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- BG Reads 2.27.2025
BG Reads 2.27.2025
🟪 BG Reads - February 27, 2025
Bingham Group Reads
Presented by:
February 27, 2025
✅ Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 Austin Infrastructure Academy tees up spring launch as billions in transit projects progress (KXAN)
🟪 Council will likely delay implementing new STR rules pending legislative action (Austin Monitor)
🟪 SH 130 corridor revs up Seguin’s economic engine (Austin Business Journal)
🟪 West Texas doctors urging vaccination after measles death: ‘This is a big deal’ (Dallas Morning News)
Read On!
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
🏛️ Today @10AM: Austin Council Regular Session
Agenda (54 items)
🏛️ City of Austin Memo: Federal Legislative Update / Potential Reductions at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (2.26.2025)
[FIRM NEWS]
This Friday, NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson and Truck Series driver Rajah Caruth will join sponsor Hendrick Automotive Group—the largest privately held automotive retail organization in the United States and a Bingham Group client—to award a $25,000 grant to the Auto Technology program at Crockett Early College High School.
The donation is part of the Hendrick, Get Set. Go! grant program, which leverages the excitement of the HendrickCars.com racing program to promote STEM education in the automotive industry.
The event will include a check presentation, a Q&A session, and an engine-building demonstration.
Check out Hendrick’s Austin Dealerships:
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
✅ Austin Infrastructure Academy tees up spring launch as billions in transit projects progress (KXAN)
The Austin Infrastructure Academy will host its inaugural expo event later this spring to build up a local pipeline of infrastructure workers to support billions of dollars’ worth of mobility projects underway.
Mayor Kirk Watson said the academy will host its launch event on March 26 at 10 a.m. at Workforce Solutions Capital Area, with networking efforts available to introduce Austinites to potential careers and career readiness opportunities.
Watson confirmed the news at an event alongside Austin Transit Partnership Wednesday morning, with the organization seeking local workers to help develop the city’s first light rail line under Project Connect.
That 9.8-mile, 15-station network is one component of roughly $25 billion in mobility infrastructure projects currently underway or in development, Watson said. City, county and transit officials alongside regional partners established the Austin Infrastructure Academy as an anticipated 10,000 workers annually will be required to build out those mobility projects… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ Council will likely delay implementing new STR rules pending legislative action (Austin Monitor)
Austin City Council today will consider an overhaul of the city’s short-term rental regulations but is expected to delay implementing most changes until the summer. At Tuesday’s work session, Mayor Kirk Watson suggested pausing the new rules pending the outcome of several STR-related bills before the state Legislature.
“There are some key aspects of what it is that we want to do that could change during this legislative session,” Watson said. Most Council members agreed that delaying implementation would prevent the need for another lengthy revision process to align with state law.
Council Member Chito Vela, noting that other Texas cities are also in a holding pattern on their STR regulations, agreed it makes sense for the city to spend a few months “understanding the environment” after the legislative session before moving forward on a suite of changes. The Council set July 24 as the date it will revisit the proposed changes for possible action… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ Bastrop mayoral race underway as two candidates step forward (Community Impact)
Two Bastrop residents have officially entered the race for mayor, seeking to fill the seat left vacant by former-Mayor Lyle Nelson’s resignation Jan. 14.
Bastrop City Manager Sylvia Carrillo-Trevino said as of Feb. 25, the two applicants include:
Willie DeLaRosa
Ishmael Harris
Harris, who was serving as chair for the Planning and Zoning Commission, stepped down from his seat as the city’s charter does not allow for someone to hold a position on a board while running… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ SH 130 corridor revs up Seguin’s economic engine (Austin Business Journal)
The anticipated rush among developers looking to grab real estate along the southern end of State Highway 130 could be fast and furious. Economic development leaders in the region want to make sure there is a plan to maximize opportunities along the tollway that stretches from just north of Georgetown to Seguin.
Between 2019 and early 2024, the volume of traffic along SH 130 increased by 62%. That growth has not been lost on companies and developers — or the recruiters chasing them.
“As commercial and industrial development along SH 130 in the Austin metro continues pushing south, Seguin is well-positioned to capitalize on this momentum,” said Josh Schneuker, executive director of the Seguin Economic Development Corp.
Schneuker noted that the Seguin officials are taking a proactive approach to real estate and infrastructure development as they look to unlock untapped potential… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
✅ Texas lawmaker is targeting publicly funded lobbying. Will restrictions pass this session? (Austin American-Statesman)
Sen. Mayes Middleton is taking aim at local taxing entities' long-standing ability to hire lobbyists to help them navigate the Texas Legislature. The Republican state senator from Galveston recently filed Senate Bill 19, which would prevent local governments, such as school districts and cities, from hiring lobbyists with public money or paying dues to organizations that lobby on their behalf. "Nearly $70 million per year is spent on taxpayer-funded lobbying," Middleton said in a statement last week.
"We don't need an Austin lobbyist middleman between state and local elected officials. We are elected to represent our constituents directly." Cities, school districts and other local jurisdictions in Texas often hire lobbyists to advocate at the Capitol for their interests — which Middleton said contradicts the interests of taxpayers. Additionally, many local governments are members of organizations that hire lobbyists to collectively advocate for the shared interests of their particular sector. Governments usually pay membership dues to the associations in exchange for the services.
One such organization is the Texas Association of School Boards, a named target of Middleton's legislation, which drew the ire of some Republican lawmakers last session for its opposition to school vouchers. "Taxpayer-funded lobbying groups, like Texas Association of School Boards, use your school tax dollars to lobby against the bill to stop men from going into girls' restrooms and locker rooms, and invited transgender advocates to train school board members on how to use pronouns," Middleton said in his statement.
"Time and time again, we have seen taxpayer-funded lobbyists advocate against Texans and against common sense." Middleton has long sought to end the practice of local taxing entities hiring lobbyists. He filed his first bill on the topic during his first session in the Texas House in 2019, and he has filed similar legislation each session since, including after his election to the Senate. Each of those proposals has died in the House… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ West Texas doctors urging vaccination after measles death: ‘This is a big deal’ (Dallas Morning News)
After a pediatric patient in West Texas died of measles complications, hospital officials are urging the community to take the outbreak seriously, and to educate themselves about the virus and vaccination. Texas health officials on Wednesday reported the first person a school-aged child has died in the state’s ongoing measles outbreak after being hospitalized in Lubbock.
It’s the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade, according to numerous news reports. Officials Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock said the child was not from Lubbock County, but declined to provide any additional information in a Wednesday afternoon news briefing. Dr. Amy Thompson, the CEO at Covenant Children’s, said the death makes clear that measles outbreaks are serious. “This is a big deal,” Thompson said.
“We have known that we’ve had measles in our community. We’re now seeing a very serious consequence of what happens when we have measles in our community.” The ongoing outbreak began in a Mennonite community in Gaines County, according to state health officials. The Texas Department of State Health Services has reported a total of 124 cases across the state as of Tuesday. That number does not include nine measles cases reported by New Mexico health officials, which are believed to be connected to the Texas outbreak.
The state’s most recently reported case number also does not include some cases that local health officials have determined, such as a case reported in Rockwall County. Of the Texas measles cases, 18 people have been hospitalized, according to state officials. Covenant Children’s had six children with measles admitted to the hospital as of Wednesday morning.
The virus is spreading largely through unvaccinated people, who are very likely to catch the measles if they come into contact with it. On the other hand, people who have been vaccinated are unlikely to get sick; the two-dose regimen of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is 97% effective at preventing measles. Even for unvaccinated people, measles will not kill most people who catch it… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
✅ The FDIC's goal is to prevent another banking crisis. It's now also a Trump target (NPR)
President Trump's sweeping cuts to the U.S. government are hitting a crucial part of the financial system: the independent agency responsible for preventing future banking crises.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) is responsible for insuring consumer deposits against bank failures — and for preventing those failures in the first place. Since its creation 92 years ago, during a national panic that closed thousands of banks, the FDIC has performed some of the unglamorous but crucial work of ensuring financial stability.
Its very existence reassures consumers and businesses that their money is safe, by insuring deposits of up to $250,000.
And its employees closely monitor most of the United States' smaller banks — warning lenders if, for example, their debt levels are edging too high or if they're taking on too much risky business.
The end goal of these examinations is to catch any problems before they snowball into a bank failure — or a wider banking crisis. In those worst-case scenarios, the FDIC is also responsible for taking over failed banks. But the agency has been struggling with several internal problems, including staffing shortages and widespread employee complaints about a toxic culture.
The FDIC says that its staffing problems have already made it harder to adequately supervise banks and reduce the risk of bank failures. Now, those problems are getting much worse. Trump and his billionaire adviser, Elon Musk, are firing workers across agencies as they slash the size of the federal government — and hundreds of FDIC employees have already been affected…. 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
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