BG Reads | News You Need to Know (May 27, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
BG Podcast Ep 88: Austin Council Member Paige Ellis discusses the Healthy Streets Program (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Staffers offer a preview of FY 2020 budget (Austin Monitor)
The Austin Health and Human Services Committee heard a budget update Tuesday morning that included news of how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the city.
“We were projecting a balanced budget for FY 21,” Deputy Chief Financial Officer Ed Van Eenoo said. “But we did have some gaps in the out years that we were projecting. But in the short term, it looked pretty good.”
Then Covid-19 hit.
“And we had to simply shut down large portions of our economy,” he said. “It’s impacting our sales tax collection, our mixed drink taxes, and user fees and fines.”
Balanced budgets had been forecast for fiscal years 2020 and 2021. Now the shortfall could be anywhere from $38.3 million to $57.6 million in Fiscal Year 2020.
The Budget Office has run the numbers and estimated what the shortfalls will be by source and depending on whether there is a rapid resolution or a slower resolution to the pandemic.
“Out of prudence, we are continuing to work” as though the resolution will be a slower one, Van Eenoo said.
The city has already seen a $36.7 million decline in Hotel Occupancy Tax, a $68.1 million decline in airport revenue (related to parking fees, landing fees and concession revenue), and an $8.9 million decline in Transportation Department parking fees.
The city has started work to mitigate the effect on the budget. That includes a hiring freeze on 600 vacant positions and reductions in discretionary budget line items, operational efficiency improvements, homelessness services performance framework and social service contract review, and Strategic Direction 2023 program alignment.
“Departments are going through their budgets to find ways to reduce discretionary expenses as much as they can,” he said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Report: Austin lost more than 129,000 jobs between February and April (Community Impact)
As multiple sectors of Austin’s economy temporarily closed stores to customers as part of a nationwide effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus, more than 100,000 Austin jobs were lost in the process.
This is according to a May 26 report released by the Austin Chamber of Commerce. The Austin Chamber analyzed state and federal unemployment data released in late May to construct its report.
The new report found the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan statistical area lost a total combined 129,200 jobs.
“As dismal as these losses are, Austin’s year-over-year decline of 9.1% makes it the ninth ‘best performing’ among the 50 largest metro areas [in the U.S.,]” the Austin Chamber wrote in its May 26 report.
Of the 10 metro areas that experienced the lowest percentage of job losses year over year, four of them—Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio—are in Texas… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Capital Metro proposes incorporating Austin B-cycle as extension of public transit network (Austin Monitor)
By late fall, public transit and bike-share users may be able to access both services with the purchase of a local bus day pass.
Under a proposed partnership with the city, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is looking to expand upon the symbiosis between its transit system and the city’s B-cycle bike-share program by fully incorporating the bike-share into its transit network.
With an integrated MetroBike system, Chad Ballentine of Capital Metro said the agency could reach areas that currently lack easy access to transit.
“Transit’s obviously the big piece that is the centerpiece of everything,” Ballentine told the agency’s board of directors Friday. “But then we’ve got bikes … which are sort of our smaller tools for expanding the core of the system, rather than just sending a bus everywhere.”
Ballentine said the agency is already working on a tool that will allow customers to plan their transit trips around the bike-share system in the Capital Metro mobile app. If the board and the city agree on the MetroBike concept in June, customers would also be able to purchase a bundled day or month pass for full access to the local bus network and the bike-share system at no extra charge.
As part of the new partnership, Capital Metro would create the MetroBike brand and take charge of planning and programming the seamless integration between transit and the bike-share system. For its part of the partnership, the city would manage the right of way and provide public amenities like wayfinding, workshops and safe bike paths. Daily operations would still be run by Bike Share of Austin, the nonprofit that maintains the B-cycle fleet… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas Governor Criticized Over $295M Contact Tracing Deal (Governing)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is pushing back hard against bipartisan criticism of a hastily awarded contract that put a little-known North Texas technology company in charge of the state’s effort to track down people who may be exposed to the coronavirus.
The company, MTX Group, asserted in its bid for the $295 million contract — with little evidence — that it had “extensive experience” doing contact tracing in several U.S. states.
“Governor Abbott pointed to MTX’s experience in implementing COVID-19 response systems including contact tracing in other states,” Abbott spokesman John Wittman said, listing 10 states that include New York, Florida and Massachusetts. “Importantly, every aspect of this contract is being paid for with federal funds.”
Wittman also said Abbott had gotten assurances that the privacy of Texans would be respected under the terms of the deal — a major concern of conservative activists who have grown increasingly critical of the Republican governor… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott re-opens food courts at malls, though urges tables be 6 feet apart (Dallas Morning News)
Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday gave shopping malls in Texas the green light to reopen their food courts immediately. He urged that tables be limited to six diners, "maintaining a six-feet distance between individuals sitting at different tables." In other coronavirus-related moves, Abbott on Tuesday also said driver education may resume immediately. And at 12:01 a.m. Friday, water parks may reopen at 25% capacity and practices for recreational sports programs for adults may resume.
“But games and similar competitions may not begin until June 15, 2020,” Abbott said in an executive order. Abbott relaxed COVID-19 restrictions for more categories of businesses and activities eight days after saying Texas has contained the virus’ spread enough to begin Phase II of his reopening plan. On Tuesday, Abbott spokesman John Wittman confirmed that Deaf Smith, El Paso, Moore, Potter and Randall counties, which had been delayed a week in their Phase II reopenings because of local outbreaks or hospital-capacity issues, would be allowed to have immediate reopening of food courts and resumption of driver education… (LINK TO STORY)
One congressman calls for investigation, another calls for voiding San Antonio event planner’s food relief contract (San Antonio Express-News)
Two members of San Antonio’s congressional delegation are calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to take corrective action after it awarded multi-million dollar contracts for a major food relief program to companies with no experience in food distribution, including a San Antonio events planner. U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, said the $39 million contract awarded to CRE8AD8, owned by Gregorio Palomino, should be canceled.
“I am contacting the Agriculture Department and asking them to issue a stop-work notice … and then to proceed to void the contract,” Doggett said. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, already sent a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue asking for an investigation into how the contracts were awarded for the Farmers to Families Food Box Program, designed to get surplus food into the hands of families in need because of the economic havoc caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic. The USDA and Palomino did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Both congressmen are mirroring concerns of many in the food industry. “As best as I can determine, the Agriculture Department awarded 198 contracts in a single week,” Doggett said. “For them to award almost 200 contacts in a week, it’s clear they did not do proper vetting.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Democratic unity starts to crack in coronavirus liability reform fight (The Hill)
A group of moderate Senate Democrats say they are open to considering liability protection for businesses in the next round of coronavirus relief legislation, a crack in Democratic unity that gives Republicans and the White House some leverage.
Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have rejected Republican demands for liability protection, but some rank-and-file Democrats say it could be appropriate in certain circumstances.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) says he wants some form of liability protection for businesses to be included in the next coronavirus relief bill, but also framed it as something that could help workers… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
CDC: Coronavirus antibodies could give "short-term immunity," but more data is needed (AXIOS)
Coronavirus antibody tests are still relatively unreliable, and it's unclear if people who get the virus are immune to getting it again, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cautioned on Tuesday.
What they're saying: The agency explicitly warned against using antibody tests to determine whether someone should return to work or to group people within schools or prisons.
Although some evidence suggests that previously having the coronavirus could create "short-term immunity," it is still ultimately unknown whether having COVID-19 antibodies offers protection from the virus, the agency said.
Social distancing and face masks are still essential and should not be avoided based on whether you have coronavirus antibodies. More data would be needed for those changes, the agency says.
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