BG Reads | News You Need to Know (May 28, 2021)
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
[THE 87TH TEXAS LEGISLATURE]
LINK TO FILED HOUSE BILLS (6,807)
LINK TO FILED SENATE BILLS (2,859)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
LISTEN: #1657 - Mayor Steve Adler (The Joe Rogan Experience)
City of Austin says state law allows it to not release homeless hotel purchase documents (KXAN)
The City of Austin-owned building off I-35 near Oltorf Street is fenced off, soon to become the Southbridge Homeless Shelter.
The city paid close to $6.3 million for the Rodeway Inn, which it used as protective lodging for people experiencing homelessness and others vulnerable to COVID-19. Renovations are expected to cost around $1.5 million, as the city converts it to bridge shelter.
But city attorneys argue closing documents for its 2019 purchase of the property shouldn’t be made public, prompting concerns about transparency from First Amendment advocates.
The argument comes in response to a KXAN public information request for the documents, which would include broker information, environmental studies, engineering reports and more.
“There’s going to be a general disclosure statement filled out by the seller that’s going to say, ‘here’s what I know about the property,'” said Bill Gammon, an Austin real estate attorney.
In a letter requesting a ruling from the Texas Attorney General’s Office, city attorneys said releasing the records would provide “an advantage to a competitor or bidder.” That’s despite the city purchasing the hotel a year and a half ago... (LINK TO STORY)
Austin’s Seaholm Waterfront Project finally moves forward next week (Towers)
The importance of this phase, which is funded by General Obligation bonds and the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax program, is in its ability to popularize the later stages of the facility’s master plan and motivate action toward their completion. These are fairly minor adaptations — $3.2 million is a lot of money to spend on a house, but actually a pretty reasonable price tag for public works — but once they’re complete, the various parties involved in the project can start hosting events and other activities that bring people inside the space, which is the fastest way to prove its historic character… (LINK TO STORY)
Central Austin median home prices hit another record high at $675,000 in April (Community Impact)
Median home prices in Central Austin increased $100,000 in the course of a year, reaching a new peak of $675,000 in April, according to data from the Austin Board of Realtors, up from a median of $575,000 in April 2020.
Housing prices dipped in Community Impact Newspaper’s Central Austin area last spring as stay-at-home orders stalled the city’s real estate market, with the median price declining to $525,000 by June before rebounding in the second half of 2020. The area’s median price has risen each month in 2021 so far, exceeding $600,000 every month since February... (LINK TO STORY)
Startup accelerator FedTech opens Austin office to work with Army Futures Command (Austin Inno)
When Army Futures Command selected Austin as its main hub for a new way of working with startups, it was easy to see the potential for defense-oriented startups to establish a presence nearby.
In just a few years, that has yielded several partnerships with large tech companies, as well as projects with smaller startup teams. Now, there's another newcomer citing Futures Command as a big factor in its expansion.
Arlington, Va.-based accelerator FedTech said May 25 it has selected Austin for its second office as it teams up with Futures Command on deep tech programs. Its office will be home to part-time staff as it builds a local team, likely including three to four hires this year, the company said via email.
FedTech, which has 35 employees total, plans to run two custom accelerators this year, as well as hosting an Advanced Technology Summit. Due to the new office, FedTech Director Will Dickson will split his time between Austin and Arlington. FedTech has coworking space at Industrious, inside the 823 Congress tower downtown.
FedTech already has a history of teaming up with the federal government, including partnerships with the Department of Defense, Department of Energy and NASA on accelerators, pitch competitions and creating partnerships with historically black colleges and universities.
While small in footprint, FedTech's branch in Austin will build on a growing group of companies that work closely with the military and federal agencies… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas lawmakers send $248 billion two-year budget to Gov. Greg Abbott (Texas Tribune)
The Texas Legislature’s two-year, roughly $248 billion state budget is headed to the governor’s desk after the House advanced the proposal Thursday, completing monthslong negotiations between the two chambers.
The spending plan, Senate Bill 1, is “a bill that each and every one of us can be very proud of, and it represents the priorities for Texans across the state,” said state Rep. Greg Bonnen, a Friendswood Republican and the House’s chief budget writer, on the House floor as he laid out the legislation.
The House’s 142-6 vote for SB 1 comes a day after the Senate unanimously approved the compromise, which state Sen. Jane Nelson, a Flower Mound Republican and chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement “is compassionate, responsible and meets the needs of our growing state.
Once the 2022-23 spending plan lands on Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk, he will have the power to veto individual line items he objects to.
As passed by the Legislature, SB 1 would spend over $116 billion in general revenue and does not tap into the state’s Economic Stabilization Fund, also called the rainy day fund. That $116 billion matches Comptroller Glenn Hegar’s most recent projection at the beginning of the month for state funds available for the next biennium — and it’s an increase of $3 billion from his last estimate.
The approved $248 billion in SB 1 is about a $13.5 billion decrease from the 2020-21 budget cycle, thanks largely, if not all, to federal funding for coronavirus relief… (LINK TO STORY)
Leadership tensions, potential special session loom as Texas legislative session hits uncertain end (Texas Tribune)
The 2021 Texas legislative session is heading into its final weekend fraught with uncertainty and tension between the two chambers that could lead to a special session.
After three of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s priorities effectively died Tuesday night in the House, the Senate presiding officer called for a special session to pass them, jolting the final several days of a session that was already on track to be the most conservative in recent memory. The last day of the session is Monday, and procedural deadlines have been increasingly cutting off opportunities to hash out key issues.
In some ways, it is a familiar story from past sessions: Tensions between the two chambers are peaking, and Patrick is putting pressure on Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session for unfinished business on conservative priorities. Patrick got his way in 2017, forcing a special session in an ultimately failed push to pass legislation to regulate bathroom use by transgender people… (LINK TO STORY)
AG Ken Paxton's criminal trial should be held in his home county, court rules (Houston Chronicle)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s felony trial on securities fraud charges should be held in Collin County where Paxton lives, not in Harris County, a Houston appeals court ruled early Thursday morning. The ruling comes after seven months of deliberation, the latest in a series of delays that have put off the resolution of Paxton’s 2015 felony securities fraud indictment for almost six years, essentially his entire time in office. He was meanwhile narrowly re-elected to second term in 2018. The case had initially been moved from Collin County to Harris, after a judge ruled that Paxton would not get a fair trial in Collin County because of his extensive political ties there.
Political science and legal experts have said that a trial in Collin County would be a major advantage for Paxton, a long-time McKinney resident who has broad support there after having represented the area in the state Legislature for more than a decade prior to being elected the state’s top law enforcement officer in 2014. Paxton’s attorneys were not immediately available for comment. Prosecutors said Thursday they plan to ask the appellate court for a rehearing by the entire court. “We believe the disagreement between the panel members as to where this prosecution should take place warrants re-consideration of this important issue by all nine justices of the First Court of Appeals,” special prosecutor Brian Wice said in a statement. In a 2-1 decision, an all-Democratic three-judge panel of the First Court of Appeals affirmed the move back to Collin. Justice Gordon Goodman dissented, though he encouraged the trial court regardless to move swifly on the long-delayed case. “Whichever district court ultimately receives these cases should move them to trial as expeditiously as possible,” Goodman wrote. “Further delay is anything but expedient.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on calls for a special session: 'That's pretty goofy' (Austin American-Statesman)
Gov. Greg Abbott, asked Thursday whether he was considering granting Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's request for a special legislative session after House Democrats killed three Patrick priorities, tossed a large bucket of cold water on the idea, calling it "pretty goofy." Abbott also warned legislative leaders against trying to sabotage the regular session by withholding action on necessary legislation, saying they would get more than they bargained for — a nearly endless string of 30-day special sessions guaranteed to proceed at a snail's pace.
"Not only am I the only one with the authority to call a special session, I get to decide when and I get to decide what will be on that special session. And here's what I would do if anybody tries to force this," Abbott said. "The only thing I will put on there are things that I want passed. Second, we're going to go one item at a time. There will be one item placed on the agenda. Not until they pass that item will we move on to another item." The goal, the governor said, is to pass legislation, "not open up some sort of debating society." "So if anybody tries to hold hostage this legislative session to force a special session, that person will be putting their members in the Senate or in the House potentially into a special session for another two years until the next regular session," he said. The 140-day regular session ends Monday. Abbott's remarks were in response to a reporter's question at the end of a Fort Worth press conference that focused on border issues… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Biden is expected to unveil $6 Trillion spending plan (Wall Street Journal)
The White House is expected to release President Biden’s first budget proposal Friday, offering new details on how the administration would implement plans over the coming decade to spend $4.5 trillion and increase taxes.
The president is proposing a $6 trillion budget for fiscal year 2022, which begins Oct. 1, according to people familiar with the plans. That includes $1.52 trillion in discretionary spending for the military and domestic programs, including more funding for education, healthcare, research and renewable energy, White House officials said in April.
The budget will lay out how the president’s plans for spending over the next decade on infrastructure and social programs, such as paid family leave and universal preschool, will affect federal debt and deficits. Under the proposal, debt as a percentage of annual gross domestic product would within a few years exceed the level at the end of World War II and climb to 117% of GDP by the end of 2031, according to people familiar with the matter. That would be up from about 100% this year.
Administration officials have said that their proposals, known as the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan, would add to deficits over the next decade but that higher spending would eventually be offset by revenue from tax increases on wealthy individuals and corporations.
The president’s budget proposal serves as a fiscal blueprint for the administration’s policy priorities as well as signaling to Congress what the White House hopes to accomplish over the coming years. The proposal is generally seen as the opening salvo in a long process that leads to the government being funded, and lawmakers usually ignore the administration’s request in favor of their own plans… (LINK TO STORY)
Colorado becomes 1st state to ban legacy college admissions (NPR)
When someone applies to college, there's often a box or a section on the application that asks about any relatives who attended the university — perhaps a parent or a cousin. This is called "legacy," and for decades it's given U.S. college applicants a leg up in admissions. But no longer in Colorado's public colleges.
On Tuesday, Colorado became the first state to do away with that admissions boost when Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed a ban on the practice into law. The governor also signed a bill that removes a requirement that public colleges consider SAT or ACT scores for freshmen, though the new law still allows students to submit test scores if they wish.
Both moves are aimed at making higher education access more equitable. According to the legislation, 67% of middle- to high-income students in Colorado enroll in bachelor's degree programs straight from high school, while 47% of low-income students do. There are also major differences when it comes to race, with white students far more likely to enroll in college.
Legacy admissions have long been a target for reform. In a 2018 survey of admissions directors by Inside Higher Ed, 42% of private institutions and 6% of public institutions said they consider legacy status as a factor in admissions. Some of the nation's largest public universities do not consider legacy, including both the University of California and the California State University systems. However, private colleges in California have reported using legacy as a way to encourage philanthropic giving and donations… (LINK TO STORY)
Biden needles GOP touting rescue plan they opposed: 'Some people have no shame' (The Hill)
President Biden on Thursday swiped at Republican lawmakers who have bragged to constituents about the benefits of the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion relief package he signed earlier this year that didn't garner a single GOP vote in Congress.
"I’m not going to embarrass any one of them, but I have here a list of how back in their districts, they’re bragging about the rescue plan," Biden said during a speech on the economy in Cleveland, Ohio, pulling a note card from his jacket pocket.
Biden read off how various Republicans have touted the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which provides funding for small businesses hurting from the pandemic, as well as grants to community health centers that were included in the rescue plan… (LINK TO STORY)