BG Reads 11.14.2024

View this email in your browser

Bingham Group Reads

Presented by:

www.binghamgp.com

November 13, 2024  

➡️ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Austin mayoral race still too close to call with Travis County ballots counted; Race comes down to Williamson County (KXAN)

🟪 Austin flipped a Republican City Council Seat, as the nation went red (Austin Chronicle)

🟪 Housing inventory, listings increase in Austin metro as mortgage rates remain elevated (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Republicans retain their hold of the House, clinching full control of Congress (NPR)

🟪 Mexico signals it could hit back with tariffs at U.S. (New York Times)

Read On!

🟪 LINK TO THIS WEEK’S CITY OF AUSTIN HEARINGS + AGENDA

[CITY OF AUSTIN/TRAVIS COUNTY]

🟪 [NEW] Austin City Council Regular Meeting Agenda, 11.21.2024

🟪 MEMO: City of Austin Executive Leadership Team and Organizational Announced (Effective November 4, 2024)

In an October 30 memo, City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced several key additions to the city leadership team, effective November 4.

You can view the memo here: CITY OF AUSTIN MEMO: Executive Leadership Team and Organizational Announcements. An org chart is included on page 3.

We particularly wanted to flag the creation of a Grants Division within the Intergovernmental Relations Office to focus on creating a centralized grant funding strategy and governance for the City that advances City Council’s strategic priorities, leverages local resources, and targets investments for Austin. 

The memo notes “the City lacks a centralized grants function causing us to potentially leave federal and state funding on the table. Staff from across the organization are currently being identified for potential reassignment to the Grants Division.”

🟪 The Austin Council has three (2) regular meetings left in 2024:

• November 21

• December 12

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

➡️  Austin mayoral race still too close to call with Travis County ballots counted; Race comes down to Williamson County (KXAN)

More than a week after Election Day, Travis County ballots have been unofficially tallied, after a new round of results was posted Wednesday. It’s still not enough for KXAN to call the Austin mayoral race — which means it will come down to Williamson County voters.

Williamson County is expected to do its canvass around Nov. 15, according to the clerk’s office, and the deadline set by the Texas Secretary of State to finalize results is Nov. 19.

There are 3,737 outstanding provisional ballots in Williamson County, according to the clerk’s office, but the majority of those will be in parts of the county outside of Austin city limits. In the unofficial results, only 5.3% of ballots cast in Williamson County were in Austin.

Travis County posted 905 new ballots Wednesday evening. Of those, 355 people voted in the Austin mayoral race. With those new ballots, Watson is still sitting at 50.01% of the vote putting him at 175,071 total votes — 21 votes above the runoff threshold, based on the current vote total… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Austin flipped a Republican City Council Seat, as the nation went red (Austin Chronicle)

In August, Democrats were riding high about President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race to make room for Vice President Kamala Harris to take on former president Donald Trump.

Krista Laine, incoming City Council member for Austin’s Northwestern District 6 was one of them.

At the time, she told the Chronicle that the surge in Democratic enthusiasm was felt all the way down in her Council race. As she ran in the only Council district in Austin that is not a Democratic stronghold, one of her campaign advisers wrote a memo listing four reasons why Laine would win the race – one of which being that Harris, not Biden, was the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.

That analysis proved to be correct. Laine won a narrow victory over conservative D6 incumbent Mackenzie Kelly, taking in just over 51% of the vote across Travis and Williamson counties. Laine’s campaign banked on the notion that D6 was a Democratic district (even though city races are technically nonpartisan), and they were correct. Harris took in about 67% of the vote in precincts that fell within the Travis County portion of D6 (in Travis, overall, Harris earned 68% of the vote)… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Housing inventory, listings increase in Austin metro as mortgage rates remain elevated (Austin Business Journal)

Mortgage rates remain elevated compared to recent years, but Austin-area homebuyers have a robust inventory of choices, according to the latest market data from the Austin Board of Realtors and Unlock MLS.

The median sale price for homes fell slightly in October to $430,000, a 3.2% drop from the same time last year. And with a housing inventory that eclipsed the five-month mark, buyers had plenty of options.

Meanwhile, overall transaction volume remained flat year-over-year, as both active and new listings increased compared to October 2023.

But elevated mortgage rates — the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.79% for the week of Nov. 7 — continue to be the biggest factor affecting home sales, said Clare Losey, housing economist for ABOR and Unlock MLS... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Travis County DA Jose Garza sues state to fight AG ruling he must release spending records (Austin American-Statesman)

Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza has sued the state to continue blocking the release of information about a government-funded security allotment, including money to protect his home, in an escalating transparency and political battle.

An eight-page lawsuit, filed on Garza’s behalf by the Travis County Attorney’s Office, said that the release of information sought by the American-Statesman would place him at a “substantial threat of physical harm” but did not elaborate.

The suit also argued that the information must remain confidential under Texas law and that releasing the materials would violate Garza’s common law right to safety.

The lawsuit comes after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a ruling in October that Garza and the Travis County Auditor’s Office must make public a portion of records sought through a series of public information requests earlier this year.

Under Texas law, the entity from which the records are being sought must sue the attorney general if they dispute a ruling to release documents… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

➡️ Gov. Greg Abbott wants to freeze tuition at Texas colleges and universities for another two years (Texas Tribune)

Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday he will not support any tuition increases at Texas colleges and universities in the next two years, continuing the tuition freeze currently in place.

In a letter to public colleges and universities, Abbott said he spoke to all of the university system Boards of Regents, whose members agree with his position.

“The State has made historic investments in higher education, including increased funding for universities and financial aid programs,” Abbott wrote in his letter.

“These efforts reflect our commitment to ensuring that higher education remains accessible and affordable for all Texans. When all Texans have access to quality and affordable education, they can earn better wages, meet workforce qualifications, and experience a higher quality of life. I will ensure college affordability remains a top priority for the state as we head into the next legislative session.

Last legislative session, lawmakers allocated an additional $700 million to the state budget for Texas’ public universities… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

John Cornyn loses longtime bid to be next Senate majority leader to John Thune (Texas Tribune)

 Sen. John Cornyn lost his election Wednesday to become the next Senate majority leader to Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, ending a years-long effort to lead his party conference.

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky announced earlier this year that he would not seek another term leading the party, ending his 17-year tenure. He is the longest serving party leader in the history of the U.S. Senate. The opening led to the first competitive campaign for GOP leader in decades, the stakes of which were raised after Republicans won control of the upper chamber last week.

Cornyn had spent decades climbing the ranks of the Senate GOP, building relationships and raising money so he could one day succeed McConnell.

In making his pitch, Cornyn cited his decades fundraising for his fellow Republicans, including raising nearly $33 million for Republican candidates and incumbents this election cycle. He has raised over $414 million over his tenure in the Senate… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

➡️ Republicans retain their hold of the House, clinching full control of Congress (NPR)

Republicans have officially won a full trifecta of power in Washington, D.C., following GOP victories in several key U.S. House contests.

Recent race calls by The Associated Press guarantee Republicans a narrow majority in the House and a three-seat majority in the Senate.

The campaign for control of the House was waged on a narrow playing field of roughly three dozen competitive districts. While the presidential campaign was centered in seven purple states in the Midwest and the Sun Belt, the contest for the House featured a cluster of critical swing races in the blue states of New York and California… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Mexico signals it could hit back with tariffs at U.S. (New York Times)

Mexico’s government on Monday signaled that it planned to hit back with trade restrictions of its own if President-elect Donald J. Trump followed through on his threats to impose sky-high tariffs on Mexican exports to the United States.

“If you put 25 percents tariffs on me, I have to react with tariffs,” Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s economy minister, told a radio interviewer on Monday. “Structurally, we have the conditions to play in Mexico’s favor,” he added.

The disclosure by Mr. Ebrard, who is poised to be one of Mexico’s top negotiators with the Trump administration, showcases the rising tensions between the countries in the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election.

During his campaign, Mr. Trump vowed to immediately place 25 percent tariffs on all goods from Mexico unless that country’s government halted the flow of migrants and drugs to the United States. If Mexico fails to respond to Mr. Trump’s satisfaction, he said, he could raise such tariffs to as high as 100 percent.

Such moves could send shock waves through the economy of Mexico, which is exceptionally dependent on trade with the United States, exporting about 80 percent of its goods to its northern neighbor.

But an array of sectors in the United States, including farmers and manufacturers of semiconductors and chemicals, also relies on exporting to Mexico, which last year eclipsed China to become the largest trading partner of the United States.

Complex supply chains also intertwine the economies of both countries, especially in the automotive and agricultural industries. Altogether, U.S. exports to Mexico accounted for nearly 16 percent of overall American exports in 2022, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

“A tariff war doesn’t end well,” said Valeria Moy, the general director of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, an economic research institute. “The United States stands to lose — and Mexico stands to lose even more.” “The answer to tariffs is not more tariffs; it’s to sit down and negotiate,” Ms. Moy added… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

_________________________

We are proud to represent and have represented a wide range of clients in the Austin Metro and Texas Capitol at the intersection of government and business.

Learn more about Bingham Group’s experience here, and review client testimonials here.

⬇️

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

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