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- BG Reads 1.6.2025
BG Reads 1.6.2025
🟪 BG Reads - January 6, 2025
Bingham Group Reads
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January 6, 2025
As we welcome 2025, The Bingham Group, LLC sincerely thanks our client partners for their trust and collaboration in 2024—your success drives our mission.Count on Bingham Group as a trusted partner for your Austin and Central Texas goals. Connect with us if we can help your organization in 2025.
//A.J.
➡️ Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 Watson touts moves toward stability, predictability for city services in 2024 (Austin Monitor)
🟪 Travis County Judge Andy Brown pledges continued focus on health care, passenger rail in 2025 (Austin Monitor)
🟪 Texas has a housing affordability crisis. Here’s how state lawmakers may tackle it in 2025. (Texas Tribune)
🟪 Republicans lean toward ‘one big, beautiful bill’ for Trump agenda (Wall Street Journal)
🟪 Elon Musk goes global with his playbook for political influence (Washington Post)
Read On!
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
➡️ Review: The 2025 Austin Council Meeting Calendar
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
➡️ Watson touts moves toward stability, predictability for city services in 2024 (Austin Monitor)
Mayor Kirk Watson returns to the word “stability” frequently when discussing the moves and decisions inside City Hall in 2024 and what residents want headed into 2025.
For Watson, stability and predictability come in the form of things like the five-year contract the city reached with the Austin Police Association. There was also the hiring in the spring of T.C. Broadnax as the new city manager following more than a year with Jesús Garza serving in an interim role. Or there’s his goal of restructuring and optimizing spending related to homelessness services without relying on one-time federal funding windfalls that will soon be exhausted.
Along with the hiring of police Chief Lisa Davis and placing Assistant City Manager Eddie Garcia in charge of public safety, Watson said he sees the $218 million police contract as a way to remove future doubt or uncertainty over the city’s relationship with the union and larger police department…
➡️ Travis County Judge Andy Brown pledges continued focus on health care, passenger rail in 2025 (Austin Monitor)
For the past two years, Travis County Judge Andy Brown has told the Austin Monitor he wants to double down on overdose prevention, mental health care and passenger rail. Looking ahead to 2025, those priorities have not changed – but significant gains have been made in those areas.
After a yearslong ideation process, the county’s long-awaited diversion program transcended hypotheticals and touched ground in 2024. In August, Integral Care’s Airport Boulevard walk-in clinic began offering 24/7 care, increased peer support services and access to psychiatric prescriptions for people undergoing mental health crises who interact with first responders. Instead of taking those people directly to jail or the hospital, neither of which would provide the lasting health care they need, EMS and APD can now drop them off at a stabilization facility specifically geared toward mitigating mental health crises. Soon, the county hopes to provide connections to long-term supportive housing and services.
“We’re making good progress – we put out a contract to hire someone to help design and build the diversion center,” Brown said. “The idea is the voluntary facility would get them mental health treatment, they could be put on medications and then if they need a place to stay while we try to find housing, they can stay at the place on 15th Street for up to 90 days.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ What does homelessness in Austin look like in 2025? A new census will shed some light. (KUT)
On a single night in late January, volunteers from around the city will conduct a census of Austin’s most vulnerable residents, counting as many people experiencing homelessness as possible.
This biennial point-in-time count is overseen by Austin’s Ending Community Homeless Coalition, which hopes to recruit some 1,200 volunteers to canvas areas of the city and Travis County. It comes on the heels of a national report that found homelessness reached record levels in 2024.
“The PIT Count is crucial for obtaining a snapshot of homelessness on a given night, providing vital data on the number of individuals in emergency shelters, transitional housing or living unsheltered,” said David Gray, Austin’s homeless strategy officer, in a memo addressed to the Austin City Council.
The local survey is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which uses the data collected to gauge the extent of homelessness in communities throughout the country. The data also impacts the funding that local, state and federal agencies allocate for homeless services… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
➡️ Texas has a housing affordability crisis. Here’s how state lawmakers may tackle it in 2025. (Texas Tribune)
Buying or renting a home in Texas used to be relatively cheap. Amid the state’s economic boom, its once-celebrated housing affordability has slipped.
Texas renters now spend more on keeping a roof over their head than ever. As home prices have vastly outpaced incomes, homeownership has become a distant fantasy for many Texas families.
The state’s high housing costs have caught the attention of state officials — who worry that Texas could lose its competitive edge with other states if it doesn’t get a handle on home prices and rents.
Here’s how Texas lawmakers may address housing costs when the Texas Legislature returns to Austin later this month — and how the debate could unfold…
➡️ Texas legislators look to regulate white-hot battery storage (Houston Chronicle)
The rise of battery storage in Texas is real, and as the state's next legislative session approaches, some politicians are looking for ways to regulate this new method of saving renewable energy. In a battery energy storage system (BESS), lithum-ion batteries keep renewable energy typically generated from wind or solar installations.
These kinds of facilities are becoming all the rage in the Lone Star State; for example, in December, a South Texas power plant was awarded $1.4 billion by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to transition its coal-fired operation into a solar facilitiy with battery storage. Texas is ranked second in the nation behind California in battery storage; as of September, the state had about 4,832 MW of energy inside batteries. But with the rise of BESS comes regulation. Ahead of the 89th Texas Legislature, whose regular session is scheduled from Jan. 14 to June 2, multiple officials statewide are looking to chip away and conform battery storage into their idea of everyday Texas life.
The most notable of these attempts is coming from Wesley Virdell, the incoming state representative for the state's 53rd District, which includes an enormous swath of land between Marfa and San Antonio. A Republican, Virdell announced in November that he filed HB 1378, which would require lithium BESS to be at least 500 yards from an adjacent property (or there must be an agreement with the neighboring owners).
"My friend had a lithium battery storage facility placed 10 yards from his lawn at his house," Virdell wrote on Facebook on Nov. 19, just two weeks after winning his state House seat. "We must ensure that corporations are good neighbors and don't destroy the value of homeowners and landowners. Along with the decrease in home value, my friend now has to worry about the fire danger, noise pollution, and health concerns of having this next to his house. The company who installed this didn't have the decency to be a good neighbor."
The complaints of the neighbor in Virdell's post echo those by Texans wary about the rise of battery storage statewide. In October, the Katy City Council rejected a proposal from Vesper Energy to construct a 24-acre, 500 MW BESS in its backyard. The facility would have housed up to 200 modules holding lithium-ion batteries. Among Katy residents' concerns were the proximity of the facility to a local school and outdoor leaning center, along with worries about the potential fire hazard of lithium-ion batteries… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ GOP bills seek to regulate wind, solar and battery power projects in Texas (Dallas Morning News)
Renewable energy’s rapid ascent in Texas could face new obstacles in 2025 after several lawmakers filed bills that would increase government oversight and make it more expensive to build in Texas. Republican lawmakers are leading the charge with bills that would give government regulators final approval over the construction of new wind, solar and battery storage projects in Texas.
Proposals include requiring property buffers between the projects and neighboring properties, including a bill allowing counties to ban battery storage projects within a quarter-mile of a home. Another proposal from Frisco Republican Rep. Jared Patterson would require environmental fees and studies for new renewable projects.
The authors of the proposals cite environmental and safety concerns, although the technologies have far less impact on greenhouse gas emissions and are generally considered safer than their fossil fuel counterparts, according to research showing the extraction of fossil fuels and the air pollution created by burning them is more deadly than renewable energy.
The proposed legislation comes as solar power and battery storage have boomed, with battery storage capacity more than doubling in 2024 and solar power generation growing by about 44%, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Wind, solar and batteries account for about 46% of electric generation capacity at ERCOT, while coal and natural gas power plants make up just over half of the grid’s capacity, according to the latest ERCOT assessment. Experts attribute much of the growth in renewable energy to Texas’ relaxed permitting policies, a competitive energy market and isolation from federal oversight. In essence, a lack of regulation allowed the state to become a proving ground for emerging technologies like solar, batteries and wind power… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ SpaceX’s presence thrusts Brownsville, Harlingen into ‘emerging hot spot’ (MyRGV)
Brownsville-Harlingen has been named the top metropolitan area in the United States in Area Development Magazine’s 2024 Leading Metro Locations report, largely on the strength of SpaceX. The annual report, compiled with data from Chmura Economics & Analytics, gives a snapshot of “which American cities are thriving, which regions are gaining ground, and what key factors are driving growth in today’s economic landscape,” according to the report. The ranking places special emphasis on factors like prime workforce availability, economic strength and affordability — information useful to corporate site selectors, businesses interested in expanding and economic development processionals across the country, according to the report.
While familiar cities remain at the top of the Area Development ranking, the 2024 rankings also shed light on a number of “emerging hot spots” around the nation gaining ground in terms of economic development. Among those, Brownsville-Harlingen is ranked first, reflecting the “growing economic significance of the Southwest, particularly thanks to the SpaceX effect,” according to the report. Area Development noted that the company’s Boca Chica operations have made Brownsville a high-tech manufacturing hub as SpaceX has invested over $3 billion in infrastructure, driving job growth across the region.
“With over 21,000 indirect jobs supported and a growing focus on advanced manufacturing, Brownsville exemplifies how strategic investments in key industries can propel smaller metros to national prominence,” according to the report. Patrick Clapp, senior economist for Chmura Economics, said job advertisements are a chief indicator of future employment, and that SpaceX accounts for more than 12% of all STEM job ads in Brownsville-Harlingen — making the metro area stand out in terms of research. STEM stands for “science, technology, engineering and math.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
➡️ Republicans lean toward ‘one big, beautiful bill’ for Trump agenda (Wall Street Journal)
Republicans look increasingly likely to try combining all of their top legislative priorities—tax cuts, spending cuts and border security—into a single large bill, aiming to push President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda through Congress in one fell swoop.
The one-bill approach attempts to unite the Republican Party’s disparate factions, and it could require months of delicate negotiations to find the balance of policies that satisfies nearly everyone. The GOP will have a 53-47 Senate majority and, at best, a 220-215 House advantage after vacant seats get filled. The momentum for one bill counters the push for a two-bill strategy from many Senate Republicans and top Trump aide Stephen Miller.
That approach would deliver a quick infusion of border-enforcement money soon after Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration and save more complicated fights over taxes and spending cuts for later in the year. Trump hasn’t weighed in publicly yet, and lawmakers on all sides of the debate say they are inclined to follow his lead.
But the president-elect has been increasingly favoring what has been described as “one big, beautiful bill” and has been heading that way since mid-December, according to a person involved in the conversations. The idea is to keep the full Republican coalition together in one effort and stress the importance of the tax cuts, the person said. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) told Republicans meeting for a rare Saturday strategy session in Washington that Trump favored one big bill, according to a person familiar with the meeting.
The Trump transition team didn’t reply to a request for comment Saturday. Since the November election, when it became clear they would have full control of the government, Republicans have been debating how to use the powerful tool known as budget reconciliation. That procedure lets them circumvent the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster rule but limits legislation to fiscal matters. To use reconciliation, the House and Senate must first agree on a budget and then agree again on a bill.
House Republicans continue to head toward a one-bill strategy, a House GOP aide said. But a final call hasn’t been made yet and won’t be made until it is clear that a budget resolution enabling a one-bill plan can get through the House, the aide said. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) has argued for the two-bill approach. A Thune spokeswoman declined to comment Saturday.
From afar, the debate between one bill and two can seem like arcane legislative semantics. But the choice will set the tone and schedule for the busy year ahead, and defenders of each approach contend that their way is the best strategy for getting Trump’s agenda into law and that the other way risks unacceptable failure for a party with full control of government... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Elon Musk goes global with his playbook for political influence (Washington Post)
In the first three days of 2025, Elon Musk commandeered global politics through dozens of rapid-fire, often inflammatory posts to his 210 million followers on X.
The world’s richest person called for the release of a jailed British far-right extremist. He shared a post pressing King Charles III to dissolve Parliament and order a new general election, as he posted memes and a flurry of attacks directed at Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Musk accused Starmer of failing to prosecute“rape gangs” more than a decade ago, a child exploitation scandal that has prompted Britain’s Conservative Party to call for a full national inquiry.
Musk reposted a message from Rupert Lowe, a politician in the Reform UK party who serves in Parliament and who said he spent Friday talking to rape gang victims. “Victims, past and present, don’t need ‘thoughts and prayers’ from politicians, they need justice,” Lowe said. “We will fight for that in Parliament.”
Musk also briefly turned his attention to the United States’ northern neighbor and praised an interview with Pierre Poilievre, a populist firebrand who leads Canada’s Conservative Party. Musk said that next week he would live-stream a conversation with Alice Weidel, the chancellor candidate for the Alternative for Germany, a far-right political party he has endorsed ahead of that country’s snap elections in February.
Last year, Musk dominated U.S. politics, using his deep war chest and X microphone to boost Donald Trump and other Republicans in the 2024 elections. As the GOP prepares to retake control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, Musk has emerged more powerful than ever. His fortune has exploded, and he has a perch as Trump’s right-hand man, weighing in on his Cabinet choices and joining his conversations with global leaders. In the new year, Musk is flexing his political muscle on the global stage as well.
He appears to be applying a playbook similar to the one he used to disrupt American politics, now boosting conservative politicians in the governments of the United States’ top allies. But his disregard for the veracity of his posts and his elevation of far-right and extremist figures have alarmed liberal leaders around the world. “Elon Musk is an American citizen and perhaps ought to focus on issues on the other side of the Atlantic,” Health Minister Andrew Gwynne said during a Friday interview with the British radio station LBC.
The long-running British child exploitation scandals that Musk has seized on have become a rallying point for Reform UK, a right-wing populist party. An independent review in 2022 found that local government agencies in the town of Oldham, England, had left children vulnerable to sexual exploitation… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
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