BG Reads | News You Need to Know (June 12, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
Join Us for Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza's Virtual Birthday Event at 5PM today!
BG Podcast EP. 91: Public Transit in a COVID World with Randy Clarke, president & CEO, Capital Metro (LINK TO SHOW)
Colloquially known as CapMetro, Randy and Bingham Group CEO A.J. Bingham discuss how the agency adapted to a COVID-19 world, the Project Connect transit plan, and national public transit trends.
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[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin City Council Votes To Divest Funds From APD, Ban Some Potentially Deadly Police Practices (KUT)
Austin City Council members voted unanimously Thursday on four items related to the Austin Police Department’s policy and budget, including transferring some money from police to social services and banning police use of some potentially deadly weapons and practices.
The decision comes after the council heard more than eight hours over two days of public testimony on police violence during protests and calls to defund APD.
Council members cautioned that these resolutions are just the first of many.
“I want to make sure the public knows this is no victory lap at all,” Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza, who represents Southeast Austin, said. “The harder work is way ahead of us.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin officials say community spread, not increased testing, causing record-high daily coronavirus numbers (Community Impact)
The city of Austin and Travis County in the past three days have reported record-high numbers of daily cases of coronavirus, mirroring a similar statewide trend.
Local officials June 11 warned those numbers are not a result of increased testing capacity, including Gov. Greg Abbott’s mandate that coronavirus testing take place in the state’s nursing homes.
Instead, Dr. Mark Escott, the Austin-Travis County interim health authority, stated these record-high numbers come after the Memorial Day holiday and the reopening of Texas' economy.
“We have no indication ... that these numbers we’re seeing are related to nursing home testing results,” Escott said. “These seem to be related to ongoing community spread.”
Austin and Travis County on June 9 reported 161 new cases of coronavirus, the highest single-day total recorded by Austin Public Health. The health department recorded more than 100 new coronavirus cases from June 8-10, the last day of publicly available data… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
County judge selection up to precinct chairs (Austin Monitor)
When Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt announced in March that she would resign from her job as the leader of the Commissioners Court in order to run for Senate District 14, it set in motion a series of events that will likely culminate in county Democratic precinct chairs electing the next Travis County judge.
So far, three Democrats are seeking to have their names placed on the November ballot for county judge: Precinct 1 Commissioner Jeff Travillion, Travis County Democratic Party Chair Dyana Limon-Mercado and attorney Andy Brown. Brown is a former chair of the Travis County Democratic Party and ran against Eckhardt for the party’s nomination for county judge in 2014. Eckhardt was reelected in 2018, so whoever wins the seat in November will fill out the rest of her term, which ends in 2022.
Limon-Mercado, who has served as party chair for the past 27 months, announced last week that she would be resigning in order to pursue the county judge nomination. Her last day as chair will be Aug. 3, and precinct chairs will select her successor on that day.
There were no county judge candidates on either the Democratic or Republican primary ballot on March 3, because Eckhardt was expected to continue in her position. So, there is no Republican candidate running for county judge. Party spokesman Andy Hogue said Wednesday that because it is so difficult for Republicans to win countywide, no one has come forward to ask for the job. However, if that were to happen, Republican precinct chairs would have the job of choosing that candidate… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas reports largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases (Texas Tribune)
Texas hit a new daily high in COVID-19 cases Wednesday with 2,504 new cases reported, according to data released Wednesday by the Texas Department of State Health Services. That topped the previous daily high of 1,949 cases May 31.
Just over 21% of the new cases were reported in Jefferson County, which reported 537 new cases Wednesday, nearly doubling its previous total.
Asked about the cause of the increase, DSHS spokesperson Chris Van Deusen pointed to Jefferson County’s three state prison units.
Most of the new cases were "due to a change in how the local health department is reporting" cases from the prisons, he said.
Hot spots like prisons have recently started to do mass testing, and the data is not always reported daily… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Paxton says he will seek power to investigate police-custody deaths (Austin American-Statesman)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday that he will ask the Legislature to give him the power to investigate and prosecute police misconduct that results in a death. Local prosecutors have “apparent and actual conflicts of interest” when investigating officers with whom they work as part of the criminal justice system, Paxton said in an opinion piece submitted to the American-Statesman. “The reality is that when it comes to officer-involved deaths, local agencies need more accountability,” Paxton wrote.
“We need our law enforcement agencies and those responsible for their oversight to be fully transparent when enforcement goes too far,” Paxton said. “We have an obligation to all Texans to ensure that justice is done.” The ability to investigate officer-involved deaths and, if necessary, prosecute wrongdoing would be a “limited but vital” function for an office that operates statewide, he added. Shawn Dick, district attorney for Williamson County, isn’t opposed to a statewide solution on police misconduct cases, though without specific legislation to view, he said it was impossible to assess Paxton’s proposal. “In concept, I agree that one of hardest parts of prosecuting local officers is we do work with them every day,” he said. However, Dick said, his office already has the ability to bring in a special prosecutor if a conflict of interest arises. “The bigger difficulty is having a local police department investigate local police officers,” he said. “I definitely think we need to come up with a better solution to that, and I am open to listening to that option.” Margaret Moore, Travis County’s district attorney, said she will press to retain local control over police misconduct cases, which are handled by her Civil Rights Unit, an independent office that handles only those cases… (LINK TO STORY)
Sen. Cornyn says taking down Confederate monuments is like tearing pages out of history books (Houston Chronicle)
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn on Thursday compared taking down Confederate statues and renaming military bases to tearing pages out of history books. "I don’t think we can go back and erase our history by removing statues," Cornyn said. "What happens next? Then somebody says you can’t teach about the Civil War or slavery in your textbooks." Cornyn’s comments came when he was asked whether he supported renaming military bases, including Fort Hood in Texas, that are named after Confederates, or removing statues built to honor them.
The killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis has reignited calls to remove Confederate statues and monuments, many of which were built by white supremacists in the early and mid-1900s as a response to black civil rights efforts. President Donald Trump on Wednesday rejected calls to rename military bases, saying on Twitter: “These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom.” “There’s no question that America was an imperfect union when we were founded. We obviously betrayed our own ideals by treating African Americans as less than fully human and we’ve been paying for that original sin ever since then,” Cornyn said. “We’ve made a lot of mistakes as a race, a human race and as an American people, but I think we need to learn from those and not try to ignore them or erase them.” “I don’t agree with going back and trying to rename institutions or pull down statues or try to tear those pages out of our history books that our kids learn in school,” he said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Trump's Tulsa campaign rally sign-up page includes coronavirus liability disclaimer (Washington Post)
The sign-up page for tickets to President Donald Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa next week includes something that hasn't appeared ahead of previous rallies: a disclaimer noting that attendees "voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19" and agree not to hold the campaign or venue liable should they get sick. Trump's reelection campaign announced Thursday that the president's next "Make America Great Again" rally will be held June 19 at the BOK Center.
The rally comes as the United States has surpassed 2 million confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, with more than 112,000 people dead. More than a dozen states are now tallying record-high new infections; Oklahoma is not among them, although Tulsa County has reported a gradual uptick of new cases since the beginning of June, according to health department data compiled by The Washington Post. At the bottom of the registration page for tickets to the upcoming Trump campaign rally is a disclaimer notifying attendees that "by clicking register below, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present." "By attending the Rally, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; BOK Center; ASM Global; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers liable for any illness or injury," the notice states… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Labor leaders under pressure to oust police unions (The Hill)
Labor leaders are coming under pressure from within their own ranks to sever ties with law enforcement groups amid the nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustices.
The effort to oust police unions took shape this week when a major writer’s union passed a resolution calling on the AFL-CIO to expel the International Union of Police Associations.
The request by the Writers Guild of America, East, was rebuffed, with the AFL-CIO saying “police officers, and everyone who works for a living, have the right to collective bargaining,” and that it was preferable to engage police unions rather than isolate them… (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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