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- BG Reads 1.13.2025
BG Reads 1.13.2025
🟪 BG Reads - January 13, 2025
Bingham Group Reads
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www.binghamgp.com
January 13, 2025
➡️ Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 What Austin city leaders say they would like to see happen this legislative session (KVUE)
🟪 $17.8 million in food funding for Austin-area kids is on the line when the Legislature convenes (KUT)
🟪 Budget estimate opens path for ‘life-changing decisions for Texans’ by lawmakers (KXAN)
🟪 Dan Patrick campaign says it has $33.5 million to spend on reelection (Dallas Morning News)
🟪 Trump's Cabinet picks are set for Senate hearings. Here's the schedule. (Associated Press)
Read On!
[CITY OF AUSTIN and TEXAS ]
📝 City Memos:
💬 Council Message Board:
📺 Insight:
Dallas, 2019 (PBS) - Episode 1 (released on January 3, 2025)
Tornados. Drive-by shootings. Environmental racism, The stark North-South Dallas economic divide. Dallas residents and city workers like City Manager T.C. Broadnax respond to the causal effects of natural and human-caused disasters while navigating a city in crisis.
ℹ️ Helpful City Links:
💵 State Budget:
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
➡️ What Austin city leaders say they would like to see happen this legislative session (KVUE)
The 89th Texas Legislature will begin this week, as lawmakers are set to return to the Texas Capitol to try and implement the agenda of Gov. Greg Abbott and other state leaders.
School choice is a top priority for many lawmakers in the new session, including Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. It is a measure that would allow families to use taxpayer dollars to pay for their children's private schooling.
KVUE reached out to Mayor Kirk Watson for an interview on his legislative priorities but was unavailable at the time of publication. His office provided the following statement:
"Mayor Watson will continue to advocate and protect Austin's light rail, which was approved by voters in 2020. Austin has done a lot when it comes to addressing housing affordability in the last two years, and Mayor Watson sees an opportunity to work with state leaders on this issue--especially since the Legislature has indicated that they want to do more on housing affordability. There's also opportunities to work with the State on issues like homelessness and mental health."… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Austin says retooled process for opening overnight cold-weather shelters is paying off (KUT)
Greg McCormack with the city's Homeless Strategy Office says the city's moves to lower the temperature threshold to open shelters and announce their activation at least a day in advance were the result of community feedback.
"I think both of these have proved to be beneficial in getting the word out to individuals so that they know it's activated," he said. "They know what to do, where to go, to get inside on these really bitterly cold nights when it's very dangerous to be outside."
McCormack and city staff made the decision to open up shelters last weekend ahead of this week's front, he said, and it's paid off. Sunday, the city sheltered 200 people. By Wednesday, that number had risen to nearly 350 people, according to the city's count… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ $17.8 million in food funding for Austin-area kids is on the line when the Legislature convenes (KUT)
A federal food assistance program could provide families in Hays, Williamson and Travis County with more than $17.8 million to feed their kids over the summer if Texas decides to participate. But that’s a big if.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission missed the Jan. 1 deadline to tell the U.S. Department of Agriculture whether it plans to participate in the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer Program, or Summer EBT. The program provides families with $120 per eligible school-aged child to buy groceries while school is out.
But missing the deadline doesn’t necessarily count Texas out in 2025. The USDA Food and Nutrition Service said it wants to help every eligible child access Summer EBT.
“We are working with state agencies individually to ensure they have the resources and time they need to implement Summer EBT and will consider waiver requests from states that have missed deadlines,” a USDA spokesperson said in an email to KUT.
Texas Health and Human Services has not said whether it plans to participate this year. It has repeatedly referred KUT to the following statement in its legislative appropriations request… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
➡️ Budget estimate opens path for ‘life-changing decisions for Texans’ by lawmakers (KXAN)
From education savings accounts to border security to property tax reform, lawmakers have big plans for the legislative session. Those plans come with big price tags. On Monday, State Comptroller Glenn Hegar will release the Biennial Revenue Estimate, or BRE. It’s his estimate of how much money lawmakers will have available when they make the next state budget. Hegar hinted that the estimate would be good news for the state.
“The upcoming revenue estimate that we’re gonna give next Monday shows, once again, that the state legislature will have a large cash carryover balance from this two-year budget to the next two-year budget,” Hegar said during an interview Wednesday.
Hegar did not release a specific number. That will come with Monday’s announcement. But he suggested that it will be less than the $32.7 billion surplus he announced before the 2023 legislative session. “It was historical. It was once in a lifetime,” Hegar said of that surplus. Still, he noted the encouraging financial outlook for the state in this budget cycle. Hegar said the state’s Economic Stabilization Fund now stands at $24 billion, the most in Texas history.
The fund is more commonly known as the rainy day fund, functioning as a savings account to help the state cover shortfalls or emergency needs “Once again, the legislature here is in a very positive position to make some real kind of monumental decisions and life-changing decisions for Texans, which, if you compare that to other states, some of the other states, unfortunately, they’re in deficits right now. So we are in a relatively very strong position compared to other states,” Hegar said.
Hegar believes continued growth in the state, including demand for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency will likely require funding improvements to power infrastructure... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Dan Patrick campaign says it has $33.5 million to spend on reelection (Dallas Morning News)
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s reelection campaign entered the new year with $33.5 million in its coffers. The sum is “the second highest” balance recorded by a state officeholder in Texas history, his campaign said. The announcement came ahead of Tuesday’s start of the state’s 89th legislative session and Wednesday’s deadline to file semiannual campaign finance reports, which will cover fundraising and expenditures from July through December. As lieutenant governor, Patrick, 74, leads the Texas Senate.
“Lt. Governor Dan Patrick continues to be a clarion voice for the conservative majority in the State of Texas,” said Allen Blakemore, Patrick’s senior political adviser. “His leadership keeps Texas as the very best place to live, work and raise a family.” Patrick, who said he looks forward to seeking reelection in 2026, vowed to do everything possible to deliver Texans “the conservative government they want and deserve” during the legislative session.
“There is much work to be done during this Session and you can count on the Texas Senate to set the pace and lead on a host of issues and a significant public policy agenda,” Patrick said in a statement. Gov. Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Patrick will be among the statewide officials up for reelection in 2026... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Dallas city manager candidates start making their cases for why they should get the job (Dallas Morning News)
The three finalists to lead Dallas are making their case to the public and City Council on why they should be named the municipal government’s next top executive.
Saturday morning was the first of a trio of community meet-and-greet events for Fort Worth Assistant City Manager William Johnson, Sacramento Assistant City Manager Mario Lara and Dallas Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert to explain their vision for the city. More than 100 people attended the first session at Dallas City Hall on Saturday morning. All three declared themselves leaders ready to help the ninth-largest city in the country navigate its challenges and thrive.
A second session took place at 3 p.m. Saturday at Singing Hills Recreation Center, and a third is set for 1 p.m. Sunday at Fretz Recreation Center, 6950 Beltline Road.
The City Council is scheduled to interview the three city manager finalists and discuss who the top pick should be during a closed session meeting on Wednesday...🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
➡️ Trump's Cabinet picks are set for Senate hearings. Here's the schedule. (Associated Press)
After the initial crush of personnel announcements for President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration, now the nominations process officially begins. Senate hearings are scheduled this coming week for several of Trump’s picks for the Cabinet.
Many have met with senators individually. Now, they will go before the committees overseeing the agencies that Trump wants them to run.
Here’s a look at the schedule for Senate hearings set so far, in Eastern time:
On Tuesday: 9 a.m.: Doug Collins, Department of Veterans Affairs: The former Georgia congressman is up first, before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Collins is a Baptist minister, former U.S. Navy chaplain and Air Force Reserve colonel. The VA provides health care to former members of the U.S. armed forces.
9:30 a.m.: Pete Hegseth, Department of Defense: The former “Fox & Friends” weekend host and Army National Guard combat veteran goes before the Senate Armed Services Committee after weeks of meetings during which some senators have questioned his fitness for the role amid allegations of excessive drinking and sexual misconduct.
10 a.m.: Doug Burgum, Interior Department: The former governor of North Dakota and businessman appears before members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who will consider his nomination as interior secretary, the chief steward of U.S. public lands… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Inside Elon Musk’s plan for DOGE to slash government costs (New York Times)
An unpaid group of billionaires, tech executives and some disciples of Peter Thiel, a powerful Republican donor, are preparing to take up unofficial positions in the U.S. government in the name of cost-cutting. As President-elect Donald J. Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency girds for battle against “wasteful” spending, it is preparing to dispatch individuals with ties to its co-leaders, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to agencies across the federal government.
After Inauguration Day, the group of Silicon Valley-inflected, wide-eyed recruits will be deployed to Washington’s alphabet soup of agencies. The goal is for most major agencies to eventually have two DOGE representatives as they seek to cut costs like Mr. Musk did at X, his social media platform. This story is based on interviews with roughly a dozen people who have insight into DOGE’s operations. They spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
On the eve of Mr. Trump’s presidency, the structure of DOGE is still amorphous and closely held. People involved in the operation say that secrecy and avoiding leaks is paramount, and much of its communication is conducted on Signal, the encrypted messaging app. Mr. Trump has said the effort would drive “drastic change,” and that the entity would provide outside advice on how to cut wasteful spending. DOGE itself will have no power to cut spending — that authority rests with Congress. Instead, it is expected to provide recommendations for programs and other areas to cut. But parts of the operation are becoming clear:
Many of the executives involved are expecting to do six-month voluntary stints inside the federal government before returning to their high-paying jobs. Mr. Musk has said they will not be paid — a nonstarter for some originally interested tech executives — and have been asked by him to work 80-hour weeks. Some, including possibly Mr. Musk, will be so-called special government employees, a specific category of temporary workers who can only work for the federal government for 130 days or less in a 365-day period… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
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