BG Reads | News You Need to Know (September 9, 2022)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin's unlicensed Airbnb, Vrbo spaces in focus as council reviews short-term rental enforcement (Community Impact)
Council members said they remain concerned about Austin's options with respect to the local STR market given the number of homes being used up by rentals and the frustrations of many neighbors living near what have become vacation party homes. Officials including Kathie Tovo—whose District 9 is home to the most STRs of any council district—also said Austin's licensing process and fees should be reviewed both to make sure enforcement is cost effective and that the relevant funds are collected from rental properties. According to the code department, the city expects to spend around $4.5 million on STR compliance and enforcement work in the next fiscal year.
“Every single day, the city is losing out on thousands of dollars that could go to support cultural arts, our music community and historic preservation projects," District 2 Council Member Vanessa Fuentes said. "I think it’s incumbent that our council revisits our STR conversation, to have a conversation on how we can work with the operators and work with our community to ensure that we have a system in place that everyone mutually benefits from.”
Another question facing the city is whether state lawmakers will strip away STR enforcement mechanisms from municipalities statewide. Legislative battles over rental regulations are nothing new, and despite past wins from the city's perspective, Intergovernmental Relations Officer Brie Franco told council that another fight on the topic is likely brewing ahead of the 2023 Texas legislative session.
After some STR legislation stalled out in 2017, 2019 and 2021, Franco said she believes bills aimed at allowing rental properties in any location and with "very minimal" enforcement options for cities could be on the table next year… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Maker of pipes for semiconductor fabs, power plants to build $75M factory in Seguin (Austin Business Journal)
Maruichi Stainless Tube Texas Corp. plans to construct a 125,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Seguin. The $75 million plant is expected to create more than 100 jobs over a two-year ramp up.
"We've had some good projects over the past few years," Seguin Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Joshua Schneuker said. "This is a big one."
The company, with roots dating back to 1959, produces seamless, stainless steel pipes and tubes used by power plants, the chemical and semiconductor industries, hydrogen gas stations and the automotive sector. They are also used in structural machinery. It is a subsidiary of Maruichi Stainless Tube Co. Ltd., which is based in Shimonoseki, Japan.
Maruichi’s Seguin facility will produce stainless-steel precision tubes to support customers in the semiconductor industry.
"The thing that most excites us about this project is that it's supporting a semiconductor industry that's rapidly growing — not only here in the state of Texas, but across the United States,” Schneuker said, noting that there will be opportunities for Maruichi to expand its presence in the region… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin's mayor joins advisory board for controversial California housing company(Austin American-Statesman)
This summer, Pacaso, a California-based shared-homeownership company that has been accused by critics of damaging local housing markets, was seeking to refine its service.
So Pacaso turned to a man who knows a thing or two about housing policy and public messaging: Austin Mayor Steve Adler.
Adler, perched in the highest office in one of the country's hottest real estate markets, in late July joined San Francisco-based Pacaso's advisory board as one of five current or former American elected officials. The board's objective is to counsel the company's leaders and it was formed to stem backlash from neighbors frustrated by Pacaso's business model that brings a revolving door of wealthy homebuyers into their neighborhoods.
Since last summer, 17 American cities or counties have sought to drive out Pacaso by introducing legislation or strengthening existing rules on timeshares or short-term rental properties, according to Stop Pacaso Now, a California-based group that organized to raise awareness about the company. Pacaso has struck back, filing a lawsuit that accused a city in California's Napa Valley of unfairly classifying the company as a timeshare.
In a recent interview, about a month after he joined the board, Adler told the American-Statesman he was generally aware of the complaints but suggested he'd done limited research into the issue… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
AISD, City launch workforce program for students with special needs (KXAN)
The City of Austin and the Austin Independent School District have partnered on a new workforce training program pilot that aims to give employment opportunities to students with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
As part of the program, students with intellectual or developmental disabilities will be hired by the city as temporary employees. After undergoing training, students can apply for permanent city positions.
The city’s pilot is based off a framework established between the City of Wylie, Texas Workforce Solutions and Wylie ISD on a vocational program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, per the release.
The program will begin by placing students in four departments, said Council Member Kathie Tovo, who spearheaded the budgetary item. The City of Austin’s Human Resources Department will work in tandem with AISD’s supported employment special education department to transition students from the school setting to the workforce training program… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
With the SEC move looming, Texas should be seeing Alabama more often (Austin American-Statesman)
Defensive tackle Keondre Coburn hadn’t played a single down yet at Texas when the Alabama home-and-home contract was announced on May 16, 2018. Sure, it sounded cool. “I was like, oh, I get a chance to play Bama. Hopefully I’ll be gone before that,” said Coburn, now a fifth-year senior. “But, you know, I’m here and I’m excited for it.” No. 1 Alabama will be at Royal-Memorial Stadium on Saturday. But when will the Crimson Tide return? That’s a guess as good as any even though Texas is set to join the SEC by 2025 at the latest. But it could be sooner than you think.
By joining the SEC, Texas must prepare for a possible nine-game league slate and rethink its long-term, nonconference scheduling strategy. Reports have surfaced that SEC athletic directors are now leaning toward the so-called 3-6 scheduling model. Texas would have three “permanent” opponents — Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Arkansas — and then the other six games would rotate among the other schools. “I think there’s ample support now to get to nine (league games),” an SEC source told ESPN in August. “More rivalries can be played on an annual basis, and the content that an extra league game would provide for TV would mean a lot more money.” In a 3-6 model, every SEC team (except Oklahoma, of course) would come to Royal-Memorial Stadium at some point over a four-year span. That means every UT player would play at every SEC football venue over his four-year career. Frankly, that’s a no-brainer. As of now, most Texas insiders still believe, or at least hope, the Horns and Sooners join the new league in 2024, one year ahead of schedule. So, let’s say Texas joins the SEC in 2024. That means Alabama could be back anytime between 2024 and 2028. Don’t forget, the Horns are scheduled to play in Tuscaloosa next year on the back end of this current home-and-home contract… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas could tie community college funding to student outcomes (Texas Tribune)
A commission charged by the Legislature to suggest new ways of funding Texas community colleges is poised to recommend a complete system overhaul that would tie state dollars to how successful schools are at getting students to graduation or four-year universities.
The Texas Commission on Community College Finance, a group of lawmakers, business leaders and community college presidents created last legislative session, released its draft recommendations ahead of a meeting Monday to hear testimony on its vision. The group has been meeting throughout the past year, but the draft recommendations are the first glimpse into what types of changes lawmakers might consider when they convene in January.
The major recommended change would be to fund schools based on the number of students who complete their certificate or degree programs or transfer to a four-year university to continue their education. Other recommendations include major increases to the state’s need-based financial aid program and funding to help schools grow capacity on par with Texas’ population growth… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
How California avoided widespread blackouts during its heat wave when Texas couldn't during its freeze (Houston Chronicle)
As Californians brace for another afternoon of triple-digit temperatures, the state's grid operator has asked residents to conserve power for the ninth-straight day. That California's grid is on the brink of emergency conditions during a heat wave has sparked a flurry of conversations on Twitter, with folks both criticizing and praising the state's response. Others have compared the response and situation to Texas' recent electricity woes. Famed newscaster Dan Rather, a native Texan, noted: "There was an unusual weather event in California and Governor Newsom asked residents to pitch in during a moment of crisis. People responded for the good of the community. The crisis passed with the electricity still on. Is a better model what we experienced in Texas?"
But while the situation facing California differs in many ways to what Texas dealt with during the February 2021 freeze, some issues faced by both the California Independent System Operator and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas are remarkably similar. Here's a look at the differences and similarities of the two states' power landscapes. Abnormal heat waves don't stress the grid in the same ways abnormal freezes do. In the Texas freeze and the West's current heat wave, demand for power spiked. Peak demand in California could rise above 51,300 megawatts, which would be a record. ERCOT shattered its own demand record at least 11 times this summer, reaching 80,000 megawatts for a few minutes in late July. One megawatt is enough to power about 200 homes on a hot Texas summer day. (Despite having more than 10 million more people, demand in California is much less than it is in Texas, thanks to their typically temperate weather and relative lack of heavy industry, experts say.) During the freeze, demand for power in Texas also spiked well above the winter average, with some experts saying it could have reached 77,000 megawatts if not for ERCOT telling utilities to cut power. Before that order, ERCOT also told Texans to conserve power, similar to how California is asking residents to do the same now. But there is a huge difference -- the amount of power generation available… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
D.C. mayor declares public emergency as Texas doubles down on migrant busing efforts (Dallas Morning News)
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public emergency Thursday over the influx of migrants sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, as the number of migrants grows to 7,900. The public emergency allows Bowser’s administration to mobilize resources faster and seek federal financial aid. The declaration also gives her the authority to set up a Migrant Services Office within the Department of Human Services. The office will support reception of migrants as well as providing meals, temporary housing, medical needs, transit to other destinations and more. Bowser has allocated an initial $10 million for the office and plans to seek reimbursement from FEMA. The order lasts 15 days, but Bowser said in a press conference she will send a request to the D.C. Council to extend the emergency. Bowser and other critics of Abbott’s actions have called it a political ploy to curry favor with conservative voters and inhumane to migrants.
“Mayors do a lot of things, but we are not responsible for a broken immigration system,” Bowser said at the press conference. Bowser has twice requested federal aid through the D.C. National Guard to manage the influx of migrants, however, the Biden Administration has rejected these. “In many ways, the governors of Texas and Arizona have turned us into a border town,” said D.C. Councilmember Brianne Nadeau at the press conference. A spokeswoman for Abbott said Bowser is a “hypocrite” for declaring an emergency, and that she should call on President Joe Biden to take more action at the border. “The true emergency is on our nation’s southern border — not in our nation’s capital — where small Texas border towns are overrun and overwhelmed by hundreds of migrants every single day as the Biden Administration dumps them in their communities,” the spokeswoman wrote in a statement. Abbott’s office added the invitation is still open for Bowser to visit the border. Abbott began sending buses of migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to the nation’s capital in April. However, the actions went relatively unnoticed at first. Over the summer Abbott expanded this practice to New York City and Chicago. As the first buses arrived at the Port Authority in New York City, Mayor Eric Adams called Abbott’s actions “horrific” and said many migrants were misled about their destination… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[BG PODCAST]
Episode 164: Discussing the CHIPS Act and Mexico Incentives with Sergio Chavez-Moreno
Today's episode (164) features returning guest Sergio Chavez-Moreno.
Sergio is the Founder of Nextshore Partners, a legal affairs and government relations firm with offices in the United States and Mexico, and a Principal at Intermestic Partners, an international business investment and consulting firm.
He and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss the CHIPS Act in relation to an the August (19th) Bloomberg article: Mexico Considers Incentives to Attract Semiconductor Investment -> EPISODE LINK
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