BG Reads | News You Need to Know (July 18, 2023)
[BG PODCAST]
EPISODE 205 // Bingham Group Associate’s Hannah Garcia and Wendy Rodriguez with CEO A.J. review the week in Austin politics and more.
The discussion covers:
• Texas Legislature reaches deal for property tax cuts → www.kxan.com/news/18-billion-de…in-states-history/
• City of Austin ends APD-DPS partnership after community backlash and an alarming incident over the weekend → www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/20…id=4f22e5507c
• City Boards and Commissions recommend Telework policy for city employees → www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2023/0…ity-employees/
• Local organizations call for quicker turnaround on Land Development Code Amendments → www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/202…date=2023-07-12
• All 32 City of Austin pools are open after several years of staffing issues → www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2023/0…f-swim-season/
• Some AustinISD Teachers were paid $2000 in error and must pay that back to AISD → communityimpact.com/austin/southwes…ocessing-error/
>>> SHOW LINK <<<
Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
[AUSTIN METRO]
Mayor Kirk Watson discusses new $5.5 billion city budget, what it means for Austin (KXAN)
On Sunday evening, City of Austin Interim City Manager Jesús Garza released his proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
The budget forecasts a combined projected increase of 2% in local fees for the typical ratepayer.
Austin’s 2022-2023 budget totaled $5 billion, and the 2021-2022 budget was $4.5 billion.
Monday morning, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson sat down with KXAN’s Tom Miller to talk about how the budget breaks down and what it will mean for residents… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Deadly Austin weekend highlights low APD staff numbers (KXAN)
Austin’s deadliest weekend so far in 2023 has some searching for more public safety solutions.
Police are currently investigating one homicide from Saturday, and three from Sunday.
As Austin Police Department Cpl. Jose Mendez provided an update at one of Sunday’s homicide scenes, he — in an uncustomary move — addressed how APD staffing shortages have and will impact these current investigations… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin City Council to vote on creating reserve police force for event security (CBS Austin)
The Austin City Council will be voting on a new ordinance later this week, which would create a police force reserve in the city.
If city council votes Thursday to create the reserve police force, retired officers could come back to help relieve the burden on the police department by helping out during special events. With all the events happening across the city, especially during the summer, some leaders say even just having extra officers on barricades could make a big difference… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin City Council to meet with legal counsel about Texas 'Death Star' bill (Austin American-Statesman)
The Austin City Council is set to discuss “legal issues” involving recently passed legislation that limits the power of local governments during a closed session Tuesday, according to the council agenda.
Called the “Death Star” bill by both opponents and supporters, House Bill 2127 would make many local ordinances unenforceable by cities, such as mandated water breaks for workers and eviction protections for renters. The new law will take effect Sept. 1.
The July 18 meeting comes just a few weeks after the city of Houston filed a lawsuit against the state to have the bill declared unconstitutional, void and unenforceable.
"The Austin City Council will meet in July to discuss the ramifications of HB2127 - which appear to be sweeping - and the City’s options going forward," a city spokesperson said in an email to the American-Statesman. “We think the Houston lawsuit does a good job of outlining the legal issues with the bill."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Staff releases expedited timeline for housing code amendments (Austin Monitor)
An updated timeline for implementation of a bundle of city code amendments aimed at increasing housing supply is in the hands of City Council.
In a memo dated July 13, Planning Department Director Lauren Middleton-Pratt revealed the updated Schedule of Active Code Amendments chart, which addresses concerns from community groups, the Planning Commission and Council members that the process was moving too slowly.
“Staff understands the urgency of these amendments, particularly those that have the potential to increase housing supply and income-restricted housing for the Austin community and is committed to compressing the timelines to adoption where feasible and as additional resources are identified,” Middleton-Pratt wrote… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas is worst state in the U.S. to live in for issues like abortion and voting rights, CNBC says (Houston Chronicle)
Texas has spent the last decade at the top of the list for business but the bottom half for quality of life. This year brought two firsts: Texas dropped out of the top five states for business, placing 6th, and ranked dead last as a place to live.
"For all its strength as a place to do business, Texas keeps trying to outdo itself when it comes to laws and policies that are seen as exclusionary," the ranking noted. Texas's placement stayed the same in 2022, before it went to the bottom this year for "reproductive rights, health, voting rights, worker protections, (and) inclusiveness."
Despite the poor ranking, Texas and the Houston area in particular have continued to attract new residents every year. Customer data from U-Haul has ranked Texas as the most popular state to move to for the past two years in a row, with Missouri City and Conroe ranking amongst the top 25 growing cities in the U.S. Pods Enterprises, a moving and storage company, also recently named Houston the fifth most popular relocation destination in the U.S., up from No. 12 last year. "When I ask people why they are moving to Texas, they usually say things are too expensive everywhere else – and there are jobs in Texas," D-An Smith, general manager at U-Haul Moving & Storage of South Stafford in Fort Bend County, told the Chronicle. "The houses are similar to what you would find in California, but for less than half the price." … (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Acting as Paxton impeachment judge, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issues sweeping gag order (texas Tribune)
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Monday issued a wide-ranging gag order ahead of the impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton, saying “out-of-court statements” by both sides could jeopardize the trial in the Texas Senate.
The order, which went into immediate effect, cites what Patrick called “particularly egregious” statements that “pose a serious and imminent threat” to the impartiality of Paxton’s trial, which begins Sept. 5.
Violators can be found in contempt of court and punished with up to six months in a county jail and a fine of up to $500, the gag order said.
The order prohibits parties — including members of the Senate and House and their staffs, witnesses and attorneys — from making statements that they “reasonably should know” will have a “substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing the trial.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
North Texas cities holding their fire as Houston sues over preemption laW (KERA)
A controversial and potentially far-reaching law that prevents cities from enforcing a wide swath of local ordinances is a major concern for North Texas cities – but not enough for them to file a lawsuit. HB 2127, set to take effect on September 1st, bars cities from passing ordinances that regulate beyond what is explicitly stated in state law, such as ordinances in Dallas and Austin that mandated water breaks for construction workers. Rather than sue, all eyes are on the City of Houston, which did take the state to court. It filed a lawsuit in Travis County earlier this month. Houston alleges the measure is inconsistent with the Texas Constitution and “the Texas Legislature would never be the ‘exclusive regulator’ of city life, as HB 2127 wrongly asserts.”
Representatives from various cities testified against the bill this spring in committee hearings in the House and Senate, including staff from Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso, and the Texas Municipal League. In response to questions from KERA since the Houston suit was filed, North Texas cities generally say they are watching the case carefully but currently have no plans to join. “We wanted to see how that kind of plays out before we take any specific action,” said Mesquite City Manager Cliff Keheley. In an interview, Keheley and Mesquite Mayor Daniel Alemán said they were concerned the preemption law might endanger some city ordinances. While proponents of the law insisted it would ensure certainty for businesses that operate throughout Texas, cities generally say it creates significant uncertainty on their end because of the law's breadth and lack of specificity. “It’s covering a wide spectrum. It really is,” Alemán said. One particular concern for Alemán and Keheley is Mesquite’s ordinance capping the length of grass at 8 inches. They said state law allows for higher… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Aurora’s self-driving semis aim to be on Texas highways by 2024 (Texas PuBlic Radio)
In Texas, big rigs often overrun the highways from Austin to San Antonio to Dallas and Houston and major highways in between. One of the most popular of these routes, the Dallas-Houston route along I-45, is about to get a new kind of big rig. Aurora, an autonomous trucking company based in Dallas, has begun manned test drives on this stretch with a goal of full automation by the end of 2024. Until then, a driver still sits behind the wheel, ready to take over in case of emergency. Alexandra Skores, business reporter for the Dallas Morning News, joined one Aurora team on their Dallas-Houston trip. “I sat in the back seat, watched two drivers, you know, monitor the roads, looking for any objects in the way, any challenges to the technology. And overall, really just watched this very complex, but like large-scale technology, do the work of making one of these big rigs fully autonomous,” Skores said.
She said the ride went off without a hitch but that the company is always looking for ways to improve their safety features. “It was a pretty smooth ride, and by the end of 2024, that route could be completely driverless,” she said. “But they’re going to be testing all throughout this year, all throughout next year to make sure this technology is bulletproof. They want to make sure that they are putting the best possible technology out there on the roads to ensure that the average driver doesn’t feel like it’s unsafe.” That’s not unique to Aurora. Many other autonomous vehicle companies are testing their products on Texas roads, and all of them are doing so with safety in mind. And in a state that consistently ranks among the highest trucking casualties in the nation, reducing this number is a driving goal for Aurora. “We’re putting truck drivers, folks in their regular cars on the roads,” Skores said. “And, you know, we are seeing an uptick in those vehicles getting into crashes. But this is supposedly some sort of technology that can help end those sorts of crashes and just fatal issues. So what they’re really trying to accomplish here is to make sure that the roads are safe, but also doing it in a way that it’s predictable enough that folks can really feel kind of reassured that this technology can be more understanding of what’s going on on the roads.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
The Sibling Discount Ends for College Financial Aid (Wall Street Journal)
Parents paying tuition for two or more children in college stand to lose some financial aid under new government rules.
For years, the calculation for federal financial aid took into account a family’s income and assets, as well as the number of children attending school. The information, which parents plugged into the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, or Fafsa, was used to determine how much a family could afford to pay annually, a number called the expected family contribution.
The Education Department divided that number by the number of college students in the family to estimate how much parents could contribute for each child. That per-child number determines each child’s eligibility for need-based federal financial aid… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Where K Street’s money is going in the GOP primary (Politico)
K Street money is flooding into the GOP presidential primary ahead of the first debate next month, according to a PI analysis of last quarter’s campaign finance records. Dozens of lobbyists and other K Street types have already maxed out to at least one candidate as of the filing deadline. Others opened their wallets for multiple candidates last quarter… (LINK TO FULL STORY)