BG Reads | News You Need to Know (March 3, 2021)

News
Written By AJ Bingham
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[BINGHAM GROUP]

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

  • Joint Meeting - Austin Water Oversight / Austin Utility Oversight Committees (Today @1PM)

  • Regular Meeting of the Austin City Council (3.4.2021 @10AM)

[THE 87TH TEXAS LEGISLATURE]

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Austin Businesses react to Abbott dropping mask mandate (Austin American-Statesman)

Business operators in Austin and throughout Central Texas expressed a mix of uncertainty, anger and relief after Gov. Greg Abbott's announced that he's lifting the mask mandate in Texas and allowing businesses to return to 100% capacity beginning March 10.

That news drew criticism from some in the business community, who said dropping the mask order would increase the risk of workers and consumers contracting COVID-19 – but it won praise from others, who said recent declines in cases justify the decision to allow businesses to get back to more normal operations.

Laura Huffman, CEO of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, said continuing to wear masks in public will serve the entire community.

"There are practical things each of us can do to keep ourselves and those around us safe as businesses reopen to full capacity - one of those is choosing to wear a mask in public," Huffman said. "We believe a mask on each of us is a win for all of us and urge businesses to continue implementing measures that protect both employees and patrons.

Here's a look at how specific sectors of the business community responded to the news.

Retail stores

Grocery chain H-E-B, the dominant grocer in Central Texas, said that while customers will be encouraged to wear masks in its stores, they will no longer be required. Employees and vendors still will be required to wear masks, the company said. 

"Although there is no longer a statewide mask order, H-E-B believes it is important that masks be worn in public spaces until more Texans and our partners have access to the COVID-19 vaccine," the San Antonio-based company said in a written statement. "H-E-B will still require all our partners and vendors to wear masks while at work, and we urge all customers to please wear a mask when in our stores."

The lifting of mask requirements will put a burden on small, local merchants, said Elizabeth Dixie Patrick, executive director of the Austin Independent Business Alliance.

"This means small business owners have to go back to having to enforce safety protocols alone, without the government behind them to back them up," Patrick said.

Patrick said she was "stunned" by Abbott's announcement, but feels confident that Austin will respond responsibly. 

"The city of Austin, the citizens of Austin, the local business owners have been incredible throughout this difficult time," she said. "I believe that the city of Austin as a municipality will make good decisions for the public good."

Patrick said that even if Austin can't create its own mandates, "hopefully they come out strong with public messaging that can maybe mitigate the impact."

Restaurants

Olamaie chef Michael Fojtasek was the first major restaurant owner in Austin to close his dining room due to the public health threat from the coronavirus, shuttering last March a few days before the governor ordered dining rooms closed. 

Fojtasek reacted to Abbott’s announcement Tuesday with an all-caps Instagram post that read: “Reopening Texas Without Vaccinating Hospitality Workers is Murder.”

“I know people who have caught the virus and died from it,” Fojtasek told the American-Statesman on Tuesday. “I know that there are people who are in the homes of the people who work with me who are at risk and who are not vaccinated. This is the second time that our state leadership has put us in a bad position by reopening too early. We had made some progress, and now it’s all going to be walked back.”

Fojtasek said that the governor’s decision has created more urgency in the hospitality industry about getting workers vaccinated. He said that the Texas Restaurant Association has stepped up by reaching out to vaccine suppliers like CVS in hopes of setting up mass vaccination sites. 

Fojtasek said that reopening the state will make more sense once restaurant workers are vaccinated and can feel safe about returning to work.

“My whole thing is I just want to get our teams vaccinated so we can open safely. That’s it. That’s been my issue since the moment the vaccine was announced until this moment. If we can just get vaccinated, then we can run these businesses. Just don’t put it out of order.”

Some restaurant owners and operators praised Abbott's decision. Fort Worth celebrity chef Tim Love, who owns and operates Lonesome Dove in downtown Austin, posted a picture of himself with a caption that read, “In true Texas form - Gov Abbott announces on #TexasIndependenceDay that it’s time for us to return to our regularly scheduled program! 100 percent capacity and NO MORE MASK MANDATE!”

Texas Restaurant Association and Education Foundation President and CEO Emily Williams Knight said her group had been in discussions with Abbott's office since last March about guidelines for restaurants.

"So that’s how we were able to work with a large group of restaurant owners to create the Restaurant Promise, which mirrors his protocols," she said. "We have never made any decisions for the governor, but we certainly are sought after for input, and clearly he’s been working with his medical team to make these decisions."

Fojtasek said that the governor’s decision has created more urgency in the hospitality industry about getting workers vaccinated. He said that the Texas Restaurant Association has stepped up by reaching out to vaccine suppliers like CVS in hopes of setting up mass vaccination sites. 

Fojtasek said that reopening the state will make more sense once restaurant workers are vaccinated and can feel safe about returning to work.

“My whole thing is I just want to get our teams vaccinated so we can open safely. That’s it. That’s been my issue since the moment the vaccine was announced until this moment. If we can just get vaccinated, then we can run these businesses. Just don’t put it out of order.”

Some restaurant owners and operators praised Abbott's decision. Fort Worth celebrity chef Tim Love, who owns and operates Lonesome Dove in downtown Austin, posted a picture of himself with a caption that read, “In true Texas form - Gov Abbott announces on #TexasIndependenceDay that it’s time for us to return to our regularly scheduled program! 100 percent capacity and NO MORE MASK MANDATE!”

Texas Restaurant Association and Education Foundation President and CEO Emily Williams Knight said her group had been in discussions with Abbott's office since last March about guidelines for restaurants.

"So that’s how we were able to work with a large group of restaurant owners to create the Restaurant Promise, which mirrors his protocols," she said. "We have never made any decisions for the governor, but we certainly are sought after for input, and clearly he’s been working with his medical team to make these decisions."… (LINK TO STORY)

Council changes camping ban ballot language (Austin Monitor)

The Texas Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that City Council must change the language it used to describe Save Austin Now’s ballot proposition reinstating the ban on homeless camping and the prohibition on panhandling after dark. Council, which was meeting in work session when the ruling came down, complied with the court’s order by making a small change to the ballot language. Council was required to act quickly because Wednesday is the final day to submit ballot changes to Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir.

The plaintiffs –  Linda Durnin, Eric Krohn and Michael Lovins – argued that Council was required to use the language from the caption on the proposed ordinance, which they said was required by the city charter. However, the court concluded that the plaintiffs “have not made the clear showing required for emergency mandamus relief on this issue.”

However, the court did agree with Durnin, Krohn and Lovins that Council had used the word “anyone” in a misleading manner.

The court majority concluded that the plaintiffs “have clearly established their entitlement to mandamus relief in one respect. The Council’s ballot language says the proposed ordinance ‘create[s] a criminal offense and a penalty for anyone sitting or lying down on a public sidewalk or sleeping outdoors [in or near downtown]’ and for ‘anyone camping in a public area not designated by the Parks and Recreation Department.’ The ordinance itself, however, does not apply to anyone who engages in the listed activities. To the contrary, the ordinance contains several exceptions covering a variety of common uses of the sidewalk that the ordinance does not criminalize. Thus, only a subset of those who engage in the covered behavior – not just anyone – can be penalized under the ordinance.

“Although ‘anyone’ is just one word, it is quite an important word in this context. Including it on the ballot as directed by the Council would suggest to voters that the ordinance criminalizes and penalizes a much wider swath of conduct than it actually does. In this regard, the word ‘anyone’ in the Council’s ballot language threatens to ‘mislead the voters’ by ‘misrepresent[ing] the measure’s character and purpose or its chief features.’ Dacus v. Parker, 466 S.W.3d 820, 826 (Tex. 2015). The defect can be remedied with minimal judicial interference by striking the word ‘anyone’ in the two places it appears.”

By failing to mention any exceptions to the law regarding people being arrested for sitting or lying on the sidewalk, the court said, “Council’s proposition suggests that the ordinance’s prohibition on certain uses of the sidewalk sweeps much more broadly than it truly does. The proposition’s misleading use of ‘anyone,’ without qualification, affirmatively misrepresents the measure’s character and purpose or its chief features. … At a minimum, the word ‘anyone’ must be struck from the proposition so that voters are not misled about what their vote for or against the ordinance means.”

After hearing from City Attorney Anne Morgan, Council voted unanimously to remove the word ‘anyone’ from the ballot language. The new language reads:

Proposition B: Shall an ordinance be adopted that would create a criminal offense and a penalty for sitting or lying down on a public sidewalk or sleeping outdoors in and near the Downtown area and the area around the University of Texas campus; create a criminal offense and penalty for solicitation, defined as requesting money or another thing of value, at specific hours and locations or for solicitation in a public area that is deemed aggressive in manner; create a criminal offense and penalty for camping in any public area not designated by the Parks and Recreation Department?

Bill Aleshire, one of the attorneys working for Save Austin Now, was not satisfied with the result. He told the Austin Monitor, “The opinion and dissenting opinion can both be read as a strong warning to the Council: If the Council does not adopt the ballot language as required by the City Charter and Prop B fails, then an election challenge is likely to be successful.”… (LINK TO STORY)

Elon Musk's SpaceX is coming to Austin (Community Impact)

SpaceX, the aerospace manufacturing and transportation company owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, is breaking ground on a new manufacturing facility in Austin, according to job postings on the company’s website.

Two engineering jobs posted on SpaceX’s website are tied to Austin. While both are listed as remote positions, information in the job listings link them to an upcoming facility.

“To keep up with global demand, SpaceX is breaking ground on a new, state of the art manufacturing facility in Austin, TX,” they read.

The positions’ responsibilities involve handling operations of the SpaceX’s StarLink broadband internet system, including the manufacturing of satellites, Wi-Fi routers and more equipment.

SpaceX has yet to announce where this new manufacturing facility will be located or if it will be tied to the Tesla gigafactory under construction in southeast Travis County. That manufacturing facility is slated for completion before the end of 2021. Plans also emerged in December for Musk to bring an outpost for his tunnel-building venture, The Boring Co., to Travis County… (LINK TO STORY)

Report: Housing affordability in Austin continues to decline (Austin Business Journal)

Central Texas continues to fall in the ranks of affordable housing markets as housing demand outpaces supply.

The Austin metro ranked 36th out of 92 major, international markets in an annual housing affordability study conducted by St. Louis-based public policy firm Demographia. According to the findings, the Austin metro is considered moderately unaffordable, albeit still relatively affordable when compared with West Coast cities such as San Jose and San Francisco.

Austin's affordability issues aren't new — in fact, the area has been deemed unaffordable in Demographia's annual reports since 2007. But the affordability picture has gotten worse over the past decade, said Wendell Cox, principal of Demographia and senior fellow at the Urban Reform Institute.

The lack of adequate housing supply in the face of high demand has contributed to that trend. Companies have been flocking to Central Texas in droves from the West Coast over the past few years, and that has seemed to accelerate during the pandemic. And those companies, typically, bring relocated workers, create new jobs and offer higher wages.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2020 population estimates, Texas added the most residents of any state last year, while California lost an estimated 69,532 residents — the first negative population change for the West Coast state since at least 1900, the earliest available data. Metro-specific data was not available by press time.

Housing inventory for the Austin metro dropped to an all-time low of 0.4 months in January, according to the Austin Board of Realtors. That was down from 0.6 months in December and 0.9 months in November. Experts believe a healthy home market has an inventory closer to six months.

"The affordability issue is particularly critical due to the strong increase in remote working during the pandemic which is accelerating the movement to more affordable places," according to the Demographia report. "It will likely also help flatten or even reduce prices in the highest cost housing markets as other households seek less costly housing elsewhere."

Demographia calculated housing affordability by dividing median house price by median household income to get what is called a median multiple. Median multiples of up to 3 represent an affordable market.

According to the study, the Austin area's median multiple has increased by one point since 2011, meaning the median house price has risen in the Austin area in the past decade by an amount equivalent to an entire median household annual income, Cox said. Median household income in the Austin metro was $76,844 in 2019, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey five-year estimate.

"Demand has been strong and has clearly been greater than the supply of land made available by builders," Cox said in a statement. "This should be a matter of great concern. Not only has it reduced the standard of living ... but it has also increased the demand for low-income subsidized housing."

Austin tied with the Dallas-Fort Worth metro at No. 36 in the Demographia study. Texas' other major metros had better scores, with San Antonio at No. 13 and Houston at No. 25, although both were also considered unaffordable.

In comparison, San Jose and San Francisco tied for 85th place on the list, right behind Los Angeles and Honolulu, Hawaii. And a few other markets that have seen an increase in company relocations recently ranked behind Austin, including Phoenix, Arizona, and Charlotte, North Carolina (tied for No. 45) and Miami, Florida (No. 73).

Only four markets in the study were found to be affordable: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Rochester, New York; Buffalo, New York; and St. Louis, Missouri/Illinois.

See the full report here… (LINK TO STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Keep wearing your mask, health officials say after Gov. Greg Abbott lifts mask mandate (Texas Tribune)

Keep wearing your mask and taking COVID-19 safety precautions, local health experts said Tuesday, after Gov. Greg Abbott announced he was lifting the statewide mask mandate and restrictions on businesses.

“Despite the impending removal of the state mask mandate, we must continue our vigilance with masking, distancing, and hand washing,” said Dr. Mark Escott, Travis County Interim Health Authority. “These remain critical in our ongoing fight against COVID-19.”

Expressing concerns about highly contagious variants of the virus and the need for local health officials to maintain some authority over their local situations — which vary widely from county to county — doctors and health officials cautioned that Texans should not take Abbott’s announcement as a signal to relax the behavior that has lead to a recent decrease in coronavirus case rates and hospitalizations.

That means continuing to stay home when possible, avoid large gatherings, stay separate from vulnerable family members, wash hands frequently, and wear masks in public or around others who don’t live in the same household.

Their advice mirrors that of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which still recommends that people wear masks, even as more people get vaccinated. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has also recently said that double-masking makes sense in light of highly contagious variants.

“We are supporting that the governor does say just stopping the mandates does not end personal responsibility,” said Texas Medical Association President Dr. Diana Fite. “We are highly recommending that people need to follow the science, they need to follow what the CDC recommends at this point ... and those who are the categories that can get vaccinated need to do that as soon as possible.”… (LINK TO STORY)

H-E-B to urge, but not require customers to wear masks (Houston Chronicle)

H-E-B will urge, but not require, customers to wear masks inside its grocery stores in Texas after Gov. Greg Abbott rescinded his statewide mask mandate Tuesday, the company said.

The grocer and retailer, however, will still require employees and vendors to wear masks in the stores. “Although there is no longer a statewide mask order, H-E-B believes it is important that masks be worn in public spaces until more Texans and our Partners have access to the Covid-19 vaccine,” Lisa Helfman, the retailer’s local public affairs director, said in a statement. A regional spokesperson for Kroger said it had no updates to its mask policy update but one would be forthcoming… (LINK TO STORY)

Supreme Court puts Arizona election rules under microscope in case with big implications for Texas (Dallas Morning News)

The Supreme Court put a microscope on Arizona voting restrictions Tuesday in a case that could upend decades of federal oversight imposed on Texas and other states with a history of discrimination. It’s been nearly eight years since the high court excused those states from having to seek approval from the Justice Department before shifting polling sites, redrawing precincts or congressional districts, or imposing voter ID requirements. That left going to court as the only recourse after new rules and laws took effect. It’s that provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that is now on the line. With a new 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices appointed by Donald Trump, civil rights activists fear the Arizona case will pave the way for further erosions.

“More voting restrictions have been enacted over the last decade than at any point since the end of Jim Crow,” Bruce Spiva, lawyer for the Democratic National Committee, told justices during two hours of oral arguments.

“The last three months have seen an even greater uptick in proposed voting restrictions, many aimed squarely at the minority groups whose participation Congress intended to protect.” As in many voting rights cases, justices probed for answers on how far states can go in making voting inconvenient before they run afoul of a law barring discrimination. The case revolves around Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which forbids election laws and procedures that discriminate on the basis of race. In June 2013, the high court effectively gutted the Civil Rights-era law by striking down Section 4, the provision that forced Texas and other states with a history of racial discrimination to submit to preclearance by the Justice Department. Chief Justice John Roberts asserted at the time that those states should not be punished in perpetuity for wrongdoing in the 1960s, and that suing after the fact, under Section 2, still gave minority voters sufficient recourse… (LINK TO STORY)

Former ERCOT board member says ‘toxic politics’ spurred resignations after Texas grid failure (KUT)

For the first time since six ERCOT board members resigned, one of those board members gave a one-on-one interview about the power failure, the political fallout and the financial future of the grid in the wake of last month's deadly outages. Peter Cramton is an economics professor at the University of Cologne and the University of Maryland. He has expertise and experience in complex market designs, including electricity and radio spectrum markets. He served as an “independent director” on the board of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) from 2015 until last week. At his final board meeting, he said, “ERCOT was flying a 747. It had not one, but two engines experience catastrophic failure. (ERCOT) then flew the damaged plane for 103 hours before safely landing in the Hudson. In my mind, the men and women in the ERCOT control room are heroes.” Cramton said he and other board members resigned because of the “toxic politics” around ERCOT. The governor and state legislature have aimed the bulk of their criticisms at the organization.

“We didn't leave the sinking ship," Cramton said. "We were thrown off the boat.” He said ERCOT alone does not have the ability to prevent a future electricity crisis caused by another extreme winter event. He said the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the state legislature hold most of the power to take action on that front.

Cramton said the ERCOT board’s discussions of important topics are less candid when they overlap with hot political issues, but that some challenges — like climate change — are still taken into tacit consideration. “Everyone recognizes that climate change is happening, that there is a transition to renewable resources, and it is going to happen,” he said.

“I'm sure all the board members realize that. I certainly never encountered anything to suggest otherwise. The conversation changes a little bit. But everyone understands that the world is changing, and we have to respond with an energy market for the future — not one of the past.” He said he’s concerned by the prospect of increased consolidation in the electricity retail market. A recent Public Utility Commission decision could allow industry behemoths like NRG and Vistra to scoop up even more consumers from failing companies. “It is a very serious problem,” he said. “It is what led — what leads, in banking, to the problem of ‘too-big-to-fail,’ where the one or two or three banks that remain standing are huge monsters that can't fail. And what that does is it destroys the incentives for good behavior.”… (LINK TO STORY)

[NATIONAL NEWS]

Biden says U.S. will have vaccine supply for all adults by May prioritizes teachers (NPR)

President Biden said on Tuesday that the U.S. will produce enough vaccines for every adult in the U.S. by the end of May, while making a fresh push to vaccinate school staff over the next month.

"We're now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May," Biden said, crediting his administration's efforts to boost production and moving up the timeline from the end of July, which is what the president was saying just a few weeks ago.

As announced earlier in the day, Biden said his administration is invoking the Defense Production Act to boost production of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration over the weekend.

In an unusual partnership between two pharmaceutical competitors, the administration is helping to ensure that Merck facilities can help Johnson & Johnson boost its production.

Biden also called on states to prioritize teachers and school staff as essential workers in the vaccination schedule, calling for every grade-school employee and child care provider to receive at least one dose of a vaccine by the end of the month.

"As yet another move to help accelerate the safe reopening of schools, let's treat in-person learning like an essential service that it is. And that means getting essential workers who provide that service — educators, school staff, child care workers — get them vaccinated immediately. They're essential workers," the president said… (LINK TO STORY)

DeSantis's rising GOP profile fuels 2024 talk (The Hill)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has seen his star rise over the past year as Republicans look to him as a potential successor to former President Trump.

DeSantis’s profile grew early on after he took his cue from Trump by not shutting down his state in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Though Florida has suffered heavy losses from the pandemic, the governor’s approach earned him broad support from conservatives.

Since then, DeSantis has only grown more popular among the Republican Party’s grassroots, with some already pushing for him to be the 2024 presidential nominee. 

“What’s so appealing about Ron is very simple: He is the most influential and important person in the state that is the Republican Party center of the universe right now,” said Florida-based Republican strategist Ford O’Connell.

Recent statewide polling shows DeSantis’s popularity on the uptick. A survey from Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy released on Monday found the governor with a 53 percent approval rating, up from his 45 percent approval rating last July.

DeSantis’s growing support was on full view at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which was held in his home state. The governor delivered the opening remarks from the stage in Orlando and later emerged as the top potential 2024 candidate behind Trump in a straw poll conducted among the event’s attendees.

The decision to hold the annual conservative gathering in the Sunshine State was directly tied to DeSantis’s handling of the pandemic. Unlike other states that imposed statewide shutdowns in response to the coronavirus, DeSantis has kept Florida relatively open, leaving many decisions on shutdowns and mandates to the counties… (LINK TO STORY)

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AJ Bingham
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