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August 11, 2025

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Council mulls budget priorities ahead of vote (Austin Monitor)

🟪 Loss of $105 million federal grant not expected to stop Austin plan for parks over I-35 (KUT)

🟪 Dallas and Fort Worth end their diversity efforts to keep federal funding (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Republican Party of Texas sets stage to censure members who stepped out of line in likely bid to block them from primary ballot (Texas Tribune)

🟪  NYSE, Nasdaq place big bets on ‘Y’all Street’, but TXSE has an ace up its sleeve (Dallas Morning News)

🟪  Trump executive order gives politicians control over all federal grants, alarming researchers (Associated Press)

🟪 Trump weighs reclassifying marijuana as less dangerous drug (Wall Street Journal)

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ City Manager Executives and Advisors Staff Visual Chart

🏛️ City of Austin Org Chart (as of July 2025)

💰 2026 City of Austin Bond - Public Input

ℹ️ 2025 Essential Resources for Navigating the City of Austin

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Council mulls budget priorities ahead of vote (Austin Monitor)

As Austin City Council nears its Wednesday vote to approve a more than $6 billion budget, Council members laid out each of their spending priorities in a work session Thursday, landing on many points of consensus.

Council members added their proposed amendments to the budget as laid out by City Manager T.C. Broadnax in July, and then moved on to discussing four differing scenarios for a possible tax rate election (TRE) in November. 

Mayor Kirk Watson made sure to emphasize that this is one budget, not a “base budget” with extra proposals that will only be funded if the TRE passes.

“It is all one budget, and we need to start thinking in that way as we start the initial descent of this airplane,” said Watson.

Council Member Marc Duchen is the sole Council member that doesn’t see a need for a TRE, citing concerns about the City’s spending patterns and Austin’s lack of affordability. However, during Thursday’s meeting, he acquiesced to a 2-cent increase above Broadnax’s current budget rate. Watson has been the second-most reticent, advocating for a 3.5-cent increase above the state-allowed amount. The rest of the dais is split between 5.75 and 6.75 cents… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Loss of $105 million federal grant not expected to stop Austin plan for parks over I-35 (KUT)

A plan to add parks over I-35 in Austin is expected to move forward despite the loss of a $105 million federal grant.

A city spokesperson told KUT News on Friday that "the downtown Austin highway caps approved by City Council will continue to move forward."

The city was set to receive the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant to help pay for parks on decks installed over the highway after the state lowers the main lanes. In a memo sent to the City Council on Wednesday, Carrie Rogers, the city’s intergovernmental relations officer, said the funding had been rescinded after the grant was eliminated under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Austin city leaders had anticipated the loss when the City Council approved the project in May… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Dallas and Fort Worth end their diversity efforts to keep federal funding (Texas Tribune)

Two of Texas’ largest cities ended their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts this week to preserve hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.

The Dallas and Fort Worth city councils said the shift was needed to align with the Trump administration, which has made ending such initiatives a top priority. The votes follow similar decisions by state agencies, universities and school districts across the state and country.

Other Texas cities, including Houston, San Antonio and Austin have yet to take similar action.

Dallas City Manager Kimberly Tolbert on Wednesday said she has directed all city departments to stop using policies and programs considering race, gender, ethnicity, religion or national origin while allocating funds or benefits... 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Republican Party of Texas sets stage to censure members who stepped out of line in likely bid to block them from primary ballot (Texas Tribune)

The executive committee of the Republican Party of Texas was in Austin on Saturday to finalize its first-ever legislative review, outlining a list of censurable offenses that some within the Texas GOP want to use to block certain House Republicans from the 2026 primary ballot.

Those Republicans, made up of delegates chosen by county parties, want to use the list to hold their elected officials to the state party’s priorities. But others see it as an illegal effort to deny officials from the primary ballot if they don’t follow the most fervent conservative activists’ aims 100% of the time.

Texas GOP Chair Abraham George told The Blast that he and House Speaker Dustin Burrows, who spoke to members of the SREC at a separate meeting with Gov. Greg Abbott earlier Saturday morning, have not discussed the party’s censure effort, a new “accountability” mechanism the state party approved at its 2024 convention. Still, Burrows likely knew the SREC members would be approving a hit list that could be used to keep “RINOs” from the ballot… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ NYSE, Nasdaq place big bets on ‘Y’all Street’, but TXSE has an ace up its sleeve (Dallas Morning News)

When the Texas Stock Exchange filed for approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year, observers finally got to see what the fledgling exchange brings to the table ? thanks to its Form 1 revealing listing standards, operating structure and other technical details. Or so they thought.

For CEO and founder Jim Lee’s fledgling exchange — TXSE for those in the know — to stake its claim to Y’all Street, it’ll need any edge it can get. Power players like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America are making big bets on Texas, and the capital markets duopoly of the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq have followed suit. The Big Board already has listed a handful of Texas-based companies — including AT&T, which recently announced a dual listing — on NYSE-Texas. The exchange made an additional splash Monday, simultaneously announcing its new Dallas headquarters and naming a former Texas state official official to run it.

Meanwhile, it’s hard to escape the feeling that TXSE is falling behind even before it starts the race. It has yet to get official regulatory approval, and it hasn’t even publicly announced where its trading operation will be. But Lee is confident in the hand his exchange has been dealt, and he hints it may even have an ace up its sleeve.

“Candidly, the tactical approach is to make your initial filing in line with the confines of what’s been approved over and over again. And so what’s novel comes later,” Lee told The Dallas Morning News in an interview.

“But it is already in the pipeline.” The exchange filed for SEC approval on Jan. 31, and had its Form 1 published in April. Barring the unforeseen, it expects approval in the third quarter of 2025 ahead of its debut as a trading venue early next year.

While TXSE has become one of the buzziest business stories in the country, a common reaction has been, “Why does Texas need its own stock exchange?” But the better question may be, “Why does the market need the Texas Stock Exchange?” — especially since relentless, decades-long exchange consolidation has consigned most regional trading markets to the dustbin of financial history. However, Lee is quick to emphasize that TXSE is a national exchange designed to address national problems. The number of U.S. public companies has fallen by about 40% since 1997, a “raw collapse” according to Lee. It’s a problem much of the rest of the world doesn’t have, he says, pointing to problems within U.S. capital markets… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump executive order gives politicians control over all federal grants, alarming researchers (Associated Press)

An executive order signed by President Donald Trump late Thursday aims to give political appointees power over the billions of dollars in grants awarded by federal agencies. Scientists say it threatens to undermine the process that has helped make the U.S. the world leader in research and development.

The order requires all federal agencies, including FEMA, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, to appoint officials responsible for reviewing federal funding opportunities and grants, so that they “are consistent with agency priorities and the national interest.” It also requires agencies to make it so that current and future federal grants can be terminated at any time — including during the grant period itself. Agencies cannot announce new funding opportunities until the new protocols are in place, according to the order.

The Trump administration said these changes are part of an effort to “strengthen oversight” and “streamline agency grantmaking.” Scientists say the order will cripple America’s scientific engine by placing control over federal research funds in the hands of people who are influenced by politics and lack relevant expertise. “This is taking political control of a once politically neutral mechanism for funding science in the U.S.,” said Joseph Bak-Coleman, a scientist studying group decision-making at the University of Washington. The changes will delay grant review and approval, slowing “progress for cures and treatments that patients and families across the country urgently need,” said the Association of American Medical Colleges in a statement.

The administration has already terminated thousands of research grants at agencies like the NSF and NIH, including on topics like transgender health, vaccine hesitancy, misinformation and diversity, equity and inclusion. The order could affect emergency relief grants doled out by FEMA, public safety initiatives funded by the Department of Justice and public health efforts supported by the Centers for Disease Control. Experts say the order is likely to be challenged in court… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump weighs reclassifying marijuana as less dangerous drug (Wall Street Journal)

President Trump is considering reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, according to people familiar with the matter, after pot companies have poured millions of dollars into Trump’s political groups. At a $1 million-a-plate fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club earlier this month, Trump told attendees that he was interested in change, the people, who declined to be named, said. Such a shift, which the Biden administration started pursuing but didn’t enact before leaving office, would make it much easier to buy and sell pot and make the multibillion-dollar industry more profitable.

The guests at Trump’s fundraiser included Kim Rivers, the chief executive of one of the largest marijuana companies, Trulieve, who encouraged Trump to pursue the change and expand medical marijuana research, according to people present at the event. Trump listened and said he was interested, according to three people in the room. He flagged it to staff members there, the people said.

Among the other guests: Pfizer’s CEO, cryptocurrency executives and political advisers close to Trump. The group also discussed New York politics, attendees said, and requests from other donors. The fundraiser conversation was part of a campaign by cannabis companies to persuade Trump to pick up where the Biden team left off and reclassify the drug. The companies have contributed millions to the president’s political groups and hired some of the Washington’s top lobbyists and advisers to Trump. The companies went to Trump directly after failing to gain traction across other agencies in the government.

The push centers on whether marijuana should be reclassified as a Schedule III drug, which wouldn’t make the drug entirely legal but would ease restrictions on it. It would also allow for tax breaks for some marijuana companies and additional medical research. Trump is an unlikely champion of the marijuana industry.

Last year, Trump said he would vote for marijuana legalization in Florida, an effort that narrowly failed to secure the 60% it needed to pass. Trump announced his position in September, after meeting with Trulieve and lobbyist Brian Ballard, according to people familiar with the matter. Trulieve wrote a large check to Trump, two of the people said… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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