BG Reads // July 24, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
July 24, 2025

Presented By

www.binghamgp.com

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Austin City Council Budget Work Session - Today at 10AM (ATXN1) // Agenda

🟪 Austin City Council continues to work through proposed budget with $33M deficit (KXAN)

🟪 Council members hear update on the state of autonomous vehicle regulation (Austin Monitor)

🟪 Beto O’Rourke urges fellow Democrats to ‘ruthlessly’ focus on winning power (Dallas Morning News)

🟪 Frustrated by NIMBYs, states are trying to force cities to build affordable housing (NPR)

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ Memos:

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Austin City Council continues to work through proposed budget with $33M deficit (KXAN)

The city is continuing to work through its $6.3 billion budget proposal. $1.5 billion of that is from the general fund, which is where most of the city's tax revenue goes. The majority of it is for public safety.

There's a projected $33 million deficit because of less revenue.

To fix that, the city is proposing moving $14 million from the budget stabilization reserve fund, plus cutting $19 million from these areas: less funding for animal services emergency surgeries, a reduction in EMS medical software, less funding for fire inspection services and a reduction in small tools and travel training.

$9 million would be cut from police overtime by restructuring patrol officers. $500,000 would be saved by moving the Blue Santa warehouse to a city building.

For a full breakdown, click here… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Council members hear update on the state of autonomous vehicle regulation (Austin Monitor)

As a raft of autonomous vehicle companies prepares to deploy new “robotaxis” slated to eventually compete with the likes of Waymo and Tesla, city council’s Mobility Commission heard an update during a meeting on July 17 on how the legal ground under the tires has changed.

The big news comes from Senate Bill 2807, which passed this past legislative session and was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in June. The bill establishes a more developed framework for how the state will go about regulating the vehicles, which have generally been able to operate in a kind of legal grey area, due in part to their technical novelty.

“Quite a lot has changed in the past few months, and I think we’re just starting to see the industry really emerge,” said Lewis Leff, an assistant director with the Transportation and Public Works department.

One thing that won’t be emerging is any local-level laws on Autonomous Vehicles, thanks to the Texas Legislature. Back in 2017, the legislature passed another bill, SB 2205, which delegated authority over the burgeoning industry to the state and preempted any local governments from attempting to legislate around it… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Williamson County approves ChatGPT service agreement for employee use (Community Impact)

On July 15, Williamson County commissioners approved a $70,560 service agreement for 150 ChatGPT enterprise licenses in an effort to support county operations. 

ChatGPT is a service provided by OpenAI that allows users to ask questions and interact with the company’s large language models—or artificial intelligence systems capable of understanding the human language, according to IBM.

During the Commissioners Court meeting, Richard Semple, Williamson County chief information officer, said county employees could already be using ChatGPT. Semple said county guidelines currently in place state staff should not use AI to make decisions but instead to improve processes.

“The fact is, the genie is out of the bottle on AI,” Semple said. “People are using it a lot of times without even knowing it, and so we want to give county folks a safe path who need these tools to be productive.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Hutto approves incentives for Sprouts Famers Market (Austin Business Journal)

One of the country's fastest-growing cities has approved incentives to help lure a much-needed grocery store to its north side — even as some people contend it isn't the one most were hoping for.

Representatives of Austin-based Endeavor Real Estate Group on July 17 won approval from the Hutto City Council on a 5-2 vote for up to $1.5 million in incentives to help bring in Phoenix-based specialty grocery chain Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. The 23,000-square-foot store would serve as the anchor of a 14-acre development at the northeast corner of State Highway 130 and U.S. Highway 79.

Hutto, which is about 30 miles northeast of Austin, has been pining for another grocery store to help keep up with its rapid growth. The city recently ranked No. 13 in the country in terms of year-over-year percentage population growth among cities of its size after it swelled 9.4% to 42,661 from July 2023 to July 2024. Hutto has an H-E-B grocery store that is south of U.S. Highway 79… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Tesla poised to expand robotaxi service, Elon Musk says (Austin Business Journal)

Tesla Inc. is poised to substantially expand the robotaxi service that it first launched in Austin on a pilot basis last month, with CEO Elon Musk saying “half the population of the U.S.” likely will have access to it by the end of the year, subject to regulatory approvals.

Musk made the comments during a call with Wall Street analysts and investors July 23, after the Austin-based company reported steep declines in vehicle sales and earnings for its second quarter. As he did after similarly dismal first-quarter results, however, Musk said the focus should be on Tesla's autonomous technologies — such as robotaxis and its planned Optimus robots — as the growth drivers of the company.

In Austin, Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) recently expanded the area of its pilot robotaxi service, with many on social meeting noting that the new shape of the geofence in which it operates resembles a phallic symbol.

Musk quipped about the shape during the post-earnings call. "We've already expanded the (robotaxi) service area — it’s bigger and longer, and it’s going to get even bigger and longer,” he said… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, first Texas DOGE chair, will not seek reelection (Texas Tribune)

State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, the Southlake Republican who championed tech-oriented bills, announced his retirement from the Texas House on Tuesday, the latest in a slew of legislative shakeups ahead of the 2026 elections.

Capriglione, who said in June he would seek reelection for the District 98 seat, reversed that decision in a statement posted on social media and his campaign website. He said he would serve out the remainder of his seventh term but did not indicate what he will pursue after office.

“When I first ran, I had a clear purpose: go down to Austin, work hard, and fight for the principles and values that make Texas strong,” Capriglione said. “And while I’ve given this work everything I have, I also feel in my heart that I’ve accomplished what I set out to do. It’s time for a new chapter.”

Capriglione is the chair of both the Delivery of Government Efficiency Committee that was established earlier in the year. Capriglione’s focus on technology through his time in the Legislature was highlighted by his spot as chair of the state’s Innovation and Technology Caucus; authoring Texas’ Data Privacy and Security Act in 2023; and helping the establishment of a Texas Cyber Command, one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s 2025 emergency priorities, through the DOGE Committee as House Bill 150’s author… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ From the Texas House to US Senate? Talarico hints at possible 2026 run (Houston Chronicle)

Texas state Rep. James Talarico hasn’t yet decided if he will run for the U.S. Senate, but he’s taken a key step to lay the groundwork. Talarico, an Austin Democrat, registered the internet domain name “TalaricoForSenate.com,” which tells visitors it's “Launching Soon.” Talarico, a pastor and former school teacher who has grown a sizeable social media following, said he hasn’t made any decisions yet and is focusing on the Texas Legislature's special session, which began Monday. Still, Talarico is facing growing pressure to join a potential Democratic primary field that already includes retired Houston astronaut Terry Virts and former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas.

On Friday, Austin-based podcaster Joe Rogan had Talarico on his program, "The Joe Rogan Experience," to talk about how the lawmaker infuses his religious background into his politics and how he became a Democrat. Rogan went so far as to encourage Talarico to run for higher office, and soon. “James Talarico, you need to run for President,” Rogan said. “We need someone who is actually a good person.” Talarico, 36, told Rogan he does not view politics as a battle between right and left, but rather “much more as top versus bottom.”

"I just see how we are all pitted against one another," he said. Talarico has been gauging his statewide appeal by traveling across Texas to share a similar message. Last month, he joined former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, for a rally in San Antonio. The trio is scheduled to hold another event Friday in Austin.

Talarico, in speeches, says the Republican Party of today is trying to turn people against one another to distract the electorate. “They want us to be afraid of immigrant moms and gay kids so we don’t notice they are abolishing the Department of Education, eliminating our health care and cutting taxes for themselves and their wealthy friends,” he said at the rally. Democrats are eyeing the seat held by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican who has served since 2002. Cornyn appears politically vulnerable in recent GOP primary polling, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed to challenge him… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Beto O’Rourke urges fellow Democrats to ‘ruthlessly’ focus on winning power (Dallas Morning News)

Former El Paso congressman Beto O’Rourke says California and other blue states should not sit idly waiting for Republicans to enact mid-decade redistricting plans in Texas and elsewhere ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Democrats should go on offense and redraw congressional boundaries in the states they control now to secure additional seats for their side, O’Rourke said. He accused Republicans of caring about power above anything else, including doing the right thing or protecting the Constitution. “Democrats care more about being right than they care about being in power and we have to change that,” O’Rourke said. “We have to be ruthlessly focused on winning power.”

O’Rourke delivered his call for Democrats to get tough and fight fire with fire during a Tuesday discussion at the left-leaning Center for American Progress in Washington D.C. The event, featuring Norm Eisen and moderator Neera Tanden, was titled “An Urgent Warning from Texas: A Conversation on Defending Democracy and Fighting Authoritarianism in the States.”

O’Rourke made national headlines during his high-profile 2018 challenge to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. He fell 2.6 percentage points short in that race but used it as a launch pad for an unsuccessful bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and a 2022 campaign for governor, which he lost to Gov. Greg Abbott. O’Rourke is weighing a 2026 campaign for the seat currently held by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is seeking a fifth six-year term… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Frustrated by NIMBYs, states are trying to force cities to build affordable housing (NPR)

Utah's home prices started rising even before the pandemic, then spiked amid a crush of remote work newcomers. The state's median home price has skyrocketed to $506,000, putting it out of reach for 87% of renters. That makes it one of the least affordable housing markets in a country where a record share of people struggle with the high cost of renting and buying.

"This is no longer a problem of the lower class. This is a problem of the middle class and the upper-middle class," says Steve Waldrip, who advises Utah's governor on housing. "We're stopping young people from creating wealth."

Historically, homeownership built the U.S. middle class, he says. Federal policies that denied that to Black people for generations led to dire economic consequences – and now he worries an entire generation of Americans could be shut out.

"The median first-time homebuyer age in the United States last year was 38 — that's a shocking statistic," Waldrip says. "We've just killed 10 years of wealth creation there, and that will have impacts generationally."

And that median age of 38 is an all-time high, up from 31 a decade before.

A key problem pushing up prices is a massive housing shortage. In large parts of many cities, restrictive zoning rules allow only single-family homes. And while some places have updated their zoning to allow duplexes and apartments, trying to change the rules is often controversial, time-consuming and costly. Frustrated by this, a growing number of states — both red and blue — have started pushing local governments to build more places people can afford, and passing laws that make that easier… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Johnson cuts short House business to avoid vote on releasing Epstein files (New York Times)

Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Tuesday that he was cutting short the week’s legislative business and sending the House home early for the summer on Wednesday to avoid having to hold votes on releasing files related to the accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Mr. Johnson’s move will, for now, deny Democrats the chance to force procedural votes that would call on the Justice Department to make the information public. It reflected how deep divisions among Republicans on the matter have paralyzed the House, where G.O.P. lawmakers are trying to avoid another politically perilous vote on an issue that is confounding President Trump and roiling the MAGA base.

“We’re done being lectured on transparency,” Mr. Johnson said at a news conference, where the typically unflappable speaker appeared frustrated.

As he wrapped up his final news conference before a summer recess that was to have begun on Friday and lasted until September, Mr. Johnson complained about “endless efforts to politicize the Epstein investigation.” He insisted that Republicans “have been intellectually consistent the entire time,” and added that “we’re not going to play political games with this.” Mr. Johnson’s decision to shut down the House early was the latest example of how the speaker has in many ways ceded the chamber’s independence in order to please or avoid angering Mr. Trump.

He has deferred to the president on matters large and small, including when it comes to Congress’s spending power. He quietly maneuvered this year to yield the House’s ability to weigh in on Mr. Trump’s tariffs, in order to spare Republicans from having to cast politically tricky votes on whether to end them. In the case of the Epstein files, House Republicans are once again surrendering their institutional autonomy to appease a vengeful president.

Afraid to cross Mr. Trump, but equally fearful of right-wing supporters who are demanding the release of the material, they chose to simply pack up and go home. In doing so, they also undermined their own agenda, punting what were to have been their last substantive votes before the summer break… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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