BG Reads | News You Need to Know (March 30, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
*NEW* BG PODCAST EPISODE 80: Discussing Austin's Omnibus SXSW/COVID-19 Resilience Plan (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Saving 'Several Thousand Lives' Will Come Down To How Motivated Austinites Are, Adler Says (KUT)
Austin Mayor Steve Adler commended Austinites this week for their work in physical distancing and cutting daily interactions by 50%. New models from UT Austin suggest we’ll need to cut those interactions even more – to 90% – to keep our health care system from being overloaded.
Adler joined KUT’s Jimmy Maas for All Things Considered to talk about getting those interactions down and slowing the spread of the coronavirus… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Cap Metro to eliminate fares (Austin Monitor)
Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority has announced that it will implement free fares throughout the month of April to prioritize public health amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Eliminating fares allows passengers to board through the rear bus door without stopping to pay fares or scan tickets, which reduces crowding and queuing near the driver. Those using wheelchairs and other mobility devices may use the front door.
In its announcement, the transportation authority stressed that the elimination of fares is not intended to encourage ridership, and encouraged Austinites to stay home, as was directed in last week’s Stay Home, Work Safe order, which is in effect until April 13. Modeling by the University of Texas at Austin shows that if each person in the city reduces their social interactions by 90 percent, area hospitals will have enough capacity to serve those with coronavirus. Ignoring those standards, according to the report, will lead to a death toll of thousands.
In addition to service changes, Capital Metro has implemented new cleaning procedures for all of its vehicles. The transit agency’s new goal is to clean and sanitize buses more than once a day, and extra staff have been hired to carry out the change. Capital Metro has also provided drivers with hand sanitizer and gloves, in accordance with guidance from the CDC and Austin Public Health. In addition, “skip a seat” signs have been placed throughout public vehicles, in an effort to encourage physical distancing of at least six feet between passengers… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin school board’s virtual meeting to provide virus, superintendent updates (Austin American-Statesman)
Austin schools Superintendent Paul Cruz and school board President Geronimo Rodriguez on Monday will provide updates on the district’s response to the coronavirus and its search for a replacement for Cruz, who announced last month that he was stepping down.
The Austin school board will conduct its regular board meeting virtually on the videoconferencing platform Zoom at 6 p.m. Monday. The meeting moved online as a health safety measure amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Since March 13, district schools have been closed. Cruz said the district will remain closed until at least April 13, which is when stay-at-home orders from Austin and Travis County authorities could be lifted.
But several Austin-area school districts are preparing for an even longer time away from campuses. Last week, the interim public health authority for Austin and Travis County, Dr. Mark Escott, recommended that schools remain closed for the rest of the school year. The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended that schools be closed for up to 20 weeks to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
District administrators earlier this month launched an online learning website where parents can find courses and resources for their kids until the district can provide teacher-led instruction in the coming weeks. The Learning At-Home website features sample daily schedules as well as resources for special education and gifted and talented students…(LINK TO FULL STORY)
'Gobsmackingly awful decision': Hutto residents demand reinstatement of 48 city employees (Community Impact Newspapers)
More than 40 residents submitted public comments to Hutto City Council at its March 26 meeting, widely in opposition to the city's decision to lay off 48 employees on March 24. Devoid of an in-person crowd at Hutto City Hall due to the coronavirus pandemic, city staff read each comment, one by one, to council in more than an hour's timespan.
The comments came from Hutto residents, business owners and laid off employees alike, with overwhelming criticism of both the city's decision to let go of nearly 50 employees, along with the city's attribution of the layoffs to COVID-19. Particular areas of focus included Hutto City Library and Hutto Animal Control, which lost most or all of its employees. At least three of the public commenters self-identified as now-former city staff members, varying in departments and seniority levels. Stephanie Mazurkiewicz, a former economic development specialist, referred to the levels of "unprofessionalism and shady deals" that have taken place within the past year as "appalling." Sharon Parker, the former assistant events planner for the city, said she has worked in city government for 16 years and was "blindsided" by news of her layoff… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Trump signs coronavirus stimulus bill with billions in relief for Texas (Houston Chronicle)
Tens of billions of dollars are on the way to Texas after President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law the largest stimulus package in the nation's history, $2 trillion aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus and stemming its economic damage. While the full scope of the stimulus spending on Texas is still unknown, the state is on tap for at least $11.2 billion through a $150 billion coronavirus relief fund at the heart of the stimulus, which sends money directly to states and cities coping with the outbreak. But the state will get much more than that through the massive package that easily sailed through the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday.
The stimulus includes billions for hospitals, schools and transit systems — all stretched thin — as well as direct checks to many American taxpayers and forgivable loans for small businesses. Still, nobody in D.C. is really happy with the historic stimulus. The House’s most conservative members, including U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, an East Texas Republican, complained about its price tag, saying “$2 trillion is vastly too much money” and charging that it contains some “pet projects.” The most progressive members, including U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, said it is “shameful” to tie relief for hospitals and workers to a bailout for big businesses. But like the U.S. Senate that passed the bill without a single objection earlier this week, the House easily passed the package on a voice vote, sending it along for Trump’s signature… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
As Texas economy sputters, will rainy day fund rescue state government? (Austin American-Statesman)
Texas voters approved the rainy day fund’s creation in 1988 as an emergency piggy bank to rescue state government in case future leaders faced the sort of oil and gas crash that beset the state budget in the 1980s. Now, with another sharp drop in oil prices — combined with the far-reaching effects of the coronavirus — wreaking havoc on the state’s economy, will Gov. Greg Abbott see fit to dip into the $8.5 billion dollar fund? He’s not saying.
Comptroller Glenn Hegar, who provides state leaders with revenue projections, is already sounding alarm bells, saying he expects rainy day fund spending to be necessary to keep up core government work. Unemployment numbers mount; restaurants and retail stores are shuttered; and oil prices remain in the cellar, down by two-thirds since January. With sales and other consumption taxes making up the lion’s share of state general revenues, a $3 billion budget surplus projected by Hegar last year has evaporated. “The rainy day fund is a tremendous asset in Texas’ fight against this virus,” Hegar, the state’s chief accountant, told the American-Statesman. “While we do not yet know what the full extent of the health care-related needs will be, we do know that the economic toll will be significant.” The fund, drawn from oil and gas taxes, ballooned in recent years until lawmakers tapped it last year for a series of large, one-time expenditures… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
A Texas governor caught betwixt and between Texas attitudes (Texas Tribune)
Political people have noticed the dissonance on Gov. Greg Abbott’s support for local control in the face of the new coronavirus and his disdain for it in recent battles over property taxes, rideshare regulations, paid sick leave, and other local policies.
It’s been a running fight and — pandemics aside — it doesn’t look like the end of it is in sight.
But the range of local reactions to the coronavirus, ranging from stay-home orders of various strengths to business-as-usual responses elsewhere, have the governor hesitating to impose statewide directives… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Dallas convention center will get Texas’ first pop-up hospital for coronavirus (Dallas Morning News)
Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas will be the site of Texas’ first pop-up hospital to treat coronavirus patients, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Sunday. Dallas County has the most COVID-19 cases of any county in Texas, a key consideration in expanding hospital capacity there with help from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Abbott said. The county reported 49 more known cases of coronavirus Sunday, bringing the total to 488. “Existing hospitals will continue to be the primary location to treat and care for those in need,” Abbott said at a news conference. “But we must prepare for the worst-case challenges as they arise.”
The corps, assisted by the Texas National Guard, initially will set up 250 beds, he said. Not even that many beds are needed now. But Abbott and an Army General who has helped Texas scour for possible sites for more pop-up hospitals said the convention center will be able to accommodate as many as 1,400 beds if needed. The corps already has placed "very large-scale medical kits and equipment” that are just waiting to be set up at the convention center, Abbott said. Hospitalizations from the coronavirus have been rising. Of all of the COVID-19 patients who have needed hospitalization in the county, 36% have required admission to intensive-care units, according to the county. Rocky Vaz, the city’s director of emergency management, said he hopes the beds will be set up Tuesday. A homeless shelter already operating at the convention center and the new hospital beds for coronavirus patients will have separate entrances, he said… (LINK TO THE FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Trump shifts, says distancing to go to April 30 (The Hill)
President Trump on Sunday announced that the White House will keep its guidelines for social distancing in place through the end of April to try to blunt the spread of the coronavirus, a significant shift from less than a week ago, when he said he hoped the country could be “opened up” by Easter Sunday, April 12.
“Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won,” Trump said in his remarks on Sunday. “That would be the greatest loss of all.”
Trump encouraged Americans to follow the guidelines issued by his administration roughly two weeks ago urging them to avoid restaurants and bars, cancel nonessential travel, and limit in-person gatherings to 10 people or fewer. But with those guidelines set to expire on Tuesday, Trump faced pressure from health experts to extend them or risk seeing a heightened death toll… (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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