BG Reads | News You Need to Know (August 30, 2022)
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
Austin's 2022 Council Ballot Slate Set (Bingham Group)
As of 5PM yesterday the field was set for Austin’s November Council elections.
The following offices will be on the 2022 Ballot:
Mayor -> 7 candidates
District 1 -> 4 candidates
District 3 -> 6 candidates
District 5 -> 6 candidates
District 8 -> 4 candidates
District 9 -> 8 candidates
[AUSTIN METRO]
Neighbors protested housing for homeless Austinites. Then, they (sort of) changed their stance. (KUT)
Austin’s Planning Commission meets every other Tuesday in the cavernous chambers of City Hall. Members assemble virtually and in person to hear requests and pleas from the public about what should be built in the city. Plot by plot, these volunteers vote yay or nay to changes that will shape Austin.
On a night in late May, this meeting looked more like a protest. A handful of people carried handmade signs demanding in blue marker: “Build Cady now!!!”
The signs referred to a plan to build a 100-unit apartment complex called Cady Lofts between the parking lot of a medical center and a home just north of the UT Austin campus. While you’d need at least $1,300 a month to afford an apartment nearby, this building would house some of the city’s thousands of unhoused people for a fraction of that price.
The Hancock Neighborhood Association opposed a zoning change developers said they needed to build the complex. But as members showed up to the meeting, so did people from across the city in support.
“I want to send a very clear message to every neighborhood in Austin today: We are prepared to stand up and fight,” said João Paulo Connolly, organizing director at the Austin Justice Coalition. “We will defend every unit of permanent, supportive housing that our system needs.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin area's data center boom continues with Hutto, Pflugerville projects (Austin American-Statesman)
Several new data center projects are in the works in the Austin area, drawn in part by ongoing growth in the Central Texas technology sector.
Dallas-based Skybox Datacenters is partnering with San Francisco-based Prologis to purchase over 200 acres in Hutto to build a massive data center. The companies are already working together to build a $548 million data center nearby in Pflugerville on about 20 acres.
Prologis confirmed that the companies purchased a 221 acres on U.S. 79 from the city of Hutto. JC Witt, Prologis vice president, said the site provides a prime location for the companies.
“We’ve seen firsthand the tremendous growth in the region and the city of Hutto is very attractive for its strong workforce, prime location and pro-growth mindset," Witt said said a written statement… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin ISD works to fill over 200 open positions (KXAN)
The Austin Independent School District said it made strides in hiring hundreds of teachers for this school year, but it’s still working to fill 206 vacancies.
In an update Monday morning, the district said it was able to hire over 685 new teachers this summer. That brings Austin ISD to a 95.9% fill rate, the district said.
Previously, the district reported it had over 500 open positions in mid-July. At the time, AISD said it had sign-on incentives for teacher assistants and special education teaching assistants ranging from $500 to $1,000… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Advocates continue the fight for free transportation for Austin’s unhoused (Austin Monitor)
The start of Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s monthly board of directors meeting yesterday had a different feel than usual. Typically, a few speakers may approach the podium to speak in support of or against an item on the agenda.
Yesterday, however, advocates and members of Austin’s unhoused community packed the Rosa Parks Boardroom to implore Capital Metro to make some transportation services free for people experiencing homelessness. Approximately 20 people spoke during the public comment section even though there was no agenda item related to the matter.
“I’m a person with lived experience of homelessness. … Accessing a daily fare is an issue, and it’s an unnecessary issue,” said Lyric Wardlow, who now works for the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, or ECHO. “So, I’m advocating for free fare, not because I’m required to … but because it’s just an unnecessary barrier,” she said.
“We are humans just as y’all are, and we (are) trying to make it,” said another speaker, Tony Carter. “You have to look at the big picture: us homeless people need transportation, and you’re the best people to come up with a solution,” he told the board.
Capital Metro announced earlier this month that it would provide free rides to cooling centers to anyone experiencing homelessness through the end of September… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Financial firms puzzled about getting on Hegar's oil 'boycotting list' — and concerned about precedent (Houston Chronicle)
The news that 10 financial companies were deemed to be “boycotting” the oil and gas industry didn’t come as a surprise to those firms, exactly. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar had sent inquiries to the companies in question, and nine others, back in March, as his office was directed to do by a state law passed in 2021. But it remains unclear why, exactly, companies were deemed to be “boycotting” fossil-fuel based companies. The firms on Hegar’s list are BlackRock, UBS Group, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse Group, Danske Bank, Jupiter Fund Management, Nordea Bank, Schroders, Svenska Handelsbanken, Swedbank, and UBS Group.
Of the six firms that responded to the Houston Chronicle’s inquiries by press time, four deny that they are “boycotting” the oil and gas industry, even if they admittedly have some investments that reflect the growing influence of — and consumer and investor interest in — the environmental, social and governance (ESG) movement. “As we noted in our response to the Texas Comptroller, Credit Suisse is not boycotting the energy sector as the bank has ongoing partnerships and strong client relationships in the energy sector,” said a spokesperson for Credit Suisse, based in Zurich. Spokespeople for BlackRock, UBS Group, and Schroders made similar points in disputing the comptroller’s “boycotting” label. Only one of the firms— Swedbank, a Stockholm-based banking group with nearly $300 billion under management — isn’t denying a boycott of fossil fuels. “Swedbank sees climate change as one of the greatest challenges of our time,” said Unni Jerndal, senior advisor for Swedbank. “Considering our history, our purpose, and our vision, we are determined to facilitate a climate transition that aligns with the Paris Agreement. This includes contributing to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
San Antonio’s Ready to Work jobs training program gets the national attention leaders have sought (San Antonio Express-News)
Since voters approved San Antonio’s ambitious Ready to Work job training program in late 2020, local leaders have said it could eventually offer a model for other U.S. cities to follow — a kind of regional workforce development road map with the chops to dent urban poverty. The hype around the $200 million program aiming to put thousands of low-income residents into better-paying jobs was on display Monday as U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh toured training facilities at St. Philip’s College. “There are many, many people in our cities all across America that are looking for better-paying jobs, better opportunities to get into the middle class,” Walsh said at the South Side institution. “We need to make sure we have people ready to fill those jobs.”
He was in town after the Department of Labor in June awarded the city a $3 million grant to expand apprenticeship opportunities. City officials for months had been courting his visit to celebrate the program, which opened for applicants in mid-May. After touring instruction areas, Walsh spoke on a panel with Mayor Ron Nirenberg, Rep. Joaquin Castro and area employers such as Leslie Cantu of Toyotetsu, a manufacturer that supplies parts to Toyota’s factory on the South Side. Walsh applauded the industry-targeted approach of Ready to Work, which focuses on training workers for in-demand occupations in industries that are growing in San Antonio. They include healthcare, cybersecurity and manufacturing. “People leave a job for a couple of reasons. One, they’re not satisfied. Two, they’re not making enough money. Three, they’re just tired of it,” he said. “We need to make sure those folks that are switching jobs, that they have the investments so they can get into the jobs of what’s happening today.” Since mid-May, 5,349 people have applied for Ready to Work, nearly as many as the city’s Workforce Development office was expecting to receive in the program’s entire first year. More than 1,000 people have applied in the past month, but it’s not clear what the rate of eligibility is yet as training providers process applications… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas Sen. John Cornyn raises privacy concerns over drunk driving prevention tech in cars (Dallas Morning News)
After privacy concerns arose, three Republican senators, including Texan John Cornyn, introduced legislation to repeal a provision that would mandate the development of advanced drunken driving prevention technology and require their use in all new passenger cars. The drunken driving tech provision had been celebrated last fall by advocacy organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety when President Joe Biden signed it into law as part of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. But it became a point of contention for some Republicans worried about potential intrusions on privacy from new technology — in cars, appliances or otherwise — used in millions of American households.
The provision in the infrastructure bill gives federal regulators at minimum three years to determine what kind of technology should be required as part of the new vehicle standard, and automakers would then have two more years to actually implement that standard in their vehicles. Natalie Yezbick, Cornyn’s press secretary, said that the senior Texas senator is supportive of the many measures that already exist to prevent drunken driving, like the placement of steering wheel breathalyzers and ignition locks in the vehicles of convicted offenders. However, “the Senator is concerned with the federal government having broad, unchecked authority to place passive technology in vehicles that could easily violate privacy rights of law-abiding citizens,” Yezbick said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News. Cornyn, a co-sponsor of the Republican-led legislation intended to repeal the provision, titled the Safeguarding Privacy in Your Car Act of 2022 and introduced by Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., is not alone in his preemptive concern… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
North Texas city hall bribery convictions in peril after appeals court ruling (Dallas Morning News)
Attempts to rein in influence peddling suffered a major blow when a federal appeals court threw out the conviction of a developer accused of bribing two Dallas City Council members. While legal experts say the ruling is unlikely to hamper future public corruption prosecutions, it could also impact the conviction of a former Richardson mayor. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals’ opinion in the Ruel Hamilton bribery case narrowly focused on instructions given to the jury about gratuities at Dallas City Hall. The ruling also signified a serious and growing disagreement among federal appeals courts about an important legal question: whether federal bribery law covers illegal gratuities. The bribery law does not specifically mention gratuities. Chief Judge Barbara Lynn, who presided over the Hamilton trial, noted in her rulings the law criminalizes giving or offering “anything of value” with intent to “influence or reward.” And most circuits interpreted that to include gratuities.
But the 5th Circuit joined the minority of appellate courts in taking a narrower view. The courts that ruled are split 5-3. The 5th Circuit said gratuities are not covered and that the Hamilton jury should have been told it had to specifically find “quid pro quo” bribery, meaning some expected benefit in exchange for the money, to distinguish it from gratuities. Prosecutors can appeal the ruling and/or retry Hamilton with proper jury instructions. Legal experts say the ruling likely will not tie the hands of prosecutors seeking to bring similar public corruption cases because most tend to have strong evidence of a quid pro quo, like wiretaps and emails. “There’s usually a quid pro quo, even in gratuity cases,” said Paul Coggins, a former U.S. attorney in Dallas who now handles white-collar defense work. Prosecutors have to effectively explain the this-for-that agreement to “really get the jury’s attention,” Coggins said. “The promise, the quo, doesn’t have to be explicit,” Coggins said. “Circumstantial evidence is powerful evidence that can prove there was a quid pro quo even though there was no specific promise.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas Railroad Commission ‘under fire’ over new rules for natural gas companies (Dallas Morning News)
Industry, watchdog and consumer groups are raising the alarm about a proposed regulation designed to prepare Texas for intense winter weather because they say it lacks teeth and has loopholes. Weatherization standards the Texas Railroad Commission is set to approve Tuesday come more than a year and a half since failures at natural gas wells and pipelines contributed to deadly power outages during the 2021 winter storm. The rules the Legislature established after the storm should harden wells and pipelines. But the commission is facing criticism that the fee structure is too lenient for natural gas companies with violations, because they would rather pay a $5,000 fine than the cost of insulating their equipment. A group of Democratic lawmakers also wants the commission to regulate when companies can shut down and close a loophole allowing them to skirt categorizing outages as weather related.
Equipment freezes at natural gas wells and in pipelines were a leading cause of massive reductions in power production during the freeze that shut down half of the state’s power production, according to the Federal Electric Regulatory Commission. The scarcity of natural gas also triggered massive spikes in electricity and natural gas prices that led several power companies to declare bankruptcy, while pipeline companies that did stay online reaped billions of dollars in profits. Texans will be paying to cover those costs for years to come through their electric and gas bills. Skepticism of the Railroad Commission’s effectiveness has surrounded its regulatory actions in the aftermath of the winter storm, such as a draft rule that included a provision letting operators pay a mere $150 fee to opt out of winterizing their equipment. It was only after public outcry and shaming from lawmakers at a Senate committee hearing that commissioners created stricter standards. “Collectively the Railroad Commission is under fire and deservedly so,” said Ed Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston. “They’ve been not looking after the consumer in Texas and spending more time looking after the operators,” he added… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
California approves bill to punish doctors who spread false information (New York Times)
Trying to strike a balance between free speech and public health, California’s Legislature on Monday approved a bill that would allow regulators to punish doctors for spreading false information about Covid-19 vaccinations and treatments.
The legislation, if signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, would make the state the first to try to legislate a remedy to a problem that the American Medical Association, among other medical groups and experts, says has worsened the impact of the pandemic, resulting in thousands of unnecessary hospitalizations and deaths.
The law would designate spreading false or misleading medical information to patients as “unprofessional conduct,” subject to punishment by the agency that licenses doctors, the Medical Board of California. That could include suspending or revoking a doctor’s license to practice medicine in the state… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[BG PODCAST]
Episode 163: Managing Growth in the City of Round Rock with Mayor Craig Morgan
Today's episode (163) features Mayor Craig Morgan of the City of Round Rock. He and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss his path to office, and the challenges and opportunities facing Round Rock. -> EPISODE LINK
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