BG Reads | News You Need to Know (April 6, 2022)
[BG Podcast]
Episode 154: A Conversation with Jason Alexander, City of Staff to the Austin City Manager
Today’s episode (154) features Jason Alexander, City of Staff to the Austin City Manager.
Appointed in January 2022, Jason has a nearly 18‐year career with the City, which in addition to the City Manager’s Office, includes Parks and Recreation, Human Resources, Emergency Medical Services, and the Fire Department.
Jason and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss the role, a first for City Manager Spencer Cronk (but not new for the city, Jason's path to the public sector and journey to his current role.
As Chief of Staff, Jason is responsible for the administrative functions of the City Manager’s Office, and provides leadership and oversight to the City’s Equity, Innovation, Sustainability, and Resilience Offices.
Austin operates under a “Council-Manager” system of government. In this model, the Mayor and City Council are responsible for all legislative functions of the City. They appoint a professional City Manager who operates much like a CEO in private-sector businesses and who is tasked with carrying out City Council’s legislative and policy objectives. -> EPISODE LINK
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Music Commission shows support for STR agreement but delays recommendation to Council (Austin Monitor)
The Music Commission voiced support Monday for the city to enter into an agreement with short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb, but opted to gather more information from staff and held off on making a recommendation to City Council over the matter.
The presentation from Luis Briones, Airbnb’s Texas director of public policy and government affairs, was much like the one he gave to the Arts Commission in February. Briones explained that the city’s reluctance to enter into agreements with STR platforms is causing it to miss out on an estimated $15 million to $20 million annually in Hotel Occupancy Tax revenues, versus the roughly $5 million taken in by the city in 2019 from individually registered STR operators.
State laws specify that hotel tax collections must be spent on efforts related to the promotion of tourism, including funding for live music and cultural arts purposes, which is why a number of local arts groups and other creative stakeholders have signed a letter of support in favor of Airbnb and STRs as a whole.
The city’s stance on how STRs can operate and where they can be located has been weakened in the courts over the years. The gap in actual collections of hotel tax versus what could collected through the platforms is in large part due to the city’s lack of comprehensive information on individual operators – information the city could conceivably lose any right to as part of an agreement with the platforms.
Briones said Airbnb’s agreements with the state of Texas and assorted cities throughout the state show that it has the ability to collect and remit those funds, which removes that burden from city code enforcement staff. And removing some of the regulatory and tax payment responsibilities for operators would likely lead to more casual renters who can earn extra income from their homestead without concern about violating city ordinances.
“When it comes to the complexity of reporting all the things around this specific action of paying the (hotel tax), it becomes kind of a restrictive or onerous process for one to take on. We do this across many different cities and states around the country and the world and we have a process for it, so it’s much easier for us,” he said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin leaders lobby for federal semiconductor funding as region becomes hotbed for chipmaking (Austin Business Journal)
With semiconductor companies already throwing big bucks at the Austin area and others weighing major projects, local leaders are rallying support for federal legislation that would incentivize chip manufacturing in the United States.
Both the U.S. House and Senate are slowly advancing a slew of legislation that would provide billions of dollars to attract more of the industry to the country amid a persistent global chip shortage that has disrupted production in the automotive and electronics sectors.
The Austin Chamber of Commerce released a statement on March 30 urging elected officials to consider versions of the Facilitating American-Built Semiconductors Act and funding for the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act. The measures already have bipartisan support, including from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas).
"It is a critical time to be investing in American manufacturing of semiconductor chips,” said Laura Huffman, president and CEO of the Austin Chamber of Commerce. “The lack of available chips has impacted American businesses and consumers. Our region is already a leader in semiconductor manufacturing. With additional federal incentives and investment, U.S. and Central Texas-based businesses and technologies can do even more to alleviate the global chip shortage, benefiting the entire tech sector and consumers."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
UT Austin will allow students in dorms to have roommates of different genders (KUT)
Starting in the fall, UT Austin will allow students to live with someone of another gender in residence halls.
The policy change is aimed at making dorms more attractive.
“We’re able to provide students with choices,” Mylon Kirksy, senior director of residence life at UT, said. “[These are] choices that they’ve been asking for, choices we know that they need, and ultimately everyone wins because people can choose the thing that works for them.”
Kirksy said students who want a roommate of a different gender just live off campus; this change could keep the university competitive with the rest of the housing market in Austin.
It's also a positive change for trans students, Adrienne Hunter, the director of UT's Queer Trans Student Alliance, said. She was part of a group of students who worked with UT Housing and Dining on the policy.
Queer students have been asking for this option for decades, she said.
Last year, her organization surveyed around 2,000 students to gauge life at UT for queer students. Many students who lived on campus reported feeling uncomfortable in their housing situation. She said the university currently allows trans students to have a different living situation if they want, but it’s decided on a case-by-case basis… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin Community College votes not to raise tuition, fees for ninth year (Community Impact)
Austin Community College announced April 5 that it will not raise tuition or fees for the upcoming school year.
The 2022-2023 academic year represents the ninth year in which the community college has maintained its rates, according to the press release.
“The board of trustees wants to continue to encourage our citizens to attend college and get the skills they need to succeed,” ACC board Chair Nan McRaven said in the press release regarding the unanimous vote to maintain the rates.
One credit hour costs Austin area residents $84—$67 of which is tuition and the remaining portion is fees—according to the release. A full year of 30 credits costs $2,550… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio badly hurt in Florida collision (San Antonio Express-News)
Former Texas legislator Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio was seriously injured Sunday when a vehicle struck her as she was walking across an intersection in Orlando, Florida. She remains hospitalized in Florida and faces a long recovery, her husband said. Van de Putte, 67, a well-known Democrat who served 24 years in the Legislature, was crossing the intersection when she was struck by a driver making a left turn, said Pete Van de Putte, her husband of nearly 45 years. The impact threw her 10 to 15 feet in the air, according to what her husband overheard from an officer investigating the accident. She never lost consciousness, but she suffered serious injuries — including fractures to her pelvic area, two broken ribs, compressed vertebrae in her lower back, a subdural hematoma of the brain and lacerations to her arms and legs, her husband said. None of her internal organs was punctured, and her hips were not broken, he added. She is in stable condition… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas Guard’s border mission needs an additional $531 million to continue past this month, top general says (Texas Tribune)
Texas Military Department leaders told the state Senate Border Security Committee they need more than half a billion dollars in state funds to continue Gov. Greg Abbott’s controversial border mission through the end of the fiscal year.
The cost for Operation Lone Star, which has deployed 10,000 service members, has ballooned to more than $2 billion a year. That is well beyond the $412 million the Legislature budgeted for the military department’s participation in Operation Lone Star, and state officials have already transferred another $480 million to the agency to keep the lights on through the spring.
The military department’s assessment that it will need another $531 million to fully fund the mission beyond May 1 drew a sharp rebuke from Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa of McAllen, the only Democrat on the three-member committee… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
CDC, under fire for COVID response, announces plans to revamp agency (Washington Post)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky announced plans Monday to revamp the agency that has come under blistering criticism for its performance leading the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying, “it is time to step back and strategically position CDC to support the future of public health.” In an agencywide email sent shortly after 1 p.m., Walensky said she has hired a senior federal health official outside of the Atlanta-based agency to conduct a one-month review to “kick off an evaluation of CDC’s structure, systems, and processes.” “Over the past year, I have heard from many of you that you would like to see CDC build on its rich history and modernize for the world around us,” she wrote in the email. “I am grateful for your efforts to lean into the hard work of transforming CDC for the better. I look forward to our collective efforts to position CDC, and the public health community, for greatest success in the future.”
A copy of the email was shared with The Washington Post. Since the pandemic began more than two years ago, the once-storied agency has been under fire for its pandemic response, from initial delays developing a coronavirus test, to the severe eligibility limits to get the test, to missteps often attributed to Trump administration meddling. But even under the Biden administration, the agency’s guidance on masking, isolation and quarantine, and booster doses has been repeatedly faulted for being confusing. A consistent criticism has been the agency’s failure to be agile, especially with analysis and release of real-time data. Walensky seemed to acknowledge those criticisms in brief public remarks about the reasons for the reorganization. “Never in its 75-year history has CDC had to make decisions so quickly, based on often limited, real-time, and evolving science,” she said in the statement. “ … As we’ve challenged our state and local partners, we know that now is the time for CDC to integrate the lessons learned into a strategy for the future.” After briefing the agency’s leadership team, Walensky sent staff the email, saying the one-month effort, set to begin April 11, would be led by Jim Macrae, associate administrator for primary health care at the Health Resources and Services Administration, or HRSA. HRSA and CDC are part of the Department of Health and Human Services… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Ukraine war drives lawmakers into defensive posture on Taiwan (The Hill)
New legislation in the House that would sanction China for threatening Taiwan follows a similar initiative in the Senate as lawmakers seek to discourage any moves similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The House bill introduced Wednesday promises to force Chinese banks out of international financial systems if China poses any threat to Taiwan’s security or its “social or economic system,” although the legislation doesn’t define a social threat.
In broadening its definition of potential Chinese threats to Taiwan, the bill introduced by Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) goes further than similar legislation put forward last month in the Senate, which would sanction China only in the event of a military invasion, economic blockade or coup attempt… (LINK TO FULL STORY)