BG Reads | News You Need to Know (August 11, 2021)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Last year Austin cut its police budget by millions. A new state law means it’ll likely reverse that move this week. (Austin Monitor)
The same day Austin City Council members voted to reduce the police budget by roughly $150 million, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pledged to make it so cities could never do it again.
“Austin’s decision puts the brave men and women of the Austin Police Department and their families at greater risk, and paves the way for lawlessness. Public safety is job one, and Austin has abandoned that duty,” Abbott wrote in an emailed statement, adding that the Legislature would take it up in the next session.
Lawmakers made good on the governor’s promise earlier this year. In May, Abbott signed into law House Bill 1900, which financially penalizes a city that reduces its police budget. Cities that cut funding could be prohibited from collecting new property tax revenue, raising public utility rates or annexing land.
As Austin politicians prepare to vote on a budget this year, they’re also preparing to refund their police department — fearing the financial consequences of running afoul of the new law.
“We face a significant new challenge in the upcoming fiscal year in the form of HB 1900, a new state law that levies catastrophic fiscal penalties for municipalities that cut police funding year over year,” City Manager Spencer Cronk said last month as he unveiled his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
Each year, the city manager drafts a budget and then Council members spend weeks amending and tweaking it before approving a final version, typically in August or September.
“I want to assure you that our FY 22 budget proposal is fully compliant with the new requirements of this law,” Cronk said.
The new state law requires cities to approve police budgets at or above the highest amount in the past two years; in order to avoid financial penalties, Austin has to fund its police department to 2019 levels, or at least $432 million.
On the table is a police department budget totaling roughly $442 million, or nearly 10% of the city’s overall budget. This proposed budget restores about $130 million to police in part by returning divisions to the department that were moved out, including the crime lab… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
APD not anticipating need to 'significantly scale' arrests amid Phase 4 of Prop. B enforcement (Community Impact)
Days into the fourth and final phase of the rollout of Austin's reinstated public camping ban, interim Police Chief Joseph Chacon said officers and city staff remain focused on education and respectful transitions for those experiencing homelessness while avoiding harsher, permitted penalties.
Phase 4 of Proposition B enforcement, which began Aug. 8, allows Austin Police Department officers to cite and potentially arrest those who do not relocate after being warned or cited under the camping ordinance. Arrests have always been optional under the phased plan in cases of potential danger, but Chacon said Aug. 10 that police have avoided taking anyone into custody so far since the proposition went into effect in mid-May and hope to continue that trend.
“We don't anticipate to have to significantly scale up the number of arrests that we’re making as part of this. We will look to, for enforcement efforts, always go with the lowest level of enforcement. Generally that is the citation. And before we even go to the citation, we’re trying to get that voluntary compliance," he said. "We found that in the overwhelming majority of cases, that one of those two options is sufficient to go ahead and get people to move."
In the three-plus months since voters approved Proposition B, Chacon said APD officers tasked with enforcement have conducted more than 130 site visits at more than 80 distinct locations to connect with people experiencing homelessness. During those visits, police found nearly 1,300 tents or encampments, and when speaking to individuals, have moved 124 people through assessments as the possible starting points on the path to permanent housing.
“During all phases including in Phase 4, we have continued our education and outreach efforts and continue to operate from a harm reduction standpoint with the objective to get individuals experiencing homelessness on a path to supportive housing," Chacon said. "We continue to work diligently to ensure that all persons encountered during this endeavor are treated with dignity and respect."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin bars and restaurants are reinstating masks and other safety policies as Delta cases spike (Eater Austin)
The delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spread through Austin, causing an alarming increase in the number of positive cases and hospitalizations in the area and leading local bars and restaurants to reevaluate their safety practices. Last week, the city escalated into the highest and most stringent tier of its COVID safety guidelines, Stage 5, in an attempt to ease the stress on the local healthcare systems.
While the City of Austin is not allowed to legally enforce a mask mandate due to state orders, individual businesses can dictate their own rules while honoring the executive order that states that companies that have received government loans cannot require or ask for documentation of vaccinations.
In light of this, Eater is tracking the Austin restaurants and bars that are reverting back to COVID restrictions, including the requirement of masks for staffers and customers despite vaccination statuses, the closure of indoor dining rooms, the continuation of takeout services, and/or vaccination requirements to dine/drink at the business. Although masks may be mandatory at these locations, people are allowed to take off their masks for eating and drinking purposes when seated at a restaurant or bar.
Everything below is listed in alphabetical order… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas Gov. Abbott seeks out-of-state help against COVID-19 (Associated Press)
Gov. Greg Abbott appealed for out-of-state help to fight the third wave of COVID-19 in Texas while two more of the state’s largest school districts announced mask mandates in defiance of the governor. Abbott’s request Monday came as a county-owned hospital in Houston raised tents to accommodate their COVID-19 overflow. Private hospitals in the county already were requiring their staff to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Meantime, the Dallas and Austin school districts announced Monday that they would require students and staff to wear face masks. The Houston school district already announced a mask mandate for its students and staff later this week if its board approves. The highly contagious delta variant is fueling the wave.
The Republican governor has directed the Texas Department of State Health Services to use staffing agencies to find additional medical staff from beyond the state’s borders as the delta wave began to overwhelm its present staffing resources. He also has sent a letter to the Texas Hospital Association to request that hospitals postpone all elective medical procedures voluntarily. Hospital officials in Houston said last week that area hospitals with beds had insufficient numbers of nurses to serve them. Abbott also directed the state health department and the Texas Division of Emergency Management to open additional COVID-19 antibody infusion centers to treat patients not needing hospital care and expand COVID-19 vaccine availability to the state’s underserved communities. He also announced about $267 million in emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food benefits for August. That was on top of the $3.9 billion in benefits previously allocated since April 2020… (LINK TO STORY)
Texas Supreme Court greenlights arrest of AWOL House Democrats (Houston Chronicle)
The Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended a lower court order that had blocked Republicans from arresting Democratic lawmakers who return to the state after fleeing last month in an effort to stymie the GOP’s priority elections bill. The all-Republican court nullified a temporary restraining order issued Monday by state District Judge Brad Urrutia, a Democrat, in response to a request from Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dade Phelan, who had sought to overturn the order.
Though state troopers lack authority beyond Texas’ borders, Urrutia’s ruling had provided assurance to Democrats that they could return home from Washington without fear of being found and escorted to the Capitol by state troopers. It is unclear how such “arrests” would be carried out, however, because the lawmakers are not charged with a crime, according to an analysis by fact-checking journalists at PolitiFact Texas. “In a situation like this, they don’t even have a warrant for a criminal arrest,” Sandra Thompson, a University of Houston law professor and director of the Criminal Justice Institute, told PolitiFact last month. “I think we really need to be thinking about this more in terms of an escort than trying to analogize it as a criminal situation.” On Monday, a total of 95 House members marked themselves present, leaving the chamber five short of a quorum needed to conduct business. The House voted to lock the chamber doors and require permission for members to leave, but it did not authorize the arrests as Urrutia’s order remained in effect… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan signs arrest warrants for absent Democrats in bid to end chamber’s weekslong stalemate (Texas Tribune)
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan on Tuesday evening signed civil arrest warrants for 52 House Democrats still missing from the state Capitol as he aimed to regain the quorum needed for the chamber to begin moving legislation during the second special session.
The move was confirmed by Phelan spokesperson Enrique Marquez, who said the warrants "will be delivered to the House Sergeant-at-Arms tomorrow morning for service."
The warrants were first reported by The Dallas Morning News. Democrats who may be arrested would not face criminal charges or fines and could only be brought to the House chamber. Dozens of minority party members fled to Washington, D.C., during the first special session to block a GOP voting restrictions bill.
The 52 warrants represent all but 15 Democrats in the lower chamber. There were at least 11 present Tuesday. There were no additional new Democrats on the floor Tuesday after four returned a day earlier — and drew the wrath of some Democratic colleagues still in Washington, and prompted a renewed push inside the party to hold the line.
Earlier Tuesday, the House voted overwhelmingly to authorize law enforcement to track down lawmakers absent from the chamber.
That 80-12 vote came hours after the Texas Supreme Court ordered that those missing Democrats could soon be detained by state authorities. The order by the all-GOP court came at the request of Gov. Greg Abbott and Phelan, both of whom had asked the court Monday to overturn a ruling from a state district judge that blocked those leaders from ordering the arrest of the quorum-breaking Democrats.
In a statement after the warrants were signed Tuesday evening, state Rep. Chris Turner of Grand Prairie, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, said it is "fully within our rights as legislators to break quorum to protect our constituents" and reiterated Democrats' commitment "to fighting with everything we have against Republicans' attacks on our freedom to vote."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas Sen. John Cornyn votes ‘no’ on $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill as it passes U.S. Senate (Dallas Morning News)
Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn voted against President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure package Tuesday, joining fellow Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and 28 other Republicans in opposing the bill. “After reviewing the [Congressional Budget Office]’s analysis, which estimates the bill will increase the deficit by a quarter trillion dollars, and because of the failure to include my bipartisan amendment, I cannot support the final bill,” Cornyn said in a statement after the vote.
“It isn’t paid for, will add too much to the debt, and was rushed through the Senate in a week’s time without adequate debate or input.” His proposed amendment, which would’ve allowed state and local officials to spend unused coronavirus relief funds on infrastructure projects and had support from both Democrats and Republicans, was left off the final package. After his procedural vote to let the bill advance on Sunday, Cornyn opposed the final bill Tuesday morning.
The 69-30 vote was celebrated on both sides of the aisle in the Senate. The bill now heads to the House. “The American people will now see the most robust injection of funds into infrastructure in decades,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the floor before the vote. Despite GOP opposition, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, lauded the bill as a “true bipartisan effort,” and thanked the bipartisan group of senators who laid the groundwork and coordinated the negotiation on the bill, including Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., the top Democratic negotiator.
“To me, not only does this investment make sense, but importantly, what we are doing here today also demonstrates to the American people that we can get our act together on a bipartisan basis and get something done,” Portman said. Senate Democrats agreed. “Washington needs infrastructure investment,” Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said on the floor. “Our legislation, I think, is an historic investment to rebuild the infrastructure, including for things like mega projects, basically helping to eliminate our problems, improve our freight network, improve our environment and helping Amtrak better serve the United States of America.” In the House, moderate Democrats are already pushing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Ca., to bring the infrastructure bill to the House floor for a vote as soon as possible… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Business groups prepare blitz against Democratic tax hikes (The Hill)
Business groups, which celebrated the bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday, are preparing to aggressively lobby against Democrats’ broader $3.5 trillion spending package even as House leaders say they will not pass one bill without the other.
The bipartisan plan invests $550 billion in new infrastructure spending without hiking taxes. But the larger, party-line plan to fund a wide range of Democratic priorities from climate to child care is funded primarily by increasing taxes on the wealthiest individuals and corporations.
Business groups and lobbyists representing business interests are prepared to fiercely oppose such tax increases, confident that Democrats’ reconciliation package will inevitably be watered down or collapse entirely amid divisions within the caucus.
“Today, the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill does not have 218 votes in the House or 51 votes in the Senate, and we’re going to make sure it stays that way,” said Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which backed the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Every Senate Democrat on Tuesday voted to begin debate on Democrats’ budget resolution, which serves as a framework for the reconciliation package. But Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have already indicated that they want to cut the size of the final bill.
Just one Democratic defection in the Senate would kill the bill, as would four defections in the House.
Some moderate House Democrats have expressed reservations about the $3.5 trillion bill, pitting them against progressives who are demanding huge investments to fight climate change.
Democrats must find common ground soon to accommodate a packed upcoming schedule that includes votes on annual spending bills and the debt ceiling… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Cuomo scandal prompts reckoning at LGBTQ group Human Rights Campaign (NPR)
The president of the country's largest LGBTQ advocacy organization is fighting to hold on to his job, even as the group launches an internal investigation into his alleged role in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's sexual harassment and retaliation scandal. The scandal has already led Cuomo to announce his resignation - while still maintaining he did nothing wrong - as well as the resignation of the chairwoman of the anti-sexual harassment group Time's Up.
But Alphonso David, who leads the Human Rights Campaign, remains in his position. David is a former adviser and legal counsel to Cuomo. An investigation by the New York Attorney General connected David to multiple attempts by Cuomo and his advisers to retaliate against women who accused Cuomo of sexual harassment. In one instance, the report states, David shared confidential personnel records regarding one Cuomo accuser with Cuomo's aides. Those aides allegedly leaked the accuser's records to the media. In another instance cited in the report, David participated in discussions about a letter that would attack the accuser's credibility.
David has denied all wrongdoing. He has said he was legally obligated to share the personnel files with Cuomo's advisers, and emphasizes that he never agreed to sign the letter that attacked the accuser… (LINK TO FULL STORY)