BG Reads 1.29.2025

🟪 BG Reads - January 29, 2025

January 29, 2025

Bingham Group Reads

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January 29, 2025

➡️ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Austin assessing impacts of Trump federal funding freeze, other executive orders (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Council to consider first widespread changes to parking rules in 15 years (Austin Monitor)

🟪 Texas senators fast-track school voucher bill for full vote (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Judge pauses Trump's federal funding freeze as confusion and frustration spread (NPR)

🟪 Egg prices are soaring. Don’t expect that to change anytime soon (Associated Press)

Read On!

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ TODAY @11AM -> Austin’s Future: Priorities from Mayor Kirk Watson (Texas Tribune) // In-person and livestream, must RSVP.

  • Texas Tribune CEO Sonal Shah sits down with Watson to discuss his plans to address issues from housing affordability and homelessness to workforce development and the expansion of I-35, and how the city will interact with state leaders known to relish a fight with local elected officials.

🏛️ Austin City Hall Executive Management Team Announcement

ℹ️ Helpful City Links:

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

➡️ Austin assessing impacts of Trump federal funding freeze, other executive orders (Austin American-Statesman)

The city of Austin is working to assess which of its programs and services will be impacted by a freeze in federal grant funds after the Trump Administration ordered agencies to halt the flow of what could total trillions of dollars in financial assistance.

In a statement that described the issue as "critical," Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax said the city was compiling the total amount of grant funding for all city programs that might be affected by the freeze. He didn't name any programs but noted that federal grant funds "support things like housing needs, nutrition programs for children, safe streets and roads, and basic medical care for low-income seniors." “Federal grant funds and the services they help us provide are vitally important to all communities," the statement said.

"This is a critical issue precisely because it impacts so many basic services.”

The White House on Monday directed federal agencies to pause the issuance of federal loans, grants and other financial assistance while it reviews whether the programs bankrolled by that money jive with President Donald Trump’s priorities.

It remains unclear exactly what programs are included. The freeze was set to begin at 5 p.m. Tuesday, but a federal judge temporarily blocked it until next Monday at 5 p.m… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Council to consider first widespread changes to parking rules in 15 years (Austin Monitor)

City Council will consider a series of amendments to the city’s parking and mobility regulations on Thursday that would represent the first citywide changes to parking management in 15 years.

The proposed changes to City Code chapters 12-3 and 12-5 include updates to the definitions of parking meters and parking spaces, adjustments to rules governing loading and unloading zones, and new restrictions on the use of transit stops, bicycle lanes and electric vehicle charging stations.

The amendments also propose modifications to civil fines, costs and fees for parking violations. According to city documents, the changes are not expected to have any fiscal impact.

The proposed amendments are the result of an evaluation of Austin’s parking and curbside management needs, taking into account the city’s growth, evolving mobility patterns and increasing demand for flexible curb space.

The changes also would remove outdated requirements, such as placards for loading and unloading zones, and replace them with commercial hangtags to streamline compliance for businesses and delivery drivers. The intended use of spaces such as passenger pickup/drop-off zones, commercial delivery zones and resident-only parking areas could also be clarified if the changes are adopted by Council… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Austin ISD says it is prepared for potential impact of Trump's immigration policies (KUT)

Officials for the largest school district in Central Texas said they have taken steps to prepare for the potential impact of President Trump’s immigration policies. Austin ISD General Counsel Kenneth M. Walker II said the district began reviewing its protocols before Trump began signing executive orders.

"We could ... anticipate that some of the deportation efforts that the Trump administration talked about, that has now come up in executive orders, would create fear in our communities and create uncertainty," he said.

The Trump administration implemented a new policy last week that allows immigration authorities to enter schools, houses of worship and health care facilities to detain people who are undocumented.

That's a shift from the Biden administration, which deemed schools to be areas protected from immigration enforcement actions to ensure people weren’t discouraged from accessing essential services… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Public engagement for Austin's next bond package to ramp up this spring (Community Impact)

Austinites will soon be able to start weighing in on the kinds of projects and public improvements they want to see funded in the city's likely 2026 bond.

While voters backed hundreds of millions of dollars for mobility and affordable housing initiatives in the 2020s, it's been years since the approval of a more comprehensive bond program covering transportation, cultural facilities, parks, housing and more. The city has traditionally operated on six-year intervals for those larger propositions.

However, the current timeframe would leave an eight-year gap between comprehensive bond votes due partly to the significant amount of unspent funds still remaining from past packages.

City Council created a resident task force to help facilitate community engagement around a potential 2026 bond to deliberate over projects, including some from a list of environmental and climate-related investments proposed last spring. After initial planning meetings, that board and the city's communications team are now looking ahead to the first round of public input to inform the new bond's creation… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Delta to add three nonstop flights from Austin to Augusta for Masters Tournament (KXAN)

Delta Air Lines is adding three nonstop flights to its schedule to allow Central Texans to travel to Georgia for the 2025 Masters Tournament. The tournament, located at the Augusta National Golf Course, kicks off April 10 and continues through April 13. Delta will fly nonstop between Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and Augusta Regional Airport on April 9, 11 and 14, using Delta Connection aircraft… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

➡️ Texas senators fast-track school voucher bill for full vote (Texas Tribune)

The Texas Senate Education Committee on Tuesday night voted to advance school voucher legislation for a full vote in the Senate after hours of public testimony largely focused on whether the proposal would live up to its promise of prioritizing low-income families and children with disabilities.

A 9-2 Republican majority on the committee pushed the bill forward days before Gov. Greg Abbott takes the stage Sunday for his State of the State speech. It is expected that Abbott will declare the school voucher bill — his top legislative priority in recent years — an “emergency item,” allowing lawmakers to pass the proposal within the first 60 days of the ongoing legislative session, which started earlier this month. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said at a Tuesday event the Senate would pass the bill as soon as Wednesday of next week if Abbott declares it an emergency item Sunday.

The House, where voucher legislation has hit a brick wall in recent years, has not yet filed its priority voucher bill. Abbott has expressed confidence that the House has enough supporters for the measure to pass this year… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Dan Patrick proposes massive boost for film incentives ... but there's a catch (Austin Chronicle)

When Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says he wants to provide half a billion dollars for incentives to get film and TV production to move to Texas, the first response for most people would be to presume they misheard him. But that's exactly what happened this week when he issued his draft budget for the 2026-7 biennium.

Alongside the normal spending plans for education, transportation, etc., and conservative talking points about border security and tax cuts, was this intriguing spending item: $498 million to revamp the Texas Film Incentive, making Texas the movie capital of the world. It will consist of two parts: $48 million in grants for small films and TV commercials, and up to $450 million in new tax credits, including Texas residency requirements for workers. Texas gets $4 back for every $1 invested while creating new jobs for Texans.

Now, there are lots of devils in even the scant details that have been laid out here. First of all, there is not nor has there ever been such a thing as the Texas Film Incentive, so the presumption here is that Patrick is talking about the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program (TMIIIP to its friends). Historically, it's been the governor's office that has been the big booster for production incentives (Gov. Rick Perry publicly so, Gov. Greg Abbott in a more behind-the-scenes fashion).

Patrick started to get interested last session because of his increasingly close friendship with Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, leading to the joke that the program should be renamed from TMIIIP to TSIP – the Taylor Sheridan Incentive Program. It was seemingly Sheridan who helped push Patrick around to the extra $155 million last session, but also Sheridan who pushed to slash the Texas residency requirement from 70% to 55% (word was he actually wanted 25%-40%, but that was too much for TMIIIP advocates and fiscal conservatives to swallow).

Sheridan has been known to publicly gripe about how he can't find enough cast and crew in Texas (to which everyone in the industry curtly replies "Well, maybe if you tried looking?"), but it's such a hot-button topic around lawmakers that it seems logical that Patrick would have to include some residency requirement reference in this initial outline.

But will it be 70%, 55%, or 25%? The expectation is that Patrick's close ally and Senate Finance Committee Chair Joan Huffman, R-Houston, will introduce a bill containing this new tax credit program. It's also expected to have support in public testimony from new lobby group Media for Texas, which was formed to advocate for tax credits. But just because it's got two of the heaviest hitters in the Senate onboard, that doesn't mean it's going to be plain sailing… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Texas GOP bills take aim at battery storage sites as industry worries about 'supply squeeze' (San Antonio Express-News)

Texas battery site operators were ready to demystify grid storage for lawmakers this legislative session — but they’re facing a fight instead. With data centers, artificial intelligence, extreme weather and population growth creating a voracious appetite for power across Texas, Republicans have filed bills that would create new hurdles for the battery, solar and wind projects needed to carry the load.

Wind farms are defending against attacks on two fronts, in fact: One with Texas lawmakers and another with President Donald Trump, who took aim at wind power projects in the parade of executive orders he signed last week. While the president’s action doesn’t have immediate impact in Texas and will be challenged in court, his action makes clear his party’s priorities: More oil and gas and less renewable energy.

“It’s concerning because we need all the power we can get,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of advocacy group Environment Texas. Battery storage has boomed in Texas and, along with solar and wind, has been credited with helping the statewide electric grid keep up with demand increases that are outpacing the addition of traditional generation, which takes longer and is more expensive to build.

By this summer, the state grid operator says, Texas battery storage sites will be harnessing enough energy to power 2.5 million homes during extreme weather. Texas already leads the country in wind generation and recently surpassed California for building the most utility-scale solar.

But among the more than 2,300 bills filed by Texas lawmakers this session are proposals for a state-level permit process for battery sites and to give regulators with the Public Utility Commission of Texas final authority over construction of new battery, wind or solar farm sites. Such regulations don’t exist for gas-fired or even coal-powered plants, which are rapidly dying out… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

➡️ Judge pauses Trump's federal funding freeze as confusion and frustration spread (NPR)

A federal judge has temporarily blocked an effort by the Trump administration to pause federal payments for grants and other programs, suspending a plan that caused widespread confusion on Tuesday.

The order by U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan ensures that federal agencies, states and other organizations that receive money from the federal government should continue to receive funds beyond a previously set deadline of 5 p.m. ET.

"This is a sigh of relief for millions of people who have been in limbo over the last twenty-four hours as the result of the Trump Administration's callous attempt to wholesale shutter federal assistance and grant programs that people across this country rely on," said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of the group Democracy Forward, which led a legal challenge to the policy.

The challenge included the groups the National Council of Nonprofits, the American Public Health Association, Main Street Alliance and SAGE. The judge's pause on the order is in effect until Monday, Feb. 3… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Egg prices are soaring. Don’t expect that to change anytime soon (Associated Press)

Bird flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing U.S. egg prices to more than double their cost in the summer of 2023. And it appears there may be no relief in sight, given the surge in demand as Easter approaches. The average price per dozen nationwide hit $4.15 in December.

That’s not quite as high as the $4.82 record set two years ago, but the Agriculture Department predicts prices are going to soar another 20% this year.

Shoppers in some parts of the country are already paying more than double the average price, or worse, finding empty shelves in their local grocery stores. Organic and cage-free varieties are even more expensive… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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