BG Reads // April 23, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
April 23, 2025

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✅ Today's BG Reads include:

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🟪 Tomorrow, Thursday @10AM: Austin City Council Regular Meeting (117 Items)

POLICY SPOTLIGHT: Austin Council to Vote on AI Ethics Framework
📅 Austin Council Hearing: April 24, 2025 at 10AM (Agenda Link)

🏛️ Austin City Council will consider a resolution (Item 55) to establish ethical guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in City operations.

🏛️ The proposed framework would guide how AI is deployed across departments—such as permitting, public safety, and translation services—while prioritizing transparency, workforce protection, and digital equity.

💡 Key directives include:

  • Annual audits of AI tools used by the City

  • Public awareness and engagement campaigns

  • Training resources on AI literacy and responsible use

  • Clear restrictions on AI use for surveillance, discrimination, or job displacement

📩 Have questions on how this might impact your operations or policy goals? Email me for a consult. Please include Item 55 AI Framework Question in the subject line.

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[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Council looks to expand AI policies, examine energy and water needs for data centers (Austin Monitor)

Later this week, City Council will consider a substantial expansion of the city’s artificial intelligence oversight, incorporating detailed guidance on workforce protections, public transparency, and the environmental impacts of growing AI infrastructure. The resolution on Thursday’s agenda builds on a policy passed in February 2024, but goes further by requiring audits, defining acceptable AI uses, and mandating human oversight of AI decisions affecting city employees and operations.

The proposed resolution directs the city manager to conduct a regional environmental study, in partnership with Austin Energy and Austin Water, focused on the anticipated growth of data centers over the next decade. That assessment will examine their energy and water demands, the potential impacts on utility rates and ways to promote clean energy usage and water efficiency in their operation.

The policy also introduces reporting requirements on how data centers might affect long-term infrastructure capacity in Austin’s utility service area, reflecting a broader concern that AI technology could strain local resources if not managed carefully… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)


✅ The NRP Group, Austin ISD partner on $142M affordable housing complex (Austin Business Journal)

Development of an affordable housing project appears to be moving forward on land owned by the Austin Independent School District.

Construction is slated for a roughly $142 million multifamily project on the 18-acre site of the Anita Ferrales Coy Facility in East Austin, according to a pair of filings posted by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The site is owned by AISD but the district voted to partner with The NRP Group in 2023 to develop it.

The NRP Group is a for-profit builder of multifamily and affordable housing projects that's currently engaged in a number of public-private partnerships. Such partnerships are delivering thousands of housing units priced at levels deemed affordable, based on the region's median income levels.

According to the AISD website, the project is intended to offer affordable housing to teachers, district staff and families. However, future residents are not required to be AISD staff. The site is also expected to have about 50% of its units as income-restricted... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Williamson County Judge Steven Snell shares his priorities (KUT)

Former Liberty Hill Independent School District Superintendent Steven Snell was sworn in as Williamson County judge Monday.

"We we are very honored to have Steve join us in an extremely fast growing county with a lot of big decisions ahead of us," Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey said.

He will serve in the role until the county's next general election in November 2026, at which point, Snell said, he intends to seek a full term as county judge.

"I plan to win the trust of Williamson County, the community and the voters with integrity and vision," he said.

Snell used Monday's ceremony to lay out some of that vision. Here is what he said about his priorities… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

✅ Texas Lottery executive director resigns as lawmakers’ scrutiny mounts (Texas Tribune)

Ryan Mindell, the executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission, has resigned effective immediately, according to a news release from the agency on Monday.

Mindell took over as executive director of the commission after Gary Grief, his predecessor and the agency’s longest-serving executive director, resigned in 2024. Both former directors and the lottery itself have received a firestorm of criticism from lawmakers amid scrutiny over two central issues: the proliferation of third-party lottery ticket couriers and a $95 million jackpot in 2023 won by a single group buying out almost every possible ticket combination.

Robert Rivera, the lottery commission’s chair, said in a statement that Mindell submitted his resignation Monday. Rivera did not immediately make clear why Mindell resigned. The commission will start the process of finding a new executive director at its next meeting on April 29, the same day the agency is set to ban couriers from operating in the state. Clark Smith, a former commissioner with the agency, also resigned in late February.

Recent scrutiny of the agency from lawmakers reached a head after the House’s budget passed the chamber with zero funding for the lottery commission, a decision representatives doubled down on with a second nonbinding motion. The agency is also under two investigations by the Texas Rangers, a division of the Department of Public Safety, and Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Texas Senate resurrects 'bathroom bill' barring trans people from using certain facilities (Austin American-Statesman)

The Texas Senate is set to consider a bill that bars transgender individuals from using bathrooms and other private spaces aligning with their gender identity in public buildings, such as schools and government offices. Senate Bill 240 by Galveston Republican Sen. Mayes Middleton — dubbed the "Texas Women's Privacy Act" — directs state and local governments to prohibit people in public buildings from using restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities that do not correspond with the sex listed on their birth certificate.

The provisions apply to spaces like the Texas Capitol, public schools and universities, city halls, county courthouses and public libraries. The bill also requires the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to house inmates in correctional facilities based on their sex as defined by the state. It also prohibits transgender women from accessing family-violence shelters designated for women.

The restrictions would not apply to single-occupancy spaces and the bill provides exceptions for young children and others who may need assistance for medical reasons. Any state or local government entity suspected to be in violation of SB 240 would be subject to investigation by the Texas attorney general and fines ranging from $5,000 up to $25,000 per day. The bill would also allow private citizens to sue over alleged violations. The Senate State Affairs Committee passed SB 240 earlier this month, and the full Senate could take up the bill as soon as Tuesday.

Companion legislation across the Capitol, House Bill 239 by Spring Republican Rep. Valoree Swanson, has received the backing of 79 coauthors and four joint authors, a majority of the lower chamber.

The House bill was referred to the State Affairs Committee but has not yet received a hearing. "What this bill does is protect women and children's safety and privacy in dedicated spaces," Middleton said while laying out the bill in committee. "Women and girls are finding their expectations of privacy increasingly compromised in spaces traditionally separated by sex."

Proponents of so-called bathroom bills like SB 240 and HB 239 argue the legislation would protect women from encountering men in public restrooms, but such bills are often aimed at transgender people who would not be able to use facilities aligning with their gender identity… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ In city's most dramatic race, incumbent is called homophobic slur (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

Fort Worth council candidate Payton Jackson launched another salvo in her war of words against incumbent Chris Nettles, using a homophobic slur to describe the incumbent. Jackson’s attack came in a Facebook post accusing Nettles of a lack of toughness following an April 10 altercation between the two at a candidate forum in the Historic Southside neighborhood. Nettles acknowledged seeing the post in a text message to the Star-Telegram. “It has no merit. I don’t desire to fuel these false accusations.

My priorities are on my family, District 8 and Fort Worth as a whole,” he said. Jackson’s post drew condemnation from the Tarrant County Democratic Party. Fort Worth’s mayoral and city council races are nonpartisan, however, Nettles has been associated with the Democratic Party in the past.

“This kind of rhetoric is not only deeply offensive — it is disqualifying for anyone seeking to serve in public office,” a party spokesperson said in a statement. The statement went on to condemn Jackson’s use of the slur, arguing she did not demonstrate the “maturity, integrity and respect” required to be a leader. Jackson sent a statement in response to a Star-Telegram question about her use of the slur. She accused the Tarrant County Democratic party of hypocrisy for its apparent support of Nettles.

“This isn’t about decorum — it’s about control. They can’t handle that a candidate like me exists outside their leash,” Jackson said in her statement. She also posted a response to the Tarrant County Democrats on Facebook. “Save your selective outrage! I promised transparency! He IS EXACTLY WHAT I CALLED HIM,” Jackson said in her post. Both statements referenced Jackson’s December 2024 release of a 2-year-old audio clip of Nettles in which Nettles could be heard calling some of his colleagues racist. Nettles acknowledged his comments after the clip was released. In a statement he said the recording “may have been heavily edited” and was taken during a deeply emotional time for him… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

✅ Trump eyes trade deal with China, talks with Xi (The Hill)

President Trump said Tuesday that the hefty tariff rate on China will significantly be reduced after he negotiates with Chinese President Xi Jinping, expressing optimism about a trade deal.

“145 percent is very high. It won’t be that high, it’s not going to be that high… it won’t be anywhere near that high,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It will come down substantially, but it won’t be zero,” he added. The overall tariff level currently imposed on China is 145 percent, which remained in place after Trump delayed the “reciprocal” tariffs on other trading partners for 90 days and reduced them to 10 percent.

“We’re going to be very nice. They’re going to be very nice, and we’ll see what happens. But ultimately, they have to make a deal because otherwise they’re not going to be able to deal in the United States,” Trump said, referring to China… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ As Tesla profits plunge 71%, Elon Musk says he'll spend less time on DOGE (NPR)

As Tesla's sales and profits plunge, CEO Elon Musk says he'll spend less time working for the federal government — but that he has no plans to stop his work with DOGE entirely.

"If the ship of America goes down, we all go down with it," he said on a call with investors and analysts Tuesday night, defending the amount of time he has spent focusing on slashing the size of the federal government. He also, without evidence, dismissed protests against Tesla as being "paid for," and said that demand for the company's vehicles remains strong despite a sharp decline in sales.

Tesla's quarterly earnings report, released about an hour before the call, showed that the company's net income plunged by 71% year-over-year and that revenue from selling cars dropped by 20%.

Analysts had been expecting bad news: They already knew Tesla's deliveries in the first quarter of 2025 were down 13% from a year ago. That was the company's biggest-ever quarterly decline in sales. Meanwhile, electric vehicle sales in general rose 7% over the same timeframe… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Law firms fighting Trump to ask judges to permanently block executive orders (Associated Press)

Two major law firms are expected to ask separate judges on Wednesday to permanently block President Donald Trump’s executive orders that were designed to punish them and hurt their business operations.

The firms — Perkins Coie and WilmerHale — have said the orders imposed in March are unconstitutional assaults on the legal profession that threaten their relationships with clients and retaliate against them based either on their past legal representations or their association with particular attorneys who Trump perceives as his adversaries.

Courts last month temporarily halted enforcement of key provisions of both orders, but the firms are in court Wednesday asking for the edicts to be struck down in their entirety and for judges to issue rulings in their favor. Another firm, Jenner & Block, is expected to make similar arguments next week… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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