BG Reads | News You Need to Know (October 21, 2021)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
EVENTS // Thursday, October 28 (6PM - 10PM0, A Night In Verde Presented by St. David’s Healthcare - benefiting the 4ATX Foundation (Austin FC’s non-profit arm).
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Panelists look at impacts, opportunities brought by Tesla and others (Austin Monitor)
With Austin an increasingly popular relocation choice for major companies and public institutions, the area’s infrastructure, employment dynamics and education systems are in for significant impacts in the coming years. That was the messages panelists had for local real estate and development leaders on Wednesday, when Urban Land Institute Austin focused its monthly breakfast on the significance of large projects moving into Central Texas.
The most high-profile of these is Tesla’s billion-dollar manufacturing plant in Southeast Austin, as well as the auto maker’s recent decision to move its headquarters to the area. The prospect of 10,000 well-paying manufacturing jobs, plus thousands more white-collar executives relocating to the area, is significant for a portion of Austin that has been historically underinvested in, Travis County Commissioner Jeff Travillion said.
“It is significant for us in this community to build blue-collar jobs as well, and the median (income) for a manufacturing employee at Tesla will be north of $60,000. When you think about the types of jobs being created, the question becomes how do we make sure we connect all the dots,” he said. “We’re grateful to have them there, smack in the middle of the two zip codes with the highest health care disparities in the region … now you get multi-billions of investment in those communities.”
Travillion noted that, pre-Tesla, the land used for the plant brought in $6,400 in property taxes annually for the county, compared to $1 million in annual collections now.
County and city officials now have to take a close look at how permitting and approval processes can be improved, Travillion said. For instance, the county has used an outside contractor on some of the field functions tied to recent bond projects as a pilot program to study how to make changes.
Panelists and audience members agreed that making those changes will help bring more affordable housing to the Austin area to accommodate new workers… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin immigration attorney Jose ‘Chito’ Vella III says he plans to run for city council (KXAN)
Austin immigration and criminal defense attorney Jose “Chito” Vela III has announced he plans on running for city council. Vela said he plans to run for District 4, which is currently held by Greg Casar.
On Tuesday, Casar announced he was launching an exploratory committee to figure out if he’ll run for the open seat in the newly-drawn in Texas Congressional District 35, which encompasses most of Travis County east of Interstate 35 and stretches down to San Antonio.
“As an immigration attorney, I work with people every day who are struggling to stay in Austin,” Vela said on Twitter. “We must be a welcoming city for working-class people, not a playground for the wealthy.”
Though Casar hasn’t announced he will run for Congress, Vela said he will run as a candidate if his seat becomes open… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
As Austin's rezoning of UT lands continues, time could be running out for Muny course preservation (Community Impact)
A city-led rezoning process that could determine whether Lions Municipal Golf Course will remain in operation on Austin’s west side is continuing, while landowner The University of Texas is potentially eyeing the historic site's redevelopment.
The city has been working for months to rezone four separate UT-owned tracts after Austin City Council initiated a process to set “appropriate uses” for the properties last December. The lands, including the Lions course, or Muny, are longtime UT assets, but new zoning recommendations for the properties are being developed by city staff.
The largest of the four areas in question are the Brackenridge tracts, including the 141-acre Muny, the West Austin Youth Association's facilities, and dozens of acres along the Colorado River now home to a university apartment complex and field laboratory. The nearby Gateway Apartments property off West Sixth Street, the West Pickle Research Campus off MoPac to the north and the Montopolis Research Center on Montopolis Drive are also set to be rezoned… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Tesla still not giving many details about HQ move to Austin (Austin American-Statesman)
Tesla held its third-quarter earnings call with shareholders on Wednesday — but anyone hoping the automaker would provide more details about moving its headquarters to Austin was likely disappointed.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Oct. 7 that Tesla will relocate its corporate headquarters to Austin, but gave few hints as to what that would entail.
After Wednesday's earnings report, most of the details still remain a mystery.
Company executives did say they still expect production to start at Tesla's $1.1 billion Central Texas manufacturing facility before the end of the year, but said little else about the Austin relocation. The company still has not given a timetable for the move or provided information on where the corporate headquarters will be built, how many employees might be coming to Central Texas or how many jobs might be created… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says Gov. Greg Abbott should call lawmakers back for a fourth special session (Texas Tribune)
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pushed Wednesday for a fourth special session on two elections-related issues that did not get passed in the third special session that ended earlier this week. Gov. Greg Abbott's office said another special session is not necessary for now.
In a tweet, Patrick said he supported Abbott calling lawmakers back to Austin to increase the penalty for illegal voting and approve a "forensic audit bill." Abbott added the penalty increase to the call for the third special session, but it quickly ran into opposition from House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont. Abbott did not include the election audit proposal on his agenda despite pressure from former President Donald Trump.
"TX Senate just finished a strong conservative session," Patrick said in his tweet. "But more needs to be done."
Abbott spokesperson Renae Eze responded to Patrick in a statement.
"Texans tasked the Legislature with delivering on key priorities for the state in this most recent special session, including property tax relief, redistricting, and the nearly $16 billion American Rescue Plan Act funding, and we went above and beyond to deliver on these priorities as well as solve other critical issues for Texas," Eze said. "Because of the Texas House and Senate’s efforts to get these priorities across the finish line, there is no need for another special session at this time."
Abbott placed the illegal-voting penalty increase on the third special session call in what Patrick, the Senate's presiding officer, characterized as a remedy for a last-minute, under-the-radar change that the House made to the GOP's priority elections bill that passed during the second special session. The bill, which Abbott signed into law last month and goes into effect in December, decreased the crime of illegal voting from a second-degree felony to a Class A misdemeanor.
But Phelan swiftly shot down any chance of the penalty increase making it to Abbott's desk during the third special session. He said he did not want to revisit the contentious elections bill, which had prompted a weekslong Democratic quorum break… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas says popular cannabis extract, delta-8, is illegal, sending retailers scrambling (Texas Tribune)
Three years after federal legislation removed the marijuana extract known as delta-8 THC from the nation's list of controlled substances, Texas health officials have put it on its own list of illegal drugs, sending a shockwave through the growing CBD retail industry across the state and making the substance, essentially, illegal.
Christine Perez, who manages the popular Austin CBD store Lazydaze+Coffeeshop, had no idea about the change until she saw the Texas Department of State Health Services notice on the agency’s website on Oct. 15.
“I was very confused, as well as a bunch of other companies. It’s like, ‘What is going on?’” Perez said. “I really have no idea why [the state] would try to ban it, or the timing of it. We didn’t hear anything about it from the state.”
It was easy to miss.
As The Dallas Morning News reported this week, the state health agency placed a notice in the rule change publication, the Texas Register. The notice said delta-8 remained a controlled drug in Texas. Both the federal government and states can differ on what is a controlled substance by keeping separate lists. Still, word failed to get out to CBD stores that anything containing the substance, like candy or tincture oil, would be illegal to sell in Texas.
It became the top product for many dispensaries in Texas, as users say it produced the “high” effect of marijuana. The variant became popular after the 2018 Farm Bill changed the definition of “lawful marijuana extracts” and included any extract that has lower than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), including delta-8. THC is the active psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, responsible for the user’s high.
Delta-8 was thought to be made legal in Texas nearly two years ago after Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1325 legalizing any hemp product with less than 0.3% THC…(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
The FDA authorizes Moderna and J&J COVID vaccine boosters (NPR)
The Food and Drug Administration authorized booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson following unanimous votes by a committee of independent advisers backing the boosters last week.
In a related decision, the FDA also authorized boosters that differ from the vaccine originally used to immunize a person against COVID-19. So, for instance, a person who got a Johnson & Johnson vaccine could receive one from Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech as a booster.
The regulatory moves open the gate for boosters to be used more widely. In September, the FDA authorized a booster dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
"The available data suggest waning immunity in some populations who are fully vaccinated," said the FDA's acting commissioner, Dr. Janet Woodcock, in a statement. "The availability of these authorized boosters is important for continued protection against COVID-19 disease."
On Thursday, a committee of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is scheduled to meet to discuss COVID-19 vaccine booster shots and make recommendations on their use. The CDC director makes the final call on vaccine guidelines. After the CDC issues its guidance, the rollout can begin officially… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
U.S. propane market headed for 'Armageddon' this winter, IHS says (Bloomberg)
U.S. propane prices are so high and supplies so scarce that the market appears headed for “armageddon” during the depths of winter, according to research firm IHS Markit Ltd. Stockpiles of the key heating fuel and manufacturing feedstock in the world’s biggest economy probably have already topped out for the year and will be stretched as cold weather descends in coming weeks, Edgar Ang, an IHS analyst, said during a webcast presentation on Tuesday.
Prices for the first quarter of 2022 are so far above later-dated supplies that “it may indicate players are preparing for propane-market armageddon,” Ang said. Some regions may face outright shortages before the end of winter, he said. U.S. propane prices have almost doubled this year and are on course for the strongest rally since 2009. North American propane touched a 7 1/2-year high of more than $1.50 a gallon earlier this month, according to DTN Energy. IHS is expecting a colder-than-normal winter that will place even more strain on propane supplies, analyst Veeral Mehta said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)