BG Reads | News You Need to Know (January 11, 2023)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Tesla plans to spend $700M+ to expand Austin gigafactory (Austin business journal)
Tesla’s titanic Austin gigafactory could begin to get substantially larger in the coming weeks.
Plans filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Jan. 9 indicate that the electric vehicle manufacturer plans to pour $717 million into constructing 1.4 million additional square feet of space at its Austin gigafactory — starting as early as the end of the month. The plans call for four new buildings to be built and finished out at 1 Tesla Road.
It's the second major employer in Austin this week to indicate that now is the time to build for the years to come, despite the uncertainty on the horizon in the coming year.
Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) has filed similar paperwork to invest about a quarter of a billion dollars more in the construction of new office buildings on the north side. Meanwhile, West Coast tech giants such as Amazon and Facebook have indicated that they'll cut local jobs in the foreseeable future. Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc. confirmed in November it was planning to sublease 589,000 square feet it had leased in late 2021 at a downtown Austin high-rise… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
The Supertalls Are Coming to Austin (Bloomberg)
The city of Austin is building up, and its once-modest skyline is getting weird.
Due in 2026 is a mixed-use high-rise called Waterline, designed by the New York firm Kohn Pedersen Fox. At 1,022 feet, the building qualifies as a “supertall,” one of just a handful of these spectacular skyscrapers in the US outside Chicago or New York City. When it’s finished, the project will rank as the tallest building in Texas. Designed like a stack of several different buildings, Waterline will stand out on a skyline that’s growing up faster than almost any other nationwide.But it won’t stand alone. Groundbreaking is due this year on an even-taller supertall, the Wilson Tower. Wrapped in a dusky golden brise-soleil running the length of the building, the Wilson Tower will rise to 1,035 feet, looming like a giant harmonica over the live music capital of the world and setting a record both for the state and for any US residential high-rise outside New York City.
Given the rate that these supertalls are popping up in Austin, no building is likely to hold a title for long… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
City preps $1.5M in assistance for creative spaces facing displacement (Austin monitor)
The city is preparing to open the application for the latest iteration of the Creative Space Assistance Program, which provides up to $50,000 to organizations, artists or for-profit venues facing financial hardships that could lead to their displacement.
The $1.5 million allocated for this year’s program is the largest amount of city funding so far since its inception as a pilot effort in 2018, brought about by the number of venues and arts spaces struggling with rising rents and maintenance expenses. The grant application process opens Jan. 24 on the Music & Entertainment Division’s website, with sites located in the extraterritorial jurisdiction surrounding Austin eligible for the first time ever.
Applications close Feb. 28 and are expected to be evaluated for awards in the spring… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas House selects Rep. Dade Phelan as speaker for another legislative session (Texas Tribune)
Texas House of Representatives members on Tuesday voted 145-3 to elect state Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, to a second term as speaker — the most powerful position in the lower chamber.
He defeated state Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, who was nominated by ultraconservative members who say Phelan is unreasonably accommodating of Democrats in the chamber. Tinderholt cast a ballot for himself, as did two Republican members who nominated him, Nate Schatzline of Tarrant County and Bryan Slaton of Royce City.
Phelan said he would shepherd bills through the chamber that have the support of a majority of members while also ensuring that lawmakers from the minority party would have a meaningful voice… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Gov. Greg Abbott supports proposal to overhaul Texas power grid (Dallas Morning News)
Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday signaled his support for a controversial proposal to overhaul how electricity is bought and sold in Texas that aims to address grid weaknesses exposed in the deadly 2021 winter storm. In a letter to the Public Utility Commission – the board of Abbott appointees that regulates Texas’ power grid – Abbott said he supports a grid redesign that improves the system’s reliability by encouraging the construction of natural gas power plants. Staff and the chairman of power grid regulatory agency have recommended a “performance credit mechanism” that would require power utilities both public and private to purchase credits the state would dole out to power generating companies that deliver electricity when power reserves are thinnest. Abbott’s support could move the arrow on the proposal as the Public Utility Commission is set to possibly approve a market redesign on Thursday. The proposal has faced significant pushback from grid experts, ERCOT’s independent market monitor and several state senators since it was introduced in November.
Redesigning Texas’ power grid will have an impact on Texans’ power bills. PUC officials estimate the overhaul would cost ratepayers roughly $460 million a year, an overall increase of 2 percent, according to a recent market analysis. In his letter, Abbott said the PUC should give the performance credit mechanism “strong consideration.” Abbott said generators have already vowed to build new power plants if the plan is approved, likely pointing to testimony from the head of the power plant trade group Texas Competitive Power Advocates. During a House State Affairs Committee meeting on Dec. 5, the organization’s director Michele Richmond said generators would commit to building 4,500 megawatts – enough electricity to power roughly 900,000 homes – if the proposal is adopted. “The PCM, if adopted by the PUC and supported by the Legislature, will provide that policy certainty” for investors to build more dispatchable power plants, Richmond said in a statement following the hearing. Dispatchable power in Texas overwhelmingly refers to power plants that are fueled by natural gas. Statewide political leaders such as Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have placed a premium on creating government policy that will encourage new natural gas power plants. The idea comes as the lion’s share of conservative state lawmakers continue to blame Texas’ grid woes on the proliferation of wind and solar power in Texas despite state and federal reports that indicated natural gas power plants also failed during the 2021 winter blackouts that killed more than 200 Texans… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
State police terminate another officer for response to Uvalde mass shooting (Texas Tribune)
The Texas Department of Public Safety has decided to terminate a Texas Ranger who responded to the horrific May 24 attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
In a letter Thursday, DPS Director Steve McCraw told Texas Ranger Christopher Ryan Kindell that his actions following the shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers “did not conform to department standards.” Kindell has five days to appeal the decision.
“You should have recognized the incident was and remained an active shooter situation which demanded an active shooter response rather than a barricaded subject situation,” McCraw wrote in the letter obtained by The Texas Tribune.
But police experts and the Uvalde County district attorney had raised questions about whether DPS was retroactively punishing a handful of officers for not following policies that weren’t in place at the time of the shooting. Among their concerns: By firing a few officers, DPS and other law enforcement agencies will avoid serious analysis of how hundreds of police from multiple agencies stood by for more than 70 minutes while children and teachers lay shot in a fourth grade classroom… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
North America vows to strengthen economic ties, Mexico energy row rumbles on (Reuters)
The United States said the region would in early 2023 organize a semiconductor forum to increase investment in the strategic high-tech industry dominated by Asia.
The White House said coordination would be needed on semiconductor supply chain mapping to identify needs and investment opportunities in making chips that are used in everything from telecoms to carmaking and defense.
Mexico's hopes of benefiting from the push to boost semiconductor output have been undermined by the energy dispute, with Washington and Ottawa starting formal dispute settlement proceedings against Mexico's policies in July… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Talks between Biden and Mexico's López Obrador got off to a bit of a rough start (NPR)
President Biden and Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had a bumpy start to talks on Monday when what were supposed to be some brief opening pleasantries devolved into a contentious debate over the history of U.S. support for Latin America.
Biden, López Obrador and a phalanx of cabinet members and advisers had just sat down in the ornate National Palace at the start to discuss working together on trade, fentanyl interdiction, and migration — ahead of Tuesday's North American Leaders' Summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
López Obrador told Biden that the United States had done little to support development in Latin America since President John F. Kennedy's "Alliance for Progress" spending in the early 1960s… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Unity is new tone for often-divided Democrats in Washington (Associated Press)
The infighting was so intense a year ago that Democrats who controlled both the White House and Congress couldn’t win support for a sweeping social spending package that was the party’s top legislative priority. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, was viewed skeptically enough that some of his fellow Democrats questioned the wisdom of him seeking reelection.
What a difference a year makes.
Speculation about Biden’s political future has quieted after Democrats outperformed expectations during the November midterm elections. His toughest critics on the left are signaling they’ll work to help him secure a second term.
And perhaps most notably, last year’s dissent on Capitol Hill melted away over the past week as every Democrat voted — repeatedly — in support of Hakeem Jeffries for the House speakership. That was the type of showing Republican Kevin McCarthy could only long for as he worked through 15 votes over four bruising days to finally win backing from his party to take the gavel… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Powell Says Fed Will Not Become a ‘Climate Policy Maker’ (Wall Street Journal)
The Federal Reserve must avoid straying into political issues that aren’t directly related to its economic-management objectives to protect its ability to bring down inflation without interference from elected officials, said Chair Jerome Powell.
The central bank remains strongly committed to lowering inflation by restraining economic growth through interest-rate increases, even though doing so could fuel political blowback, he said during a panel discussion with other central bankers in Sweden on Tuesday.
Bringing inflation down when it “is high can require measures that are not popular in the short term as we raise interest rates to slow the economy,” Mr. Powell said. That made it all the more important, he added, for the central bank to “‘stick to our knitting’ and not wander off” into addressing issues that aren’t directly linked to its mandate to keep inflation low and to support a strong job market.
“We are not, and will not be, a ‘climate policy maker,’” Mr. Powell said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[meetings this weeek]
TODAY
[BG PODCAST]
Bingham Group Week in Review (1.6.2023)
For the first show of 2023, Bingham Group Associate Hannah Garcia and CEO A.J. discuss Austin Council staff picks and Friday’s swearing-in ceremony.
Episode 179
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