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BG Reads 8.9.2024

BG Reads 8.9.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - August 9, 2024

August 09, 2024

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Bingham Group Reads

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August 9, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 New ruling clears the way for public comment at City Council work sessions (Austin Monitor)

🟣 The new Police Chief was respected in Cincinnati. Will Austin feel the same? (Austin Chronicle)

🟣 ACC receives $7.5 million grant to expand semiconductor programs, support UT facility (Austin American-Statesman)

Read On!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

🟣 [New] BG Podcast Ep. 263: Austin Politics Weekly Recap And What's Ahead

🟣 Updated City of Austin Org Chart (as of 7.2.2024)

🟣 Bingham Group has renewed its MBE and DBE certifications with the city of Austin. We are currently seeking sub-consultant services to support projects in the Austin Metro. Learn more here.

LINK TO THIS WEEK’s CITY OF AUSTIN HEARINGS + AGENDA

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🟣 [New] Council Member Harper-Madison Budget Amendments

🟣 [New] Council Member Pool Budget Priorities

🟣 [New] Council Member Qadri Budget Priorities

🟣 [New] Council Member Fuentes Budget Amendments

🟣 [New] Mayor Watson Budget Amendments

🟣 [New] Council Member Ellis Budget Amendments

🟣 [New] Council Member Kelly Budget Amendments

🟣 Joint budget priorities for Council Members Fuentes, Velásquez, Vela, Ryan Alter, and Qadri (Council Message Board)

🟣 Memo -> Imagine Austin Update: Engagement Activities and Launch of the Imagine Austin Working Group Application

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

New ruling clears the way for public comment at City Council work sessions (Austin Monitor)

Thursday morning, Mayor Kirk Watson kicked off a planned budget work session in an unusual way.

“Late yesterday, we received a copy of a court order related to one of the lawsuits and, as a result of that, we are going to allow for public comment this morning,” he said.

The announcement came hours after a Travis County court ruled in favor of the Save Our Springs Alliance in its suit against the city over open meetings act violations, this time addressing the issue of public comment during work sessions.

Work sessions, which were implemented during former Mayor Steve Adler’s tenure as a way to make regular meetings more efficient, are held on Tuesdays prior to Thursday City Council meetings. During work session, Council hears briefings from staff and discusses – but does not vote on – items on the upcoming agenda. Up until now, there has been no opportunity for the public to comment at work sessions.

In April, the Save Our Springs Alliance filed suit over City Council’s procedures for allowing the public to speak. SOS won that suit but later sought further clarification on the work session and public speaking rules that were codified by Council...

(LINK TO FULL STORY)

The new Police Chief was respected in Cincinnati. Will Austin feel the same? (Austin Chronicle)

Lisa Davis is now Austin’s chief of police.

Davis, a 32-year veteran of the Cincinnati Police Department, was confirmed by a unanimous City Council vote on Tuesday, Aug. 6 (Council Member Mackenzie Kelly missed the vote, due to a medical emergency).

Davis will be just the second woman to serve as the Austin Police Department’s permanent chief (Robin Henderson, a 26-year APD veteran who served as interim chief, will soon retire). This will also be the first time that an outsider has led APD since Art Acevedo took the reins of the department in 2007. To say she is headed to APD’s Fifth Floor at a troubling time in the department’s history is an understatement, as they struggle to hire the number of officers the department is budgeted for, as broad swaths of the community press for more accountability and oversight, and as relationships with prosecutors remain strained.

But stakeholders around the city are hopeful Davis is up to the task. “No pressure,” Mayor Kirk Watson said from the dais after the former CPD assistant chief’s confirmation vote. “The entire city is counting on you for that new set of eyes and new leadership.”

As is the case with any big-city police chief, Davis will be pulled in different directions by the various stakeholders she’ll have to contend with as she tries to meet their needs. There’s City Manager T.C. Broadnax, her boss, and the city’s 11 City Council members, who serve as his boss. On the advocate level, Davis will have to navigate the often opposing interests of the Austin Police Association, the labor organization that represents APD’s rank-and-file officers, and the city’s numerous criminal justice reform groups... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

ACC receives $7.5 million grant to expand semiconductor programs, support UT facility (Austin American-Statesman)

Austin Community College received a $7.5 million grant from the U.S. Defense Department to expand its semiconductor workforce training programs, the college announced Thursday.

The University of Texas and its Texas Institute for Electronics, a consortium of institutions and partners supported by UT and the Texas Legislature, distributed the funds to ACC. The money comes from an $840 million grant awarded to UT and the Texas Institute for Electronics by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a federal group that invests in innovative technology for national security to develop a national research and prototype facility.

Alyssa Reinhart, the workforce development director at the Texas Institute for Electronics, said ACC partnered with the group on the DARPA application and that the college has established itself as a strong partner to address industry needs. ACC is the only community college involved out of the 18 academic partners, the college said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Pete Winstead, a legend on Austin's business scene, dies (Austin Business Journal)

The patriarch of the Winstead PC law firm, Pete Winstead, has died. He was 84.

The cause of death was not immediately made public, but an announcement from his law firm late on Aug. 7 stated that he "passed away this evening following some recent health issues that suddenly escalated."

The longtime lawyer was one of the few "old guards" of Austin’s modern economy, still clocking in just about every day despite hitting retirement age about 20 years ago. Among his many claims to fame, Winstead was tasked largely with helping a young Michael Dell go public. He took his standard lawyer fees rather than being paid in stock — a decision that haunted him for decades. But Winstead ended up with no shortage of success.

In the years since, he became one of Austin's biggest boosters, donating his leadership to organizations such as the Greater Austin Crime Commission, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and Opportunity Austin… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Abbott order will require Texas public hospitals to collect patients’ immigration status (Texas Tribune)

Gov. Greg Abbott signed an executive order on Thursday that requires public hospitals in Texas to collect information on the immigration status of patients so that the hospitals can then track costs incurred for the care of undocumented migrants.

Previous guidance for public hospitals did not include questions about immigration status.

The executive order would mandate the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to collect this information so that the state of Texas could then bill the federal government.

“Due to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ open border policies, Texas has had to foot the bill for medical costs for individuals illegally in the state,” Governor Abbott said in a statement on Thursday. “Texans should not have to shoulder the burden of financially supporting medical care for illegal immigrants.”

The order requires that public hospitals in Texas collect information regarding the costs of medical care provided to undocumented immigrants starting Nov 1, 2024. Direct covered hospitals would have to report data to the state health commission quarterly, beginning in March 2025… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Bizarre Harris Co. Commissioners Court blowup leads to decorum call: 'Done taking your disrespect' (ABC 13)

Harris County Commissioners Court meeting that went well into the late night hours this week got tense and personal, leading to calls for decorum. The bizarre moments unfolded during the court's regular Tuesday meeting, which started at 10 a.m. Nearly 12 hours later, just before 9:30 p.m., the meeting devolved into disarray. "I am done taking your disrespect.

If someone says 'Hello,' you say 'Hello' back," Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo told Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia. The exchange was part of an uncomfortable back-and-forth, with the four commissioners weighing in differently. Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones asked for a point of order. Garcia wanted to move on. Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis suggested taking a break.

They had just voted unanimously on the details of announcing a new Harris County Flood Control District tax-rate plan. Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey, the lone Republican, wanted his vote registered. "Judge, if I could," Ramsey said. "Yes, my colleague here silenced it, and when I asked to clarify, I get a glare," Hidalgo said, referring to Garcia. "I am registering my vote," Ramsey said. "Thank you," she said. "I'm going to continue asking Commissioner Garcia, so if he glares back, I'm sorry, commissioner."

"Can we please get back to the people's work?" Briones begged before calling for decorum. "I just don't like this kind of behavior from males. I'm sorry," Hidalgo said. It is not the first time the rifts have been on such public display. Last June, Hidalgo swore during commissioners court when she accused Garcia of allowing him to be bullied by the district attorney.

"Because some of us are wrapped around the little finger because I don't know what the (expletive) she has threatened you with," she said. The county's top official, who boldly took a break for mental health treatment last year, is known for going toe-to-toe, but has she gone too far? "This isn't the halls of high school. This is county government," Ed Emmett, Hidalgo's predecessor and a fellow in Rice's Baker Institute, told ABC13. "It hurts the relationships, and so much of county government is built on being able to work together."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Houston mayor seeks legislative reform on gun laws to address police department staffing shortage (Houston Public Media)

In an effort to address the Houston Police Department’s lingering staffing shortages, Mayor John Whitmire said he believes state lawmakers will overwhelmingly support legislation to lower the age requirement for younger police recruits to bear firearms.

The discussions come on the heels of the mayor appointing a new top officer to lead the nearly 6,000-person police department. During a press conference on Aug. 2, Chief Noe Diaz and Whitmire, who previously chaired the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee, indicated support for a plan to make changes to the police department’s guidelines and pursue legislative action to allow younger people to enlist in the department.

Recruits must be 21 to be hired by the police department, the legal age to carry a firearm in the state of Texas. But during the press conference, Diaz urged parents of 19 and 20-year-olds who are looking for a job to contact the police department... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

Why the Chamber of Progress is endorsing a permitting bill (Politco)

Chamber of Progress, the left-leaning Silicon Valley-funded industry group, is branching out from the tech policy space with today’s rollout of a new policy framework aimed at driving down the cost of living in America.

— The group, whose partners include Meta, Amazon, Apple and Google, is proposing an emphasis on supply-side policy remedies to bring down costs in five key areas: housing, health care, energy and infrastructure, child care and new technology.

— “Obviously, this comes in the midst of election questions over whether and how Silicon Valley will support” Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump, said Chris MacKenzie, a spokesperson for the group. While the Chamber supports Harris, the group hopes to offer “a path forward for the Democratic Party to address voters’ biggest concern in this election” without, he said, “going after leading U.S. companies.”

— Asked why a tech industry group believes it could be an effective messenger on the issue for a party that loves to batter big corporations, MacKenzie argued that there’s more ideological alignment on the fundamentals between Democrats and the center-left Chamber than there would be with more traditional, right-leaning business groups, giving the Chamber of Progress a leg to stand on… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Battle begins over Vance and Walz military records (The Hill)

Both Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) tout distinguished military records. But clashes over the specifics of their years in the armed forces were quickly ignited between their camps this week after the vice presidential match-up was set.

Vance, who served in the Marines, took the opening shot Wednesday at Walz, who served 24 years in the National Guard. The Republican presidential nominee accused his Democratic rival of “stolen valor” for leaving service before a deployment to Iraq and claiming he served in a war... (LINK TO FULL STORY)