#NEWS // BG Reads | February 24, 2023
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin City Council Passes Ordinance to Provide Short-term Solution on Police Compensation and Oversight (City of Austin)
Austin City Council unanimously approved an ordinance today that will provide a short-term solution for police compensation and oversight. The ordinance, authored by Council Member Ryan Alter and co-sponsored by Mayor Kirk Watson and Council Members Alison Alter, José Velásquez and José “Chito” Vela, fulfills several community needs and only becomes necessary if an agreement on a police contract between the City of Austin and Austin Police Association is not reached.
“With today’s ordinance, we have a short-term solution to ensure our community’s public safety needs are met and that our police officers are appropriately compensated with stable wages and benefits,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said. “Nobody, me included, thinks this is a perfect solution, but inaction is not an option. Our community needs to be safe and feel safe.”…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
New Austin City Council members share support for development-friendly changes (Austin Business Journal)
New members of Austin City Council are voicing a vision for a future of working more closely and effectively with developers, architects and other business leaders to transform the capital city.
During a Feb. 22 breakfast hosted by the Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to research and education in real estate and land use, District 3 Council Member?José Velásquez , District 5 Council Member?Ryan Alter ?and District 9 Council Member?Zohaib Qadri ?all shared an emphasis and support of policies to bring more high-density housing to Austin in an effort to mitigate its ongoing struggles with affordability and transportation.
The key concerns shared by each of the three new members of Council were affordability, a need to create more opportunities for struggling Austinites and revising the city's land development code. The items were discussed as main objectives for the new Council members who will remain on the dais for the next four years.
"Whether we're talking about compatibility, the land development code, or anything in the city, I think sometimes Council — not to knock anybody that was here before us — was too reactive to issues as opposed to proactive in getting out and actually selling what they saw as their vision for Austin," Velásquez said. "We haven't always had the best salesmen when it comes to making big change."
With Districts 1, 2, 3 and 4 bearing the majority of the city’s affordable housing opportunities, the incoming Council members communicated a need for change…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin City Council demands changes to I-35 plan (KUT)
Austin's City Council wants I-35 to have more crossings and fewer semitrucks, among other changes, as the Texas Department of Transportation gears up for a sweeping expansion of the highway through Travis County.
But the list of City Council demands approved on a 10-1 vote Thursday — with only Mayor Kirk Watson opposed — underlined an irritating political reality for opponents of the highway widening: Local government has limited power to slam the brakes.
City Council's list of demands for the I-35 Capital Express Project include the following:
I-35 should have a "full east-west crossing" around every quarter mile, and should not go more than half a mile without a crossing.
As much of I-35 as possible should be lowered and covered.
Construction should be done to maximize the possibility to add more coverings in the future.
The number of properties seized to expand the highway's right-of-way should be minimized.
Eighteen-wheelers should be incentivized to use Texas State Highway 130 instead of I-35.
Water runoff from I-35 should be filtered and treated.
Frontage roads should have speed limits no higher than the local street network.
The I-35 Capital Express project involves increasing the highway's capacity through Travis County. The 28-mile project is split into three separate parts —?North ,?Central ?and?South . A federal lawsuit?alleges ?this division was done to skirt environmental law…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin FC kicks off third season (AXIOS AUstin)
Just three months after Austin FC played in the Western Conference Finals — making it to the Final Four of Major League Soccer — the team will kick off its third season on Saturday at Q2 Stadium.
Driving the news:?The Verde and Black play expansion team St. Louis City FC at 7:30pm.
The game is sold out but?tickets are available ?on the secondary market…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin housing market looking at ‘Bright Future’ some struggles (Austin American-Statesman)
Central Texas' housing market has a "bright, bright future" as people and companies continue to move to the region. But the picture is not all rosy.
There's evidence the?tide of newcomers is slowing . And there could be other headwinds over the next several months as the economy sputters, interest rates tick up and affordability challenges persist.
That was the 2023 outlook from Eldon Rude, an Austin-based housing market analyst who delivered his 20th annual?housing forecast ?Tuesday to 650 businesspeople. The Home Builders Association of Greater Austin sponsored the event at the Renaissance Hotel in Austin.
"A key concern as we move deeper into 2023 is whether the U.S. economy enters a recession, which would result in additional headwinds for the new home market," Rude, who has been tracking the housing market for more than three decades, told the Statesman earlier this week. In his forecast, Rude said the housing market has been in a recession since May of 2022, when the Federal Reserve's mortgage interest rate hikes aimed at curbing inflation began taking a toll.
"In addition to some would-be home buyers being priced out of the market due to higher interest rates, builders will sell fewer homes this year because the pace of in-migration into the region has slowed compared to the torrid pace we saw in late 2020, 2021 and the first half of 2022. Evidence of the slowdown in in-migration include builders reporting fewer relocation buyers in recent months, as well as the sharp slowdown in the absorption in apartments in 2022 compared to 2021."…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Legal strategy behind Texas’ 6-week abortion ban could be applied to library books next (Texas Public Radio)
In 2021, Texas lawmakers passed SB8, a bill that threatened abortion providers by incentivizing civil lawsuits against them, effectively banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The strategy was unique and controversial – and it served as a blueprint for other legislatures proposing similar measures before the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Fast-forward to the present: Last week, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said one of his priorities for this legislative session would be to ban what he called “obscene” books in Texas schools. And it appears the strategy used in SB8 may be the template for more book bans in a state that experts say has already banned more than any other in recent months.
Jonathan Mitchell, this Austin attorney, has been drafting ordinances for the city and county level that would allow people to go after librarians for putting on bookshelves 'immoral content.' And the ordinances that he’s been drafting, which I obtained a copy of, say that a citizen could sue a librarian or any employee of a city or county who violates the terms of the ordinance, said Asher Price of Axios. "And the ordinance itself, you know, sets the stage for a lot of potential hot water. The draft ordinance says a librarian can’t show any book in a young adult section that includes descriptions of nudity, descriptions of masturbation, or books that describe suicide or self-harm. It also goes on to say that no LGBTQ flag or emblem can be displayed or maintained in a library and that even no employee of the library or of a city can take action that it recognizes or acknowledges June as Pride Month. So it goes in a lot of different directions, and it lays a lot of groundwork for limiting what librarians can do and what can be displayed in libraries."…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Speaker Dade Phelan endorses Medicaid expansion for new mothers, repeal of “tampon tax” in first batch of 2023 priorities (Texas Tribune)
House Speaker?Dade Phelan ?on Thursday unveiled four of his priority bills for the legislative session, which included Democratic goals like the expansion of Medicaid eligibility for new mothers to one year and the exemption of feminine hygiene products and diapers from sales taxes, in a nod to the bipartisan tone he has set for the chamber.
Phelan, a Beaumont Republican in his second term as leader of the House, also threw his support behind bills authored by two Republicans to crack down on how companies collect and monetize private data and to protect children from what he deemed “addictive algorithms” by digital companies. Phelan said the list of four bills is a “starting point” for the House of Representatives and that more bills with his support will be announced soon.
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“As I have said before, it is essential that the Texas House makes meaningful progress this year on better supporting mothers and children in the state — and that starts with extending health coverage for new moms to a full year,” Phelan said in a statement. “Additionally, I am eager to see our chamber take on Big Tech, which for too long has taken advantage of the data and privacy of Texans and especially our children, who are vulnerable to predatory and addicting algorithms and advertisements on social media platforms. Putting Texans and Texas parents back in the driver’s seat on this issue is a priority for our chamber this session.”…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas Governor Greg Abbott says he is open to resort casinos (Fort Worth Star Telegram)
Before Gov. Greg Abbott says what kind of expanded gambling he would support in Texas, he describes what he doesn’t want to see. He wants to avoid gaming operations at every corner store. He doesn’t want a slot machine to be the first thing people see when they exit an airport jet bridge. “If it can be built in a way that is, kind of like a professional operation that provides a form of entertainment for people, that’s something I can be open to,” Abbott told the Star-Telegram in a Thursday interview. He said the idea that comes to mind is a destination resort, like those being proposed by Las Vegas Sands through the Destination Resort Alliance. “It’s a gaming version of the Great Wolf Lodge,” Abbott said.
But gambling expansion would need to come with safeguards, Abbott said. “We both need and kind of have an obligation to make sure that we will not be setting up a system where people without means are using money that they need to pay their bills, to gamble it away and maybe lose it,” he said. “We need to safeguard against that, as well as make sure no operation is being set up that would lead to any type of crime.” A bill backed by the Destination Resort Alliance and filed by Fort Worth Republican Charlie Geren would let voters decide whether to allow for seven such resorts in the state, including two in North Texas: Casinos with other amenities like hotels, restaurants, meeting spaces, entertainment venues and shopping centers. His legislation would also legalize sports betting, if approved by voters. Expanding casino gambling or sports betting in Texas requires constitutional amendments, which go to voters rather than Abbott’s desk for a signature. Gambling allowed in Texas includes the state lottery, horse and greyhound racing and a few tribal casinos. In addition to Geren’s bill, which is set up to work in coordination with existing horse and greyhound racing licenses, proposals to allow casino gambling have been filed by Sen. Carol Alvarado and Rep. Harold Dutton, both Houston Democrats…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Dallas’ 75-year, tax-free lease deal to developers kills needed revenue: critics (Dallas Morning News)
Since last year, Dallas has approved the creation of 11 new apartment complexes through a state law that allows a 100% property tax break for developers in exchange for including mixed-income housing. Every Dallas deal has come with a 75-year lease for developers, who agree to reserve half of the 3,200 units at rents for people who make no more than 80% of the area median income, which ranges from a single person earning up to $54,550 a year to a family of four making up to $77,900. The rest are market rate. More apartments are in the pipeline as Dallas continues to try to find ways to keep up with the demand of affordable housing as rents rise.
But allowing developers to forgo property taxes for upwards of seven decades has raised red flags around the state and in Dallas. Critics worry about the oversight of similar programs, that the lost revenue could strip cities of money that leads to shifting the burden on homeowners and others to make up, and that there are no caps on how many deals can be approved. “We need affordable housing to be built. That’s true. And we have to get some incentives in place to make it happen,” said City Council member Cara Mendelsohn, who has voted against the majority of the 11 apartment complex deals. “The question is, is this the right scheme to make that happen? I think the cost is too high.” In the first 15 years, the city estimates forgoing $2.1 million in property tax revenue. After that period, each deal is set to be reviewed by the city. Dallas officials say it gives the city a say in the oversight of aspects typically out of its control like rent, and it’s been an effective way to bring in housing for residents who’d struggle to afford market rate rentals and make too much to get places that are created through low-income housing tax credit projects. “This is definitely not a free ride and it’s one of our most powerful tools that we have to actually bring in a critical mass of workforce and mixed income housing,” Kyle Hines, an assistant director in Dallas’ housing and neighborhood revitalization department, told City Council members during an April 2022 meeting. Mendelsohn voted in favor of the first two deals in January and March 2022 and has been the lone council member to vote against approving the projects since. Most of the deals are initially on the council’s consent agenda, which Mendelsohn has routinely pulled off to discuss…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Chip Makers Turn Cutthroat in Fight for Share of Federal Money (Wall Street Journal)
Rival semiconductor suppliers and their customers pulled together last year as they lobbied Congress to help shore up U.S. chip manufacturing and reduce vulnerabilities in the crucial supply chain. The push led lawmakers to approve the CHIPS Act,?including $52 billion ?in subsidies to companies and research institutions as well as $24 billion or more in tax credits — one of the biggest infusions into a single industry in decades.
But that unity is beginning to crack. As the Biden administration prepares to begin handing out the money, chief executives, lobbyists and lawmakers have begun jostling to make their case for funding, in public and behind closed doors.
In meetings with government officials and in a public filing, Intel has called into question how much taxpayer money should go to its competitors that have offshore headquarters, arguing that American innovations and other intellectual property could be funneled out of the country.
“Our I.P. is here, and that’s not insignificant,” said Allen Thompson, Intel’s vice president of U.S. government relations. “We are the U.S. champion.”…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Republicans set opening presidential debate for August (Associated Press)
The opening Republican presidential debate of the?2024 election season ?will take place in Milwaukee this August, the Republican National Committee decided Thursday.
The rough time and location were the only details finalized as a small group of RNC members met behind closed doors in Washington this week to begin the complicated task of coordinating logistics for what is likely to be a crowded and messy primary season. In the coming weeks, the group plans to finalize a broader set of criteria for participation, including the requirement that each candidate on stage must pledge to support the Republican Party’s eventual nominee.
In selecting Milwaukee, the RNC is following its recent tradition of hosting its inaugural presidential debate in the city playing host to the national convention the following year.
“At this time, no other debates have been sanctioned, nor has the final criteria for the first debate been decided,” GOP Chair Ronna McDaniel wrote in a message to RNC members Thursday. “We have a long way to go, but I am confident we will be able to showcase our eventual nominee in a world class fashion.”…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[ON THE HORIZON: MEETINGS/HEARINGS]
FEBRUARY 28
March 2
[BG PODCAST]
Bingham Group Associate Hannah Garcia and CEO A.J. review the week in Austin politics (ending 2.17.2023).
Today's topic details the most recent Austin city manager search leading up to former City Manager Spencer Cronk's hiring.
Helpful Links:
? City Manager Search Timeline:?www.binghamgp.com/bgreads/2023/2/2…-search-timeline
Episode 187
ABOUT THE BINGHAM GROUP, LLC
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Connect with A.J. on LinkedIn at:?bit.ly/3DlFiUK
Connect with Hannah on LinkedIn at:?bit.ly/3RberR3
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Bingham Group works to advance the interests of businesses, nonprofits, and associations at the municipal and state level.