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August 12, 2025

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Austin airport reports boost in traffic for first time this year (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 As AVs face few obstacles in Austin, council members consider regulations (Austin Chronicle)

🟪 Doggett pressures Casar to avoid a messy Democratic primary fight in Texas (Politico)

🟪 Abbott: Texas can ‘eliminate’ 10 Democratic districts in response to California (The Hill)

🟪  How the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ could bolster Texas’ workforce goals, reshape higher ed (Dallas Morning News)

🟪  State utility commission sues Texas attorney general to avoid releasing data on crypto companies’ power use (Texas Tribune)

[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]

✅ Austin airport reports boost in traffic for first time this year (Austin Business Journal)

The Austin airport saw a slight boost in passenger traffic in June as summer travel helped the airport mark its first month of year-over-year growth in 2025.

Over 2.01 million passengers flew through Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in June, up by about 1,200 people from the year prior, according to new data released Aug. 11. It marks a slight gain for the airport following passenger declines for every other month in 2025 amid a challenging economy.

For example, ABIA’s May passenger total — about 1.93 million — was 6.4% lower compared to May 2024.

In total, 10.3 million passengers have flown through ABIA in the first half of 2025. That's down about 4.5% compared to the same period last year.

The boost of travelers in June was powered by domestic flyers, as there was a 0.1% increase in domestic passengers and a 0.7% decline in international passengers.

International passenger levels are still about 4.7% lower for the first half of 2025 compared to 2024, compared to a 10% decline in the first three months of 2025 on declining consumer sentiment… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ As AVs face few obstacles in Austin, council members consider regulations (Austin Chronicle)

Amid a slew of autonomous vehicles descending into Austin, the city government still has no role in regulating or permitting their inevitable arrival. The future of AVs is largely left to the hands of state politicians. But the Mobility Committee (made up of five out of 10 City Council members) heard an update last month outlining how local permitting systems can operate and prepare for vehicle companies to expand, mostly in competition with Waymo and Tesla. Senate Bill 2807, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in June, was the biggest point of discussion on the docket. It throws a wrench in how quickly AV companies can expand the number of deployed vehicles through requiring approval by the Department of Motor Vehicles. The bill, which will take effect in September, also requires a first responder safety plan, outlining how firefighters, police officers, and emergency workers will instill a standardized response procedure to AV wrecks and incidents.

“We’re starting to see the industry emerge, and they are very interested in Austin,” said Lewis Leff, a director with the Transportation and Public Works Department, at the meeting. “We are seeing rapid growth.” Rachel Castignoli, a senior consultant with the Smart Mobility Office, still believes that local organizations can have an impact on AV city policy, and SB 2807 is an example of that.

SB 2807 was championed and advocated for by Castignoli alongside many of Austin’s first responders, establishing a permitting system for all vehicle companies looking to deploy or test self-driving cars in Texas. Before going through the three mandated stages required for all self-driving cars – mapping, testing, and eventually deploying – AV companies will have to submit an application to be approved through the DMV and the Department of Licensing and Regulation.

The DMV will then have the power to suspend, revoke, or cancel permits. Some AVs, such as Tesla, are doing two steps at once, by testing nearly 100 vehicles while deploying a dozen. “Our expectation is that AVs can operate in the right of way without any data from the city of Austin,” Castignoli said. Castignoli detailed the city’s expectation list: that vehicles must be able to recognize lights and sirens, school zone signs, stop signs, and an emergency scene without mapping aid from the city. Although, despite that expectation, the city will still share critical information with companies to support citizen safety… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Doggett pressures Casar to avoid a messy Democratic primary fight in Texas (Politico)

Doggett, 78, was first elected to Congress in 1994. He serves as the ranking member on the House Ways and Means’ Health subcommittee. Casar is more than 40 years his junior.

Casar has been an Austin elected official for a decade and spent seven years in the City Council before his election to Congress in 2022.

“I love you Austin Texas,” he posted on X in response to the email Monday.

But Casar, Doggett claimed, is better served running in Texas’ newly redistricted 35th congressional district, which Republicans turned into a Trump +10 seat with a Hispanic majority in their new map. Doggett called the seat “probably the most winnable Trump-created new district.”… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Abbott: Texas can ‘eliminate’ 10 Democratic districts in response to California (The Hill)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) warned that Texas could get rid of as many as 10 Democratic districts if California moves ahead with its plan to redraw its House map and neutralize the expected GOP gains in the Lone Star State.

“Listen, all those big blue states, they’ve already gerrymandered,” Abbott told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday, when asked if he was concerned about a redistricting arms race as Texas moves forward to create new congressional lines.

“Look at the map of Illinois. Look at the map of California, New York and Massachusetts, and so many other blue states they gerrymandered a long time ago. They got nothing left with regard to what they can do,” Abbott said. “And know this: If California tries to gerrymander, find more districts, listen, Texas has the ability to eliminate 10 Democrats in our state.”

Abbott’s remarks underscore how Republicans plan to be as aggressive as possible in trying to knock off as many Democratic seats as they can. Right now, the state has 25 House Republicans and 12 Democrats, in addition to one vacancy waiting to be filled after the late Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Texas) died in March.

So far, the Texas Republicans are looking to make five pickup opportunities for the party next year with their redrawn map… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ How the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ could bolster Texas’ workforce goals, reshape higher ed (Dallas Morning News)

As national Republican leaders scrutinize the value of college degrees, the Trump administration is ramping up investments in job training — a move Texas education advocates say mirrors state efforts in recent years to prioritize workforce needs over traditional higher education. President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” expands Pell Grants — which help millions of low-income students pay for college — to include workforce training programs. The legislation signed into law last month also slashes the amount of money students and parents can borrow from the federal government to pay for higher education.

That means medical school or law school may soon be out of reach for more Texas students, education leaders say, while others could enter the workforce faster. Republican leaders argue the legislation will increase the accountability of colleges, rein in student debt and drive down the climbing costs of higher education.

Texas lawmakers have also focused on expanding workforce readiness, arguing colleges have eschewed their responsibility to help students land high-paying jobs after graduation. In recent legislative sessions, lawmakers approved policies that tied community college funding to student outcomes and increased state oversight of public universities.

The debate at hand, in both state and federal legislation, is what the mission of higher education is — to help students acquire knowledge or to prepare them for employment — and whether lawmakers or academics should be the ones to guide that trajectory. As the number of job openings in the state climbs, the new federal law could bolster state leaders’ goal to more efficiently prepare Texans to meet workforce demand. It could also push students to rethink their career choices as they question how to afford higher education.

“The pendulum is starting to swing,” said Christina Etri, director of institutional improvement at ScholarShot, a Dallas-based nonprofit organization that supports students getting to and through college. “We’re starting to see the implications of pushing college only for the last few years. Now we’re trying to backpedal a little bit on that to fill these other workforce needs.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ State utility commission sues Texas attorney general to avoid releasing data on crypto companies’ power use (Texas Tribune)

The Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Texas wants to block the release of data on cryptocurrency mining, due to concerns that public disclosure could lead to acts of terrorism. In a June lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the utility commission disputed a ruling from Paxton’s office that would have released some cryptocurrency mining information to reporters at several media outlets, including Straight Arrow News and The Texas Tribune.

Texas is a hub of cryptocurrency mining — that much is clear. What is unclear: the exact scale of cryptocurrency operations and their impact on the electric grid, largely due to a lack of comprehensive data. In June 2024, a senior vice president of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas told lawmakers that cryptocurrency mining could draw an estimated 2,600 megawatts of power from the grid, which is about as much electricity demand as the city of Austin on an above-average day. But exact data, which could reveal how many facilities are located in Texas and how they affect grid operations, has never been provided to the public… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump's Washington, D.C., takeover targets a host of groups, many of them vulnerable (NPR)

President Trump said Monday he'll use the National Guard and Metro police to target criminals in Washington, D.C., but criminals aren't his only targets. Trump also called for a purge of poor people and people without housing from the nation's capital. Much of his toughest rhetoric was aimed at young people.

Trump has frequently used harsh language to describe immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status. During a press conference at the White House on Monday, he used similar rhetoric to describe Americans he accused of destroying the nation's capital.

"Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people," Trump said.

Violent crime is at a 30-year low, according to Justice Department data, but Trump says he wants those city residents dealt with harshly. Trump said Metro police will operate more aggressively under federal control for at least the next 30 days. Trump said cops will be allowed to do "whatever the hell they want."

Trump's primary targets are those he describes as criminals — in this case often teenagers, many of them Black. Washington has struggled at times with violence caused by young men who sometimes ride motorcycles and four-wheelers. Trump spoke about them at length Monday. The city's Metro police chief, Pamela Smith, was asked about this issue in a separate Monday press conference… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ US will get a 15% cut of Nvidia and AMD chip sales to China under a new, unusual agreement (Associated Press)

Nvidia and AMD have agreed to share 15% of their revenues from chip sales to China with the U.S. government, as part of a deal to secure export licenses for the semiconductors.

The Trump administration halted the sale of advanced computer chips to China in April over national security concerns, but Nvidia and AMD revealed in July that Washington would allow them to resume sales of the H20 and MI308 chips, which are used in artificial intelligence development.

President Trump confirmed the terms of the unusual arrangement in a Monday press conference while noting that he originally wanted 20% of the sales revenue when Nvidia asked to sell the “obsolete” H20 chip to China. The president credited Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang for negotiating him down to 15%… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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