BG Reads | News You Need to Know (October 7, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
BG Podcast Episode 108: Industry Update with Skeeter Miller, President, Greater Austin Restaurant Association (SHOW LINK)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Money flows into quiet races for Council (Austin Monitor)
All Austin City Council candidates are required to file a campaign finance report 30 days before the election. Most of the candidates for the Nov. 3 election filed their reports Monday or a few days before. Despite the pandemic, there is still a need to advertise, and Covid-19 has made it harder for candidates to get their message out without money. Here is a rundown of the money raised and who is contributing for the Nov. 3 election… (LINK TO STORY)
Travis County coronavirus data continue downward trend, but distancing remains a concern (Austin American-Statesman)
A day after Gov. Greg Abbott appeared to hint at reopening bars in Texas, Travis County health officials on Tuesday said coronavirus hospitalizations and positive cases in the Austin area continue to trend downward.
Dr. Mark Escott, the Austin-Travis County interim health authority, told county commissioners on Tuesday that the area’s seven-day positivity rate for tests detecting COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, dropped to 3.8%.
“That’s the lowest positivity rate that we’ve seen,” Escott said.
Austin Public Health on Tuesday clarified it’s the lowest average since June 15, when health officials first began tracking the data locally.
The seven-day moving average for new hospitalizations is 12.7, with nine new hospitalizations as of Monday night, Escott said… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin City Hall now has an economic development corporation — so what exactly will it do? (Austin Business Journal)
Austin's economic development scene will soon welcome a new player.
Following years of discussion, Austin City Council approved Oct. 1 the creation of the Austin Economic Development Corporation, which is coming online during trying times for the local economy as business closures mount and longtime issues, such as affordability, are exacerbated by the pandemic.
The AEDC, as approved by Council, will be a public, nonprofit organization that will act as a local government corporation. Economic development corporations have become widespread in recent years across Central Texas, including in suburbs such as Cedar Park, Georgetown, Bastrop and Round Rock. The corporations can either be formed as a local government corporation or a type B corporation.
Austin City Council's vote also follows a shift last year to aim economic incentives at a broader range of residents and businesses — not just major corporations such as Apple or Samsung… (LINK TO STORY)
Group begins collecting signatures to put state law limiting police oversight to a vote (Austin American-Statesman)
A new political action committee is trying to put a state law governing police oversight on the ballot next May.
“I think it’s really unique and kind of amazing that [this petition could] allow the voters in Austin to decide if we want to change how policing is done in Austin,” Eric Wikman, treasurer of the Police Oversight Project, told KUT.
While Texas laws are not normally subject to repeal by petitions, Chapter 143 of the Texas Local Government Code is a bit different. Texas allows municipalities to decide whether they want to adopt the law, which Austin voters did in 1948, and municipalities can also decide whether to repeal it with a public vote.
Criminal justice advocates in Austin have long bemoaned Chapter 143 and the limits it places on the oversight of policing. For example, the state code requires that police chiefs discipline officers for misconduct within 180 days of an incident. It also prohibits departments from releasing an officer’s personnel files to the public.
Chapter 143 also prohibits a police chief from being fired, which came to the public’s attention this summer when activists began asking that APD Chief Brian Manley be fired. Legally, he can only be demoted… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
The Texas Legislature meets in less than 100 days. Nobody knows how the session will look. (Texas Tribune)
The Texas Capitol is a bustling place when the Legislature is in session — the elevators are crowded, the hallways are packed, the committee hearing rooms are overflowing and the chamber floors are covered with state lawmakers.
But with less than 100 days until the 87th regular session and the coronavirus pandemic still upending once-regular ways of life, it’s unclear what typical functions at the Capitol will look like in January, or whether they will even exist.
That uncertainty this close to the session could have ramifications for what members say will be one of the toughest legislative sessions in recent years: tackling billions of dollars in shortfalls to the state budget, undergoing the process of redrawing the state’s political maps, and navigating issues like health care and public education that have been a focus during the pandemic.
On top of that, the Capitol has been closed to most everyone for months, prompting questions about the access that the public will have to the legislative process.
Senate and House members spearheading logistical discussions say that while much remains up in the air, the two chambers are working together to implement session rules that are consistent for both chambers. With wildly different dynamics in the 31-person Senate and the 150-person House, though, some suggest that the two chambers may not end up on the same page.
“Our primary concern is safety, transparency and public access,” said state Rep. Donna Howard, an Austin Democrat who serves as vice chair of the House Administration Committee. “There’s so much up in the air.”
State Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, chair of the committee, said the House is “in conversation with the lieutenant governor’s office,” but noted that “until there’s a presumed speaker, we don’t have a lot of guidance” in the lower chamber… (LINK TO STORY)
Who is Nate Paul, the real estate investor linked to abuse-of-office allegations against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton? (Texas Tribune)
Walk through downtown Austin or its rapidly developing nearby neighborhoods and it’s impossible to miss the massive black banners draped over office buildings, warehouses and bars. “Another World Class Project,” reads one posted to the metal siding of a squat industrial building downtown. Other banners riff on their own ubiquity with a pithy line popularized by DJ Khaled: “Another One.”
The promotional campaign belongs to an Austin-based real estate investment firm owned by Nate Paul. World Class Capital Group has acquired an enviable portfolio of some of Austin’s choicest parcels with ambitious plans to lease or develop them. Paul has described himself in media reports as wanting to become “the youngest self-made real estate billionaire.”
These days, Paul’s name is associated not just with a real estate empire but with a series of recent high-profile bankruptcies and a much-publicized raid on his home and business office last year by FBI and U.S. Department of Treasury agents. The investigation remained active as recently as April, though no criminal charges have been filed, according to the Austin Business Journal.
And now he has been linked to bribery and abuse-of-office allegations made against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton… (LINK TO STORY)
Biden, Democrats see late opportunity in Texas (The Hill)
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign will spend $6 million on television advertisements in Texas as Democrats sense a new opportunity to gain substantial ground in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to a statewide office in a quarter century.
Biden’s campaign is not alone: Forward Majority, a Democratic super PAC, has committed $6.2 million in spending aimed at flipping the state House. The Lincoln Project, a group of Republican strategists who oppose President Trump, has launched its own $1 million campaign aimed at suburban Republican women.
And the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is spending substantial amounts in districts across the state where they see late movement… (LINK TO STORY)
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas to lower 2021 premiums, issue credits to employer health plans (Houston Chronicle)
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas said Tuesday that it will lower health insurance premiums next year and issue credits to employers who purchase group plans as the coronavirus pandemic reduces visits to providers and medical spending. The insurance company said the decreases to individual and group health insurance rates for next year will save plan holders $109 million. The company said it would issue $104 million in rebates in the form of credits to fully insured Texas employers. Insurers nationwide are paying out fewer claims and several are offering pandemic relief credits in response to COVID-19. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid released guidelines over the summer allowing insurers to return some of those premiums back to people and businesses enrolled in their plans.
Health care spending has dropped dramatically during the pandemic, as patients avoided physician’s offices and medical providers were forced to reschedule elective procedures. There’s still a lot of “uncertainty” about whether spending will bounce back later this year, said James Campbell, a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas spokesperson. “This is about the ‘now’ and giving relief to our fully insured Texas employer customers and providing further financial relief for group plans, individuals and their families,” Campbell said. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas is the largest insurer in the state, serving 6 million plan holders and working with more than 80,000 medical providers. It is unclear how many consumers will benefit from the pandemic relief credits… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Trump orders aides to halt talks on COVID-19 relief (The Hill)
President Trump said Tuesday that he has instructed his top aides to stop negotiating with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on future coronavirus stimulus legislation until after the November election, a risky move just weeks before voters head to the polls.
Trump, who is himself currently being treated for COVID-19, accused Pelosi in a series of tweets Tuesday afternoon of "not negotiating in good faith" and seeking "bailouts" for states he says are poorly run by Democratic officials.
"I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business," Trump tweeted.
The message marked a sharp reversal for the president, who just three days earlier had urged leaders of both parties to come together to finalize an agreement that can hit his desk before the Nov. 3 elections.
“OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE,” Trump tweeted on Saturday afternoon, a day after he checked into the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to be treated for COVID-19.
Pelosi quickly condemned Trump's move Tuesday, accusing the president of neglecting his office by refusing to provide help to those struggling under the health and economic weight of the pandemic.
“Today, once again, President Trump showed his true colors: putting himself first at the expense of the country, with the full complicity of the GOP Members of Congress,” she said in a statement.
The Democratic leader added that the White House “is in complete disarray.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Pence steps into a 2020 rescue act (Politico)
Vice President Mike Pence is entering his first and only debate against Sen. Kamala Harris with an unusual but fitting task: To clean up everything his boss said when the president appeared on the debate stage himself last week.
With his serene grin, gentle Midwestern charm and unrivaled ability to soften President Donald Trump’s words, Pence is seen by many White House allies as the Trump campaign’s last hope for a desperately needed reset following a streak of missteps by the man at the top of the ticket — beginning with Trump’s erratic performance during his debate against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and ending with his determination to leave the hospital Monday still in the throes of a serious Covid-19 infection.
“Ahead of the events of the last seven days, I thought the vice presidential debate would be an important opportunity for the Trump campaign. Now it’s a matter of survival,” said Republican strategist Rob Stutzman.
No stranger to the role of Trump’s translator, Pence has spent much of the past four years using campaign trail appearances and major speeches to define the president’s agenda in more palatable terms for moderate Republicans and swing voters, and to repackage Trump’s vicious attacks on opponents as the musings of a leader who simply wants to defend faith-focused Americans and ordinary workers.
It’s these tactics Pence allies are looking for him to deploy when he and Harris, a former prosecutor and gutsy debater, face off at the University of Utah on Wednesday. Where Trump has struggled to outline the contours of a second-term agenda, his campaign aides say Pence will fill the void. Where he has failed to justify his response to the global coronavirus outbreak, Pence will come to his defense. And where a damning portrayal of Biden has escaped the president so far, Pence allies believe he will finally define the Democratic nominee in a way that repels undecided and on-the-fence voters… (LINK TO STORY)