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- BG Reads 2.12.2025
BG Reads 2.12.2025
🟪 BG Reads - February 12, 2025
Bingham Group Reads
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February 12, 2025
✅ Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 A streamlined approach to infill housing is set for Council action (Austin Monitor)
🟪 Austin group officially submits bid for WNBA team, with big-name investors (Austin Business Journal)
🟪 Texas House speaker vows to pass ‘school choice’ bill (Dallas Morning News)
🟪 Casino and sports betting companies press for a win in Texas despite Senate opposition (Texas Tribune)
🟪 Trump’s conflicting business policies sow economic uncertainty (Wall Street Journal)
Read On!
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
📺 Tomorrow at 10AM: Austin City Council Regular Meeting
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
✅ A streamlined approach to infill housing is set for Council action (Austin Monitor)
City Council members received a preview Tuesday of a proposed infill ordinance, or “site plan lite,” aimed at streamlining the approval process for small-scale residential projects. The proposed ordinance on Thursday’s agenda would apply to developments of five to 16 housing units and would allow for flexibility on drainage calculations and greater reliance on private engineers charged with “stamping and sealing the plans,” according to staff.
The proposal is the product of Council resolutions passed in 2022 and 2023 with the overall goal of adding more infill housing on an expedited timeline.
As such, Council is being asked to make a distinction in city regulations between small residential projects and large-scale developments. Staff members estimate that the amendments to drainage regulations may reduce up to 40 percent of total project costs... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ Council vote could help secure tax credits for seven projects with affordable units (Austin Monitor)
On Thursday, City Council will consider resolutions of support for seven affordable housing developments seeking funding through the state’s 9 percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. If approved, items 16-22 on the agenda will be included in developers’ applications to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, which oversees the competitive program that helps finance affordable housing projects.
The proposed developments include a mix of new construction, rehabilitation and redevelopment, targeting general, elderly and supportive housing populations. They total 660 units, ranging in size from 38 to 130 units, and are located across the city, with two – Eberhart Place and St. George’s Court – falling under the At-Risk Set-Aside category, a designation made to preserve existing affordable housing stock.
A recent memo from Mandy DeMayo, interim director of the Housing Department, details the process that will see the Austin applicants compete for funding in Region 7, which includes Travis and surrounding counties. According to the state’s pre-application log, $5.99 million in 9 percent tax credits is available for Region 7, which would generate $60 million in equity – enough to support two to three developments… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ Austin group officially submits bid for WNBA team, with big-name investors (Austin Business Journal)
For Fran Harris, submitting Austin's official bid for a WNBA expansion team felt a lot like studying for finals. After doing all the prep work, the bidding group that she's part of submitted its proposal at 3:50 p.m. on Jan. 30 — right before the application deadline — and now she said she feels like she's just waiting for the grades to post.
"I did the best I could. I studied the best I could. I put the best team in place. Now it's up to the (WNBA) to do what it feels is best for the league," Harris said. Harris said she's confident in the bid from her group, which includes fellow University of Texas basketball star Kevin Durant, as well as former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry and billionaire entrepreneur Jenny Just. She confirmed to the Austin Business Journal that the bid had been submitted after anonymously sourced reports regarding it first emerged Feb. 10.
The WNBA has been looking to expand to a 16th team for the 2027 or 2028 season — with a decision possibly arriving in the first quarter this year.
Austin has been viewed as a solid candidate, but the competition is stiff. More than 10 bids were reportedly received by the Jan. 30 deadline, with NBA ownership groups in Houston, Detroit, Nashville, Cleveland and Philadelphia among those… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ Tech companies, community members honored at Round Rock Chamber awards (Community Impact)
From tech companies Dell Technologies and Google Fiber to local entrepreneurs and city leaders, the Round Rock Chamber’s 57th Annual Business Awards celebrated organizations and community members on Feb. 11 at Kalahari Resorts & Conventions… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
✅ Texas House speaker vows to pass ‘school choice’ bill (Dallas Morning News)
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows has vowed to pass a “school choice” law this session in response to public statements from President Donald Trump.
“The Texas House must now pass School Choice to deliver a gigantic Victory for Texas students and parents,” Trump said in a recent post on Truth Social, his social media platform.
“I will be watching them closely.” Burrows’ response was simple. “We will,” the newly elected speaker said on X, attaching Trump’s post. Similar proposals to use taxpayer money to help families pay for private school education have died in the House in recent years. This year could be different, and with Burrows’ endorsement of the policy, it now appears momentum is behind the Republican-led effort.
“I support empowering parents to decide the best educational option for their children, and I believe the votes are there in the House for a universal school choice program to pass this session,” Burrows said in an emailed statement Monday. “The House is prepared to lead on this issue and, importantly, on securing meaningful investments for public education and teacher pay raises.”
Gov. Greg Abbott has made passing a school choice bill his top policy goal for this year’s legislative session. Abbott has said he believes the votes are there after the governor worked to unseat several House members who helped block voucher-style efforts in 2023.
The Senate quickly approved a school choice measure, Senate Bill 2, last week after Abbott made it an emergency item during his recent State of the State address. The bill passed largely on party lines and arrived in the House on Thursday. Trump congratulated Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and SB 2 author Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, in his post. Republican budget writers have proposed using $1 billion of surplus money to create a school choice fund… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ Governor Abbott pushes for career training to boost Texas workforce (CBS Austin)
Governor Greg Abbott is advocating for increased career training in Texas schools to better prepare students for the workforce immediately after high school.
In his recent State of the State address, Abbott emphasized the importance of trade jobs, highlighting careers such as welding, plumbing, and electrical work as some of the most in-demand positions.
"That's why I am making life-changing career training an emergency item," Abbott said, underscoring his commitment to building the Texas workforce through trade jobs. Nicholas Odom, the education manager for the trade program at the Universal Technical Institute in Austin, expressed strong support for the governor's initiative. "I think it's a beautiful move," Odom said.
"Personally I believe that the skilled trades in this nation, skilled trades in this state are something that's so desperately needed."… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ Burrows, Patrick and Abbott: Texas’ Big 3 have big plans and a wary new dynamic (Texas Tribune)
By the time lawmakers called it quits on the last legislative session the relationship between the state’s top three leaders – Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan – had hit rock bottom.
The state's three most powerful Republicans were largely in agreement at the top of the session about tightening border security and lowering property taxes. But their animosity and refusal to work together required multiple special sessions, breaking through stalemates, to get that done.
Phelan and Patrick, who presides over the Senate, openly feuded on social media, with Patrick calling on Phelan to resign. And Abbott felt burned by the House’s refusal to pass his priority school vouchers bill after his office had announced a deal with lawmakers.
The animosity spilled over into last year’s primaries where Abbott and Patrick got heavily involved in Texas House races against fellow Republicans – a rare move. Patrick even endorsed and gave a $100,000 donation to Phelan’s primary opponent... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ Casino and sports betting companies press for a win in Texas despite Senate opposition (Texas Tribune)
Undeterred by four years of sluggish progress and certain defeat at the Texas Capitol, the gambling industry is plodding ahead with its ambitious bid to legalize casinos and sports betting in a state with some of the most restrictive gaming laws in the country.
For the third straight session, the Las Vegas Sands casino empire has deployed a murderers’ row of high-powered lobbyists to coax the Republican-controlled Legislature into authorizing “destination resorts” with casino gambling in Texas’ largest cities.
Also part of the lobbying blitz is the Texas Sports Betting Alliance, a coalition of the state’s pro sports teams, racetracks and betting platforms — such as FanDuel and DraftKings — that is looking to extend its momentum from 2023, when a proposal to legalize online sports betting squeaked through the Texas House… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
✅ Trump’s conflicting business policies sow economic uncertainty (Wall Street Journal)
It usually takes years for a president to leave his mark on the economy. Donald Trump has done it in just a few weeks. His plan to raise tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China has rattled markets and boardrooms. Some businesses are seeing signs that deportations could affect their workforces.
More than 40,000 federal employees are preparing to resign and others are rethinking their futures under pressure from Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. At the same time, President Trump’s pro-business, pro-fossil fuel agenda has excited many businesses who have made multibillion-dollar investment announcements.
The end goal seems to be an economy with a smaller role for imports, immigrants and the federal government and a bigger one for private investment. But the execution has generated intense uncertainty—among business owners, workers and trade partners—that could damp growth, at least temporarily. While Trump’s election was fueled in part by voter concerns about inflation and standards of living, he nonetheless inherited a solid economy.
Gross domestic product was up 2.5% from a year earlier in the fourth quarter, and Friday’s employment report from the Labor Department showed that the economy added 143,000 jobs in January while the unemployment rate ticked down to a low 4%. Inflation has fallen sharply from its 9% peak in 2022, though is still closer to 3% than the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Many firms are bullish about Trump’s presidency, with surveys of chief executives, chief financial officers and small-business owners after the election showing notable increases in optimism.
The Institute for Supply Management reported earlier this month that its index of manufacturers’ new orders in January rose to the highest in nearly three years. But events since the inauguration have dented that optimism. The S&P 500 rose 5% in the first five days after the election and has since moved sideways.
The University of Michigan on Friday said its preliminary index of consumer sentiment, based on surveys conducted since Trump’s inauguration, dropped in February. Preliminary results of a small business survey by Vistage Worldwide for The Wall Street Journal show that a postelection pop in confidence was reversed in February. Wall Street just ended the quietest January in a decade for mergers and acquisitions announcements… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
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