🟪 The Austin City Council meets today at 10AM. Agenda and Livestream link below

🟪 Austin council to vote on efficiency overhaul amid budget crisis, union concerns (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Austin City Council considering creating rubric to evaluate funding for social service contracts amid budget shortfalls (KXAN)

🟪 Central Texas cities balance data center proposals (Austin Chronicle)

🟪 St. Edward's University President Montserrat Fuentes resigns (KUT)

🟪 Legal questions stall Hays County moratorium on water-heavy projects (Community Impact)

🟪 Austin wastewater plant expansion costs to increase $600M (Community Impact)

READ ON!

Meetings:

Memos:

✅ Austin council to vote on efficiency overhaul amid budget crisis, union concerns (Austin American-Statesman)

The Austin City Council is expected Thursday to vote on an amended ordinance creating a citywide efficiency review program, an initiative Mayor Kirk Watson launched weeks after Austin voters overwhelmingly rejected a major city property tax hike in November.

Watson and several council members said the failure of the measure, known as Proposition Q, reflected deep skepticism among residents about how the city spends taxpayer dollars and underscored the need to demonstrate fiscal discipline. The ordinance now under consideration would establish a “comprehensive efficiency assessment program” to examine city operations and identify potential savings with the help of an outside consultant.

“If the economy goes south, if other pressures force us to make difficult decisions, [those] decisions will be less severe having done this work and identifying efficiencies, cost savings, creating resources or freeing up resources that are being spent,” Council Member Marc Duchen, who proposed the citywide efficiency study, said… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin City Council considering creating rubric to evaluate funding for social service contracts amid budget shortfalls (KXAN)

Austin City Council will vote on creating a scoring tool that could guide how the city decides funding cuts to social service contracts, as the city said they are projected to face budget shortfalls.

The move comes as the city faces pressure to make major reductions in the upcoming fiscal year 2027 budget, which anticipates $16.8 million in cuts to its social services contract portfolio. Already in the current FY26 budget, the city said they will reduce or reallocate more than $5 million from those same contracts.’City leaders say the need for cuts stems from voters’ overwhelming rejection of Proposition Q in the last November’s election, which would have delivered $109 million in additional property tax revenue built into July 2025’s proposed budget.

At the Feb. 18 Public Health Committee, city staff introduced a three-tier framework for evaluating social services contract… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Central Texas cities balance data center proposals (Austin Chronicle)

Cheers and sobs filled San Marcos City Hall early Wednesday as City Council voted 5-2 to deny a proposal for a nearly 200-acre data center campus on Francis Harris Lane.

The project was pitched as a roughly $1.5 billion complex with five buildings, each designed for about 76 megawatts near the Hays Energy Power Station and local farms – partially inside city limits at 904 Francis Harris Ln.

Council was not voting on a construction permit. The question was whether to approve the land use changes that would allow a project like this to move forward, including annexation and rezoning tied to the site request.

San Marcos, for now, drew a line… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ St. Edward's University President Montserrat Fuentes resigns (KUT)

Montserrat Fuentes, the president of St. Edward's University, said she will step down from the role on July 1.

In a statement to the St. Edward's community Tuesday, Fuentes said she made the decision after "deep reflection, prayer and heartfelt gratitude."

"The time has come for me to celebrate all that we have accomplished together and to prepare to pass the baton to the next leader who will build upon this remarkable moment in our history," she said. "This has never been the work of one individual. It has been the work of a dedicated community united by mission, courage, and shared purpose."

Fuentes has been in the role for five years and succeeded longtime President George Martin, who led the university for more than 20 years. After her July departure, she said she would "pursue new opportunities."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Legal questions stall Hays County moratorium on water-heavy projects (Community Impact)

The Hays County Commissioners Court did not take action on three agenda items related to emergency drought response, conservation and a development moratorium during a Feb. 24 meeting. The items would have addressed concerns surrounding water availability in the region and potential developments that use large amounts of water.

The commissioners’ agenda featured three water-related items aimed at addressing extreme drought conditions across the state. The conditions were outlined in a renewed drought disaster proclamation issued by Gov. Greg Abbott on Feb. 16.

A moratorium on the issuance of new permits to developments that would utilize an immense amount of water was considered by the court at the meeting. Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra tabled the item following community testimony and court discussion.

“I don't believe this is something that the county will be able to legally do going forward,” said Chase Young, Hays County assistant criminal district attorney, during the meeting. “I think we would be exposing ourselves to significant legal liability.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin wastewater plant expansion costs to increase $600M (Community Impact)

City officials will soon consider a $600 million or 66% increase to expected construction costs for the expansion of the Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Austin Water officials have described the initiative as a "generational" investment in an aging facility responsible for much of the city's wastewater needs.

The Walnut Creek plant first opened in the late 1970s with the ability to process 18 million gallons daily, or MGD, and it's grown over the years to its current 75 MGD capacity. Actual treatment levels are closer to 60 MGD today but expected to near that 75 MGD limit in just a few years due to population growth, requiring the expansion initiative increasing capacity to 100 MGD by 2032.

Multiple contracts totaling more than $1 billion, both for the expansion and related modernization and facility improvements, were approved in 2024. Austin Water has anticipated securing federal and state loans for a large share of the project cost, and using local revenue bonds supported by rising utility charges… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ GOP primary for South Texas congressional seat hinges on who can beat the Democrats (Texas Tribune)

Four years ago, Mayra Flores was riding high after a special election upset that made her the face of Republican efforts to win over more Hispanic voters under President Donald Trump.

“We are all really proud of Mayra,” Trump posted on social media after Flores flipped the 34th Congressional District. “Great things to come!!!”

Two election losses later, Flores finds herself in a less advantageous position. Trump and other powerful Republicans are backing her main primary rival, former federal prosecutor Eric Flores, as she makes a third conservative bid to reclaim the seat she briefly held in South Texas.

“You cannot do something for a third time and expect a different result,” Eric Flores said in an interview. “You have a candidate who significantly lacks substance.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Redistricting pits Democratic colleagues and allies against each other in Texas (KXAN)

The new Texas congressional map that kicked off a nationwide redistricting fight last year was designed to boost Republicans in the midterm elections. First, in the primaries, the map is pitting the newest Democrat in Congress against one of his longest-serving colleagues in a primary.

Rep. Christian Menefee took office this month after he won a late January special election to fill the Houston-based seat of Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died last year. But because of the new congressional maps, Menefee is running for a full term in a district composed of a mostly new group of voters. Meanwhile, Rep. Al Green is running in the same district after the Legislature redrew his longtime seat to lean more Republican.

It's not the only awkward primary matchup forged in part by redistricting. Democratic former Rep. Colin Allred, who endorsed current Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson to succeed him in a Dallas-based district in 2024, is now challenging Johnson after a redistricting shuffle that led two other Democrats from the metro area to leave their seats and Allred to leave the Senate race to seek election to the House once again… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Live fact-checking Trump's 2026 State of the Union address (PBS News)

President Donald Trump delivered the first State of the Union address of his second term on Tuesday, where he touted his accomplishments and laid out a vision for the next year.

Even before his speech, Trump claimed he has already delivered on all of his campaign promises. An analysis from PolitiFact found that, while 19% of those pledges have been fulfilled, many more remain stalled or even broken.

During the president's speech, our partners at PolitiFact provided live fact-checking in the chat below… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Tariffs cost American shoppers. They're unlikely to get that money back (NPR)

American businesses and shoppers paid the vast majority of the billions of dollars collected for the emergency tariffs that the Supreme Court recently ruled illegal. Companies are now pushing to get their money back. But can shoppers expect their own refund?

Probably not, according to Robert Shapiro, an international trade lawyer and partner at the law firm Thompson Coburn.

"And if you do, it'll be pennies on the dollar," Shapiro said.

The roughly $180 billion collected under the struck-down tariffs, according to an estimate by Goldman Sachs, was typically paid for directly by businesses, and indirectly by consumers through higher prices. Because those companies often paid the actual customs bill, any refund from the federal government would go to them.

Shoppers will have to wait for companies to get their refunds before any potential reimbursements might trickle down to them. And that could take a while. President Trump suggested the question of whether the government has to refund those tariffs could be tied up in lawsuits… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Anthropic ditches its core safety promise in the middle of an AI red line fight with the Pentagon (CNN)

Anthropic, a company founded by OpenAI exiles worried about the dangers of AI, is loosening its core safety principle in response to competition.

Instead of self-imposed guardrails constraining its development of AI models, Anthropic is adopting a nonbinding safety framework that it says can and will change.

In a blog post Tuesday outlining its new policy, Anthropic said shortcomings in its two-year-old Responsible Scaling Policy could hinder its ability to compete in a rapidly growing AI market.

The announcement is surprising, because Anthropic has described itself as the AI company with a “soul.” It also comes the same week that Anthropic is fighting a significant battle with the Pentagon over AI red lines… 🟪 (READ MORE)