BG Reads | News You Need to Know (March 18, 2020)
[BG PODCAST]
NEW -> Episode 79- Texas Hemp Policy Update with Marissa Patton, Associate Legislative Director, Texas Farm Bureau (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
After emergency orders, Austin seeks more money for housing and small businesses (KUT)
The city of Austin’s Economic Development Department doesn’t know how many residents will lose income because of the bar and restaurant closures and crowd-control rules announced to stop the spread of COVID-19. But with more than 125,000 people working in the service and hospitality industry alone, the number is bound to be high.
On Tuesday, city officials highlighted some resources that might help and said they were looking for additional money for the programs.
Veronica Briseño, director of the department, said those who have trouble staying in their homes as a result of the emergency order should contact the city’s Housing Department, which is offering help such as “resources for homeowners to avoid mortgage foreclosure and assistance for paying rent.”
Business owners hurt by the closures should call 311 to learn about programs like business coaching, emergency-planning resources and a family-business loan program.
Assistant City Manager Chris Shorter highlighted more recent city initiatives to stop utility disconnections and evictions, and help with access to food and health care. He urged residents to check out the city’s COVID-19 website for details.
Many of the programs, like rental assistance and family-business loans, existed before the decision to close on-site gatherings at restaurants and bars. The new reality will likely stretch resources for those programs past the breaking point… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Homeless advocates organize against petition to reinstate anti-camping laws (Austin Monitor)
The coalition of community groups that pushed for the city to decriminalize homelessness last summer has organized opposition to a petition drive that seeks to reverse the ordinance change via referendum.
The Homes Not Handcuffs Coalition, which includes the Texas ACLU, Front Steps and the Austin Lawyers Guild among its members, is mounting a public education campaign against Save Austin Now’s petition drive. The petition drive, which was launched last month, seeks to reinstate the previous ban on homeless camping; reinstate the no-sit/no-lie ordinance with an extension of the prohibited area to include the University of Texas campus; and ban panhandling citywide from 7 p.m.-7 a.m.
Homes Not Handcuffs had planned to hold a press conference on March 9, but that event was canceled as attention turned to the city’s efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Chris Harris, a campaign coordinator for Texas Appleseed, said the coalition feels the city should direct resources to placing those experiencing homelessness into housing rather than punishing them… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Capital Metro Braces For Ridership, Financial Impact Of COVID-19 (KUT)
Capital Metro will be running fewer buses and trains on many routes starting Wednesday and is developing financial contingency plans in response to COVID-19. To protect drivers, Cap Metro is also asking passengers to enter buses through the rear door, unless they’re paying with cash or need the ramp.
MetroAccess service and most bus routes will run on a Sunday schedule; MetroRail will run on a Monday–Thursday schedule five days a week, with no late-night service on Friday or Saturday service. The agency has set up a website with updates.
The balance between making sure we can protect our employees, continue to sustain this service and that we just aren’t seeing the ridership demand, all came together to inform us that it made sense to start operating reduced schedules,” Chief Operating Officer Dottie Watkins told the Cap Metro board during an emergency meeting Tuesday morning.
Watkins said ridership was down 40% across the board Monday – but people are still riding the bus… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas hospitals don't have enough beds for coronavirus patients if too many people get sick at once (Texas Tribune)
The front lines of Texas’ health care workforce are preparing for the possibility of widespread COVID-19 infection — and sounding the alarm about the state’s limited number of hospital beds.
Some hospitals are restricting who may visit and screening outsiders for fever. Some are asking doctors and nurses to work longer hours. Others are building drive-through testing sites, temporary triage centers and fever clinics in anticipation of high patient volumes.
And all of them are urging Texans to stay as isolated as possible in order to slow the spread of the new coronavirus because there aren’t enough hospital beds to care for critical patients if too many people get sick at once… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
UT, A&M among Texas colleges postponing graduation ceremonies and moving classes online for the semester (Texas Tribune)
The University of Texas System and Texas A&M University announced that spring commencement ceremonies would be postponed and that the remainder of the semester would be completed remotely, their latest responses to the novel coronavirus.
Many higher education institutions in the state said last week they would extend spring break and move classes online, at least temporarily. Since then, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended canceling gatherings with 50 or more people, and several colleges that initially said they'd resume in-person classes at some point have since said that won't happen this semester.
Among those institutions is Baylor University, which said Monday that online courses would last through May and that commencement would be postponed… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Virus-related price gouging can bring stiff fines in Texas (Austin American-Statesman)
State law makes it illegal to charge “exorbitant or excessive” prices for disinfecting supplies, medicine and other items needed to combat the new coronavirus. The statewide emergency that Gov. Greg Abbott declared Friday also triggered a ban on price gouging for water, food, batteries, lodging, fuel, building materials or “another necessity” — a catch-all provision that includes, for a pandemic, cleaning products and safety supplies.
By Monday afternoon, 255 price-gouging complaints had been filed with the Texas attorney general’s office, which is in charge of investigating price violations. The most common complaints were for prices on toilet paper, bottled water and hand sanitizer, with most of the complaints coming out of Houston and Dallas, spokeswoman Kayleigh Date said Monday. Under state law, those found to be taking financial advantage of the coronavirus emergency could be forced to reimburse customers and can be sued for up to $10,000 per violation, with the penalty jumping to $250,000 if elderly customers were targeted, Attorney General Ken Paxton said. “My office will work aggressively to prevent disaster scams and stands ready to prosecute any price gouger who takes advantage of those taking precautions and looking for safety and supplies,” Paxton said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
New Analysis Suggests Months Of Social Distancing May Be Needed To Stop Virus (NPR)
The United States is facing a grim dilemma: either effectively shut down society for months to prevent transmission of the coronavirus, or see health care systems overwhelmed by people needing treatment for severe infections.
That's the conclusion of a influential new analysis by a well-respected group at Imperial College London that does computer simulations of outbreaks.
Its findings put policy makers in a bind as they think about how to move forward in the weeks ahead, when there's no vaccine or proven treatment.
"The take home message of that Imperial College model is that in order to keep from overwhelming the health care system with severe cases, we are going to have to have very tight controls in place on transmission through social distancing. And those controls are going to be so tight that they will be economically and socially very damaging," says Marc Lipsitch, an expert on infectious disease modeling at Harvard University.
"There's no really good option that doesn't involve at least one of those two problems," he added. "And in fact, both could happen if we aren't very careful about how we manage things." (LINK TO FULL STORY)
US, Canada preparing to unveil border restrictions: reports (The Hill)
The United States and Canada are working on a plan to bar non-essential travel between the two countries, according to multiple reports late Tuesday.
A Canadian government official told The Associated Press that the two countries were working out the details of the new restrictions ahead of an expected announcement.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported that the plan could be announced as early as Wednesday.
The deal would allow some commercial traffic and let Canadian citizens return home but would broadly close the U.S.-Canada border to tourists and shoppers, according to the CBC.
A Trump administration official told CNN that the new restrictions were aimed at ensuring that trade and business between the two countries continues.
The outlet noted that officials were still working on defining "non-essential travel."… (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.
PLEASE RESHARE and FOLLOW:
Twitter #binghamgp
Instagram #binghamgp