BG Reads 11.26.2024

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Bingham Group Reads

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November 26, 2024  

➡️ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 'Change lives in the process': ACC breaks ground on new semiconductor, auto training centers (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Council OKs $5.5M contract for website redesign, expected in late 2026 (Austin Monitor)

🟪 SpaceX seeks foreign trade zone designation at site in Bastrop County (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Winner of Texas vs. Texas A&M will face Georgia in SEC Championship (Sports Illustrated)

🟪 Trump is running his transition team on secret money (New York Times)

Read On!

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

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🟪 The Austin Council has one (1) regular meeting left in 2024:

• December 12

🟪 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.”

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

➡️ 'Change lives in the process': ACC breaks ground on new semiconductor, auto training centers (Austin American-Statesman)

Austin Community College has broken ground on two buildings at its Round Rock campus, the first projects from the voter-approved 2022 bond package to reach such milestone.

The new buildings are funded with $50 million from the $770 million ACC bond package aimed to train Central Texas workers to meet growing job demands. The bonds will be used to fund projects in every region of the college district, including two new campuses in southern Travis County, and expand more programs in the central and north areas.

The two new Round Rock spaces, set to open preliminarily in spring 2026 and be finish by the next spring, will double the capacity of technician training programs in high-need areas of Round Rock's growing economy ― a pressing need identified through evaluating labor market projections, data and population.

"This was the project we knew we needed to start with," Chancellor Russell Lowery-Hart said. "This will allow us to meet employer demand and meet student demands and change lives in the process."… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Council OKs $5.5M contract for website redesign, expected in late 2026 (Austin Monitor)

City Council has approved a six-year contract, valued at up to $5.55 million, for the redesign of the city’s website, AustinTexas.gov. The contract, awarded to TW Lrw Holdings LLC, doing business as Material Holdings LLC, has an initial three-year term for $3.52 million, with three optional one-year extensions each valued at $676,698.

City staff told Council the redesign will replace the existing website with a modern, scalable system designed to enhance usability, accessibility and overall performance. The current website draws nearly 24 million unique visitors annually.

The site has faced limitations in meeting growing user demands and supporting complex interactions across its more than 9,000 published pages​ remaining after a recent push to retire approximately 6,000 pages that were found to be outdated or of little use for visitors.

Chief Information Officer Kerrica Laake said the current city website struggles to meet the needs of residents and other visitors seeking information about the multitude of services and functions provided by the city, as well as its related enterprise entities such as Austin Energy and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, which will also be included in the redesign.

“We’ve outgrown our traditional content management platform that we use for managing traditional websites. … The new contract will allow for a digital experience platform that focuses on helping us deliver those meaningful digital experiences designed for and around the Austin community,” she said.

Material Holdings LLC was selected from 14 proposals through a competitive bidding process. Key deliverables include tools for easy access across 52 city departments, and a comprehensive road map with defined milestones and metrics​… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ SpaceX seeks foreign trade zone designation at site in Bastrop County (Austin Business Journal)

Elon Musk's SpaceX is seeking a federal designation that would allow the company to qualify for exemptions from certain taxes at its manufacturing site in Bastrop County east of Austin.

The Bastrop County Commissioners Court on Nov. 25 discussed sending a non-obligation letter of support for the exemption at SpaceX's booming production facility, located at 858 Farm to Market Road 1209, according to county documents.

The foreign trade zone program — under supervision of U.S. Customs and Border Protection — is generally considered the U.S. version of "free-trade zones." It applies to secure areas in or adjacent to CBP ports of entry where merchandise isn't subject to duty or excise taxes, meaning goods can be exported freely and are exempt from state and local property taxes or tariffs.

The Austin region is served by Foreign Trade Zone 183, which was established in the 1990s to capitalize on the growth of the high-tech industry and to provide local businesses with a tool to help them compete in the global economy, according to Opportunity Austin.

The Foreign Trade Zone of Central Texas Inc. serves as the grantee of FTZ 183 and is run by a board of directors appointed by the cities and chambers in the Austin metro. The SpaceX location would be a sub-zone of FTZ 183.

Bastrop County Commissioner David Glass said during the Nov. 25 meeting that the company asked the county to send the letter of support. As things stand, he said, materials or products are brought in to Bastrop, manufactured by SpaceX into equipment for satellite internet system Starlink and sent right back out of the country… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Council adopts Equity-Based Preservation Plan (Austin Monitor)

After a public hearing on Thursday, City Council approved the Equity-Based Preservation Plan – a new strategy for preserving historic buildings that prioritizes diversity and cultural heritage. The plan was adopted as an ordinance amending the larger Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan, a 30-year document for the city’s growth.

The Historic Landmark Commission first launched the creation of the Equity-Based Preservation Plan in 2021 with the formation of a 26-member working group. After significant city and stakeholder engagement, the project culminated in a document that includes 14 goals and 107 recommendations.

The approved Equity-Based Preservation Plan provides guidance to protect historic businesses and public artwork, prevent displacement, bolster sustainability, support the caretakers of historic properties, identify and protect additional historic places and streamline review processes for properties being considered for historic preservation. It also includes methods to incorporate community input while undertaking these efforts.

The plan, which accounts for the next 10 years, with an anticipated five-year update, discusses some underlying causes of inequity in Austin’s history. It explores strategies to preserve and stabilize older units of affordable housing, as well as neighborhoods, small businesses and locations for heritage tourism. The plan also provides guidance on related workforce development and job creation… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

➡️ Winner of Texas vs. Texas A&M will face Georgia in SEC Championship (Sports Illustrated)

The stakes are officially still as high as ever ahead of next Saturday's monumental rivalry rematch between the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies in College Station.

The SEC announced Saturday night that the Georgia Bulldogs have clinched a spot in the SEC Championship. Per multiple reports, the winner of Texas vs. Texas A&M will play the Bulldogs in Atlanta on Dec. 7… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

"Somebody needs to get fired": Vicente Gonzalez blasts Dem strategy on abortion, trans issues (Texas Tribune)

After outperforming Kamala Harris in South Texas on Election Day despite being vastly outspent by Republicans, U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, has a message to his fellow Democrats in Congress. Actually, he has a few of them.

No. 1: Don’t tell him how to handle his business, he’s going to represent his district the way he knows is best. And No. 2: Clean up your own act.

In a recent interview with The Texas Tribune, the four-term Democratic congressman, with a penchant for going rogue, took a shiv to the Democratic playbook. He said the party’s fixation on abortion this cycle was “lazy” and out of touch with his majority-Catholic district. He urged the party to, in some cases, soften its defenses of transgender rights, even if that means voting against the Democratic base.

He said Democrats had insufficiently attacked Republicans on economic issues. And he said the Democrats were plagued with “incompetence” in gauging the driving issues for voters in districts like his.

“Their messaging is off. I also believe their polling is off. Democratic polling has been consistently off beyond the margin of error for the last two or three cycles,” Gonzalez said in his Capitol Hill office. It’s “incompetence, at the end of the day. I think they need to get rid of people.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Crypto miners must register with state and reveal power usage under new Texas rule (Texas Tribune)

Texas’ utility regulator on Thursday adopted a rule requiring cryptocurrency mining facilities connected to the state’s main electric grid to register with the state’s grid operator.

The rule, which was mandated by lawmakers in a 2023 bill, requires crypto mining facilities that consume more than 75 megawatts of power to tell the Public Utility Commission and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees the state’s power grid, the facility’s location, ownership and electricity demand.

Crypto mining, which consumes vast amounts of power to run and cool its computers, has been growing in Texas, contributing to a surge in electricity demand across the state. The rule was designed to help the state see how much electricity crypto facilities will consume and protect the grid’s reliability.

“This is another example of the PUCT and ERCOT adapting to support a rapidly changing industrial landscape,” PUC Chairman Thomas Gleeson said in a statement. “Most importantly, we will always take the steps necessary to ensure reliable, affordable power for all Texans.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

➡️ Trump is running his transition team on secret money (New York Times)

President-elect Donald J. Trump is keeping secret the names of the donors who are funding his transition effort, a break from tradition that could make it impossible to see what interest groups, businesses or wealthy people are helping launch his second term. Mr. Trump has so far declined to sign an agreement with the Biden administration that imposes strict limits on that fund-raising in exchange for up to $7.2 million in federal funds earmarked for the transition.

By dodging the agreement, Mr. Trump can raise unlimited amounts of money from unknownors to pay for the staff, travel and office space involved in preparing to take over the government. Mr. Trump is the first president-elect to sidestep the restrictions, provoking alarm among ethics experts. Those seeking to curry favor with the incoming administration now have the opportunity to donate directly to the winning candidate without their names or potential conflicts ever entering the public sphere. And unlike with campaign contributions, foreign nationals are allowed to donate to the transition.

“When the money isn’t disclosed, it’s not clear how much everybody is giving, who is giving it and what they are getting in return for their donations,” said Heath Brown, a professor of public policy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who studies presidential transitions. “It’s an area where the vast majority of Americans would agree that they want to know who is paying that bill.” Mr. Trump’s transition team, led by Linda McMahon and Howard Lutnick, both of whom were nominated to cabinet positions last week, has repeatedly said it intends to sign the agreements with the Biden administration, known as memorandums of understanding.

But it blew past deadlines to do so in September and October, and nothing has indicaprogress being made to that end in the two weeks since the election. The White House, which is obliged to offer the agreements to presidential candidates under a federal law known as the Presidential Transition Act, has said it is ready to assist the Trump transition to ensure a smooth handover of power.

On Thursday, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, sent a letter to tiden administration, raising concerns that the Trump transition’s failure to sign the agreements was “uncharted territory” that “threatens the American public.” She asked for an accounting of how the administration was engaging with the Trump transition on the agreements… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Voters rejected historic election reforms across the US, despite more than $100M push (ABC News)

Two weeks before Election Day, activists from across the country gathered for an online rally heralding the historic number of state ballot initiatives seeking to change the way people vote. Hopes were high that voters would ditch traditional partisan primaries and embrace ballots with more candidate choices. Instead, the election reform movement lost almost everywhere it appeared on a statewide ballot.

“It turns out, in retrospect, we weren’t yet ready for prime time,” said John Opdycke, president of the advocacy group Open Primaries, which organized the rally. In Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and South Dakota — a mixture of red, blue and purple states — voters rejected either ranked choice voting, open primaries or a combination of both.

The open primary proposals sought to place candidates of all parties on the same ballot, with a certain number of top finishers advancing to the general election. Under ranked choice voting, people can vote for multiple candidates in order of preference. If no one receives a majority of first place votes, then candidates who receive the fewest votes are eliminated and their votes redistributed to people’s next choices.

Election reform advocates raised about $110 million for the statewide ballot measures, vastly outpacing their opponents, according to an Associated Press analysis of campaign finance figures that could grow even larger as post-election reports are filed. Still, their promotional push wasn’t enough to persuade most voters. “While Americans are frustrated with politics, I think most Americans are just fine with the traditional way of voting,” said Trent England, executive director of Save Our States, which opposes ranked choice voting... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)epresented a wide range of clients in the Austin Metro and Texas Capitol at the intersection of government and business.

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