View this email in your browser

Was this email forwarded to you? Click Here to Sign Up!

November 14, 2023

In today's BG Reads:

✅ Austin joins cities looking to put real estate assets to best use

✅ Texas Republicans say GOP chairman has 'weaponized' the party

✅ The Supreme Court adopts first-ever code of ethics

More stories below. Read on!

[BG PODCAST]

On this episode (223) Bingham Group CEO A.J. Bingham and Associate Hannah Garcia wrap up the week of November 6th in Austin politics.

TOPICS INCLUDE:

✅ Travis County judge signaling 3 Austin land code ordinances will be voided; and

✅ 2024 City Council Race Watch (Districts 2, 7, and 10)

LISTEN HERE

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Austin's airport to roll out new Ramp Control Program to increase safety, congestion issues (KVUE)

 Coming off a slew of near-misses and multiple deaths at Austin's airport, all eyes are on safety and what's being done. The airport is coming up with a new program aimed at both increasing safety and reducing congestion on the tarmac.

Sitting on the tarmac, waiting for a gate: It can be common for passengers at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

As of now, there is no fixed entity monitoring the activity at Austin's airport, which is what the new program aims to change. The Ramp Control Program will use different technology, cameras and human oversight to monitor activity in that area, which has not been managed since the airport's creation in 1999.

The goal is to target two major issues: safety and taxi time delays.

At other airports like Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, airlines monitor the ramp, but there's no hard and fast rule for who has to manage them… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Idle lands: Austin joins cities looking to put real estate assets to best use (Austin Monitor)

By next spring, the city is expected to have a detailed plan for how to turn its underutilized real estate assets into money-producers, in an attempt to add General Fund revenue and counteract state limits on property tax increases.

Austin was recently announced as a participant with three other cities – Evanston, Illinois; Mt. Vernon, New York; and Sugar Land, Texas – in the Putting Assets to Work program organized by the Government Finance Officers Association. The initiative will see city staff work with GFOA to analyze the city’s entire real estate portfolio and identify the parcels or facilities that could be put to better use through redevelopment or other means.

The analysis will take into account the surrounding uses and communities to avoid disruption, with the city’s planning and development offices as well as the Austin Economic Development Corporation likely playing a role in executing potential deals.

The budget for the city’s participation in the program is coming from the Financial Services Department… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Research, sciences subdistrict envisioned near The Domain (Austin Business Journal)

A new city initiative aims to champion the development of research and science facilities in a rapidly changing portion of North Austin near The Domain.

City Council has approved an amendment to the North Burnet/Gateway Regulating Plan to create a new research and sciences mixed-use subdistrict. The goal is to pave the way for the University of Texas' J.J. Pickle Research Campus – and potentially others – to develop new health sciences facilities focused on innovation.

The hope is that labs and biomedical facilities will blossom just south of The Domain, a development many call Austin's second downtown due to its office and residential towers… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Texas Republicans say GOP chairman has 'weaponized' the party as internal strife continues (San Antonio Express-News)

Texas GOP Chairman Matt Rinaldi was in and out of the building in 45 minutes. Rinaldi has said he didn’t know his close friend and colleague, Jonathan Stickland, was meeting in the same office complex on Oct. 6 with Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist who has praised Adolf Hitler. He has denounced Fuentes in no uncertain terms. But in the month since, Rinaldi has not addressed his relationship with Stickland, then the president of the deep-pocketed Defend Texas Liberty PAC that is among the state party’s top donors. Nor has he responded to nearly half of the party’s 64-person executive board who have signed a letter calling on the party to cut ties with Stickland and the PAC.

The fallout from the meeting has worsened tensions both within the Texas GOP and between Rinaldi and other prominent Texas Republicans. For many, it has underscored an ongoing shift in the state party, which was once primarily focused on fundraising and helping support local Republican clubs and candidates. Over the past three years, and especially since Rinaldi took over in 2021, the organization has tried instead to assert itself as a driving force behind right-wing policy positions, eager to challenge elected Republicans who they believe are not conservative enough. Rinaldi has been particularly vocal after the Texas House overwhelmingly voted in May to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton on corruption charges, setting off months of infighting.

“We are no longer a political institution,” said Morgan Graham, a member of the state party’s executive committee who represents the Rio Grande Valley. “We are, if anything, something that has been subjected to a hostile takeover and weaponized.” Some hard-right Republicans argue that Rinaldi, who previously served in the Texas House, is only better aligning the party with the grassroots and advocating for conservative policy. Others — led by House Speaker Dade Phelan — say Rinaldi is neglecting the party’s responsibilities and turning Republicans against each other, especially ahead of a contentious primary season that will pit Rinaldi’s favored right-wing candidates against incumbent House Republicans… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

In reversal, Sherman High School students get their ‘Oklahoma!’ roles back (Dallas Morning News)

Sherman High School theater students will get their roles back in Oklahoma! After an emotional school board meeting Monday night, trustees emerged from a lengthy closed session and voted on a total reversal: They directed the superintendent to reinstate Sherman High students in the roles they held at the beginning of the month, prior to a decision to revoke their parts based on gender. They also directed the school to return to the original script, rather than an abbreviated “youth” version. “I’ll be acting upon the board’s direction,” Superintendent Tyson Bennett said. The move came after nearly two weeks of controversy at the high school.

Max Hightower, a 17-year-old transgender boy, was cast in a male role for the musical. He threw himself into preparing for the part — until the principal told his parents earlier this month that there was a new policy under which only male actors could play male roles, and only female actors could play female roles. School leaders also removed girls in the musical who were playing male roles. Dozens of speakers showed up at Monday night’s Sherman school board meeting in protest. They demanded the students sing in their original roles and slammed the trustees for discriminating against a transgender child. After a lengthy meeting behind closed doors, board president Brad Morgan apologized to the students, parents and community impacted by the decision.

“We understand that our decision does not erase the impact this had on our community,” he said. The board plans to hold a meeting Friday to continue the discussion about the theater program. Max’s father, Phillip Hightower, said immediately after the vote that he’s glad district officials came to their senses — and that they apologized. “There still needs to be accountability,” he said... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Exxon, Chevron mergers face test at Biden's FTC (Houston Chronicle)

In August 2021, as gasoline prices were soaring and Democrats clamored for action, Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, pointed the White House to a series of recent mergers between oil and gas companies. In a letter to Brian Deese, President Joe Biden’s top economic adviser, Khan said leniency by regulators in previous administrations, “may have enabled increased consolidation at the national level, creating conditions ripe for price coordination and other collusive practices.” Oil and gas companies for decades had been allowed to buy and merge within one another under the principle that the global oil market is so large that it makes price manipulation by individual companies impossible. But since the Biden administration came into office almost three years ago, antitrust regulators have cast a more skeptical eye at corporate deal making, worried it places too power much in the hands of too few.

Now, with Exxon Mobil and Chevron looking to acquire industry rivals Pioneer Natural Resources and Hess, the two oil giants will face the same scrutiny already brought to bear on mergers in the technology and medical technology sectors. “These mergers represent the largest upstream consolidation in two decades,” said Jeffrey Oliver, a former FTC attorney who now represents companies in energy and other sectors. “There’s lots of pent up desire for antitrust enforcement, so it’s an interesting test case to see how serious these folks are about changing antitrust in this country.”

The Federal Trade Commission did not respond to requests for comment. Khan, along with Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Jonathan Kanter, is part of a new school of attorneys that question the longstanding notion that the goal of U.S. antitrust law is to make markets run more efficiently, said Douglas Ross, a law professor at the University of Washington. That concept, developed over the last half century, was a reversal from the so-called trustbusting era of the early 1900s when President Teddy Roosevelt broke up monopolies including the railroads and Standard Oil. Instead, regulators steadily allowed corporations to grow increasingly large under the belief they could operate at a lower cost than a multitude of smaller companies — with the caveat they not accumulate too much power in any single market… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

The Supreme Court adopts first-ever code of ethics (NPR)

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday adopted its first-ever ethics code, bowing to pressure from Congress and the public. All nine justices signed onto the new code, which was instantly criticized for lack of an enforcement mechanism.

In an unsigned statement, the justices said though there has been no formal code, they have long abided by certain standards.

"The absence of a Code, however, has led in recent years to the misunderstanding that the Justices of this Court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules," they wrote. "To dispel this misunderstanding, we are issuing this Code, which largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

New rule would make it easier for millions of Americans to unionize, but businesses are pushing back (Associated Press)

A new federal rule that goes into effect next month could make it easier for millions of workers to form unions at big companies like McDonald’s. But it’s already facing significant pushback from businesses and some members of Congress.

The rule — announced late last month by the National Labor Relations Board –- sets new standards for determining when two companies should be considered “joint employers” under the National Labor Relations Act.

It sounds wonky. But essentially, the rule could widen the number of companies that must participate in labor negotiations alongside their franchisees or independent contractors. For example, it might require Burger King to bargain with workers even though most of its U.S. restaurants are owned by franchisees. Or it could require Amazon to negotiate with delivery drivers who are employed by independent contractors... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Leader of Israel’s Labor: Something is ‘very wrong’ on the global left (Politico)

 The leader of Israel’s center-left Labor Party says something has gone “very wrong” with the political left around the world, with supposed progressives now aligning themselves with Islamist militants who oppose the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people.

Over a month after Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and captured some 240, Israeli officials revised their death toll downwards as Israel wages a retaliatory war against Hamas in Gaza, which has now killed more than 11,000 Palestinians — according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Mass protests have been held in cities across the EU and U.S. calling for an immediate cease-fire, with many using the slogan “from the river to the sea,” regarded by many Jews and Israelis as a call for the annihilation of the state of Israel but by Palestinians and their supporters as a non-violent rallying cry against the occupation… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

_________________________

🔎 Have questions or in need of lobbying services? Fill out Bingham Group’s Service Interest Questionnaire and let us see how we can help.

SHARE BG READS FEEDBACK HERE

⬇️

Was this email forwarded to you? Click Here to Sign Up!

Copyright (C) " target="_blank">unsubscribe