BG Reads | News You Need to Know (July 24, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
BG Podcast Special Episode - Discussing the FY2021 City of Austin Budget Talk #1 (SHOW LINK)
Note: Show also available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Sound Cloud, and Stitcher
[AUSTIN METRO]
Hundreds of Austinites demand city reduce police funding, call proposed budget ‘insulting’ (KUT)
Austinites waited with their phones on hold, some for over an hour, to tell city council members on Thursday that proposed cuts to the police department’s budget were too small. Residents seeking more profound changes called the cuts a “pittance,” “insulting” and a “slap in the face.”
“If a budget is a moral document, [City Manager] Spencer Cronk’s current proposal is immoral,” said David Peterson, one of hundreds of residents who spoke for nearly 10 hours in the first of two scheduled public hearings on the city’s proposed budget.
Last week, Cronk presented council members with this offer: a budget that raises property taxes by about $12 a year, the lowest increase in the past several years; includes $61 million to help people avoid or get out of homelessness; and provides a 2% increase in employee wages.
As cities across the country have erupted in protests against police violence and systemic racism in recent months, residents, including those in Austin, have been calling for major cuts to police budgets. Cronk proposed giving the police department $154,000 less than last year, when the department spent roughly $434 million.
The reduction equates to taking out $8.1 million from the $445.6 million that APD forecasted it would need in its budget for the coming fiscal year. The majority of the cuts comes from vacant positions the city reasoned it would not be able to fill… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Tesla begins contracting process for Gigafactory Texas manufacturing plant (Community Impact)
Tesla has begun soliciting local contractors for its Gigafactory Texas, the 4 million- to 5 million-square-foot manufacturing plant slated to start construction in Travis County east of Austin later this year.
The electric carmaker initiated the contracting process one day after CEO Elon Musk's announcement that southeastern Travis County would be the site for Tesla's next gigafactory.
In an email obtained by Community Impact Newpaper, Jessica Munoz, a procurement manager for Tesla, began soliciting contractors and subcontractors for the project via email following a July 23 outreach event for interested local contracting professionals.
"I am very excited to build a contractor base with local talent," Munoz said in the email.
Contractors have to apply through Tesla's prequalification system before they can officially be considered for assignments.In order to qualify, companies must submit standard information about previous experience, qualifications, their environmental policies and Environmental Health and Safety Data and Record. Selected contractors will be required to complete an online safety orientation and COVID-19 training, according to Tesla documents… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
ZAP tweaks proposed merger of housing and planning departments (Austin Monitor)
he Zoning and Platting Commission on Tuesday discussed the potential merger between the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development and the Planning and Zoning departments. After multiple commissioners expressed concerns about the measure, they voted unanimously to include three recommendations to the proposal, which appears in City Manager Spencer Cronk’s Fiscal Year 2020-21 budget.
News of the merger came in June, when Assistant City Manager Rodney Gonzales released a memo outlining his proposal. He said it will allow for the two departments to collaborate better on housing and planning efforts.
ZAP recommends the city choose a director with planning experience, a senior-level demographer position, an emphasis on long-range planning at the senior level, and an emphasis on small area planning at the senior level.
“It’s imperative that this whole operation be run by someone who thoroughly understands the planning process,” Commissioner Bruce Evans said. “We are a victim in the city of not properly planning for such a long time. I think that without having someone on board that’s trained and capable in that area, it’s just going to lead to more of the same.”
Chair Jolene Kiolbassa said many areas in Austin are “bearing the brunt” of the city failing to execute a planning process. She said the Planning and Zoning Department should be looking outward to other cities and municipalities and trying to come up with a new vision for how to plan the city.
“I feel that this merger is kind of a step backward,” she said... (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Mask mandate appears to be helping in Texas, but experts ask Gov. Greg Abbott not to rule out a shutdown (Texas Tribune)
Three weeks after Gov. Greg Abbott required Texans to wear masks, epidemiologists and disease modelers say they are cautiously optimistic that the mandate is helping the state turn a corner in its efforts to contain an outbreak that has killed more than 4,500 Texans.
Throughout the summer, Texas’ coronavirus outbreak became grimmer by the day and by almost every metric: case counts, hospitalizations, deaths. But in the past week or so, Abbott and some of the state’s public health officials began to see hope in the daily case counts as they appeared to stabilize.
A growing body of evidence points to widespread mask-wearing as an effective strategy for containing the virus, and one North Texas researcher’s statistical analysis published this week argued that local mask orders in the region reduced viral transmission enough to avoid a lockdown. The governor, who has faced blistering criticism for his handling of the pandemic from members of his own political party, immediately seized upon those findings in defense of his statewide order… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
As Congress feuds over unemployment payments, many jobless Texans are about to lose a $600 weekly benefit (Texas Tribune)
Texans out of work due to the new coronavirus are bracing for the loss of a $600 weekly addition to their unemployment benefits as Congress’ two chambers appear split over extending the payments that are about to expire.
The payments expire nationwide July 31, according to the federal legislation that created them to help Americans stay financially afloat during the coronavirus pandemic’s economic downturn.
But thanks to a technicality in state law, the benefit expires Saturday for Texans, according to a spokesman for the Texas Workforce Commission. The reason: July 31 falls on a Friday, and Texas law prevents the TWC from paying people benefits for only part of a week.
“A full-benefit week begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday,” TWC spokesperson Cisco Gamez said in a video statement Tuesday… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Congress set for brawl as unemployment cliff looms (The Hill)
Congress is barreling toward a showdown over federal unemployment benefits, with millions of Americans hanging in the balance.
As part of the March $2.2 trillion coronavirus bill, Congress agreed to a $600-per week plus-up of unemployment benefits, but those are set to start expiring in a matter of days.
What to replace it with is shaping up to be a clash as lawmakers and the White House prepare to negotiate the fifth coronavirus bill.
“What’s going to happen on Saturday, all the pain, all the suffering … did not have to happen,” Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, said of the looming deadline.
The statistics are stark: 1.4 million Americans applied for unemployment insurance last week, according to Department of Labor data released Thursday, the first increase since March. Roughly 32 million Americans are unemployed and the national jobless rate is just above 11 percent… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Judge orders feds in Portland not to use force against journalists (Politico)
A judge has barred federal law enforcement officers dealing with long-running protests and unrest in Portland, Ore., from using force against journalists and legal observers trying to document the run-ins between activists and the authorities.
In a temporary restraining order issued on Thursday night, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon also declared reporters, photographers and legal observers exempt from any directives issued to the general public to disperse from areas where protests are taking place.
Simon said there were strong indications that journalists were being targeted by the authorities and were not simply incidentally caught up in legitimate efforts to quell violence or vandalism.
“Plaintiffs’ declarations describe situations including that they were identifiable as press, were not engaging in unlawful activity or protesting, were not standing near protesters, and yet were subject to violence by federal agents,” Simon wrote. “Contrary to the Federal Defendants’ arguments, this evidence does not support that the force used on Plaintiffs were ‘unintended consequences’ of crowd control.”… (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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