Democratic convention from July to August, Democrats say an early pick could boost Biden.
Democratic strategist Michael Trujillo said he’s all for an early announcement because it would “give the Biden campaign an infusion of campaign donations” and double the campaign team’s power… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Massive layoffs and pay cuts are likely coming to state and local governments as federal aid goes elsewhere (CNBC)
State and local governments are warning of a wave of layoffs and pay cuts after getting left out of the federal coronavirus relief package expected to pass Congress this week. In many places, those painful reductions are already taking shape: Los Angeles plans to force city workers to spend 26 days on unpaid leave as revenues are forecast to drop as much as $600 million next fiscal year. Detroit has proposed laying off 200 workers and furloughing thousands more. In Ohio’s Hamilton County, Commissioner Denise Driehaus is taking a 10% pay cut alongside county workers. “We are really struggling,” Driehaus said.
The $2.2 trillion emergency legislation known as the CARES Act, which President Donald Trump signed late last month, included $150 billion in direct help for state and local governments grappling with the impact of the deadly outbreak. Democrats pushed to include another $150 billion in the next tranche of aid, but Republicans sought to keep the bill narrowly focused on support for small business. By Tuesday night, Democrats yielded on their demand. The Senate passed the legislation by unanimous consent — without additional help for state and local governments. The House is slated to vote Thursday, and Trump is expected to sign it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to revisit the issue in the coming round of negotiations over what could be an even bigger package of relief. “The people who are on the front lines, they should get extra money, and at the top of the list is a robust state and local plan,” Schumer said. “We’re going to fight for that and many more things” in the next aid bill. It “will soon be upon us because the nation will demand it.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Washington State Builds Coronavirus Contact Tracing 'Fire Brigade' (NPR)
If life is going to return to anything like normal in the next few months, experts say we're going to need a lot more "contact tracers."
Those are the public health workers who get in touch with someone who's tested positive for a disease, to find out who else he or she might have been in contact with. It's a long-standing practice for illnesses such as tuberculosis and AIDS, and now, as states re-open, it'll be a crucial tool for keeping a lid on the coronavirus.
"We're now needing to scale up contact tracing," says former CDC director Tom Frieden. "Ten or one hundred-fold more. It needs to be extremely proactive and complete."
That's a tall order for a public health system that's been "under-funded for years and years," according to Washington State Secretary of Health John Wiesman. "We're starting from a system that was not robust in the first place, and now we are trying now to play catch-up."… (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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