BG Reads // July 25, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
July 25, 2025

Presented By

www.binghamgp.com

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Council OKs new convention center, as downtown opponents push petitions (Austin Monitor)

🟪 Austin City Council passes resolution to address airport safety concerns (CBS Austin)

🟪 Williamson County ends spaceport development talks with Burnet County (Community Impact)

🟪 FEMA chief rejects criticism, calls Texas floods response 'a model' for dealing with disaster (Associated Press)

🟪 Texas Republicans kick off redistricting hearings without any new maps (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 AOC, Mamdani and progressives rake in cash as Democrats remain divided (Wall Street Journal)

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ Memos:

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Council OKs new convention center, as downtown opponents push petitions (Austin Monitor)

City Council has approved two measures related to Convention Center development. One item advances the multibillion-dollar reconstruction of the downtown Austin Convention Center, while the other enables the construction of a privately financed convention center and resort hotel near the Circuit of the Americas to qualify for state tax rebates.

Council voted to authorize an additional $25 million contract amendment for construction and project management services tied to the downtown center’s ongoing rebuild. The item includes funding for environmental site assessments and other pre-construction services.

Council also approved a land title transfer required under state law for the COTA-area project to be considered a “qualified project” eligible for state hotel occupancy and sales tax rebates.

Opponents of the downtown project raised concerns about its financial model, potential opportunity costs, and the lack of a public vote… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ The Austinite Market to open retail, grocery space at City Hall downtown (Community Impact)

The Austinite Market is set to open a new specialty market at City Hall downtown, filling the Second Street retail space abruptly vacated by Foxtrot last spring.

The Austinite has been in business since 2017 and currently operates three locations around town. After Foxtrot exited its lease with Austin last year amid nationwide closures, the city moved to find a new tenant for its 2,658-square-foot storefront.

The market coming to 301 W. Second St., Ste. 100, will serve food, drinks and household essentials, according to city materials.

"A one-stop shop at City Hall will enhance the downtown experience for Austin citizens and City Hall staff by offering a specialty market that provides an exceptional selection of groceries, prepared foods, coffee, beer and wine," city staff reported… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin City Council passes resolution to address airport safety concerns (CBS Austin)

The Austin City Council has passed a resolution aimed at addressing safety concerns and staffing shortages at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes spearheaded the resolution, which calls for urgent action from the Federal Aviation Administration to address these issues.

"The pilot gets on, they say, we're going to be 30 to 45 minutes delayed," Fuentes said, highlighting the frequent delays passengers face at the airport.

She emphasized the importance of ensuring safety for both passengers and airport employees.

"It's on us to ensure that both our passengers and our airport employees are safe," said Fuentes… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Williamson County ends spaceport development talks with Burnet County (Community Impact)

Williamson County is no longer partnering with Burnet County to create a Central Texas Spaceport Development Corporation and is instead exploring a partnership with the city of Cedar Park, a Williamson County official told Community Impact on July 22.

Cedar Park is home to Firefly Aerospace, the first commercial company to successfully land on the moon. The company’s testing facility is located in Briggs, which is within Burnet County.

“We are very excited to partner with the county and build on the successes of Firefly Aerospace's and other innovative businesses in Cedar Park to keep reaching for the stars," Cedar Park Mayor Jim Penniman-Morin said in a statement to Community Impact… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ FEMA chief rejects criticism, calls Texas floods response 'a model' for dealing with disaster (Associated Press)

The acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is pushing back on criticisms of the federal response to the central Texas floods that killed at least 136 people earlier this month. “I can’t see anything we did wrong,” David Richardson told a House panel of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Wednesday.

He called the relationship between state and federal agencies “a model for how disasters should be handled.” Lawmakers used the hearing about improvements to FEMA disaster response to address reports that FEMA support was impaired by bureaucratic delays that slowed the deployment of urban search and rescue teams and left the agency’s call centers unstaffed, which Richardson denied. The response “brought the maximum amount of capability to bear in Texas at the right time and the right place,” he said.

Richardson’s appearance came after a wave of criticism and fallout over the response, including the resignation Monday of FEMA’s urban search and rescue leader. President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have touted the robust federal support for Texas despite their past support for eliminating FEMA.

The acting administrator denied reports that FEMA urban search-and-rescue teams were delayed over 72 hours because of a new rule imposed by Noem that she must personally approve any contract of $100,000 or more. Richardson said a Texas-based FEMA task force was on the ground on July 4, along with other Homeland Security assets like the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection, and that additional support came within “24 hours” of being requested. Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., pushed back on FEMA’s readiness, asking why more of the 28 FEMA urban search-and-rescue teams located around the country were not on standby ahead of receiving a request from the state of Texas.

“It haunts me that we could have had more urban search and rescue pre-positioned in place,” said Stanton. “That was a choice.” The leader of FEMA’s urban search-and-rescue effort, Ken Pagurek, expressed frustration with the delays to colleagues before resigning Monday, according to CNN. In response to Pagurek’s resignation, a DHS spokesperson told The Associated Press, “It is laughable that a career public employee, who claims to serve the American people, would choose to resign over our refusal to hastily approve a six-figure deployment contract without basic financial oversight.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas Republicans kick off redistricting hearings without any new maps (Austin American-Statesman)

The first hearing on the plan to redraw Texas' congressional boundaries got under way Thursday with no proposed new map for the public to comment on and no compelling reason to scrap the plan enacted just four years earlier, other than the fact that Gov. Greg Abbott ordered it up in the special legislative session. State Rep. Cody Vasut, the Angleton Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on Redistricting, acknowledged that he did not ask for a rare, mid-decade overhaul of the congressional map. But he did tell the panel that it would be "prudent" to take up the matter because the governor sets the agenda for special sessions and that the process will be fair.

"We're going to follow the Voting Rights Act.

We're going to follow the law," Vasut told the committee. Democrats in the GOP-controlled Legislature have been adamant that the redistricting pushed by President Donald Trump and designed to add as many as five new Republican seats in Congress is unnecessary. Rep. Gene Wu of Houston, who leads the House Democratic Caucus, said he found the whole matter puzzling.

Trump has called for Texas Republicans to draw up five more winnable districts ahead of the midterm elections, which could give them control of 30 of the state's 38 congressional districts. The theory is that they would move Republican voters from deep red districts into blue ones to tilt them toward the GOP. Vasut said no map will be filed until after the public hearings in Houston on Saturday and in Arlington on Monday are completed. And, he added, before the panel votes on any map, at least one additional public hearing will be held. Whatever the redistricting process yields during the monthlong session in Austin could have consequence that could reach far beyond the borders of Texas.

Republicans presently hold a slim seven-seat majority in the 435-member House going into the 2026 midterm elections. That means if Democrats pick up just four seats next year, they would take control. Testimony was given by three Democratic members of Congress — Sylvia Garcia of Houston, Joaquin Castro of San Antonio and Greg Casar of Austin. Each of them said mid-decade redistricting would likely harm constituent service… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Dallas risks lawsuit if it doesn’t repeal ordinances that run afoul of ‘Death Star’ law (Dallas Morning News)

The Texas Public Policy Foundation, an influential conservative think tank, notified Dallas on Wednesday it needs to repeal or amend local ordinances not covered by state law — or risk being sued. The notice, written on behalf of three residents, Haley Kyles, Tamara Brown and Daniel Rodriquez, said ordinances that have been preempted by the so-called “Death Star” law have caused them harm. The notice comes days after an appeals court overruled a decision last week that held the 2023 law that which prohibits cities and counties from adopting agricultural, financial, natural resources and labor policies that weren’t covered by state law was unconstitutional. “All Texans deserve the freedom to live and work without being micromanaged by their city government,” said Matthew Chiarizio, a TPPF senior attorney. “The Texas Regulatory Consistency Act was passed to stop exactly this kind of local overreach — and TPPF stands ready to defend Texans’ liberty when cities like Dallas refuse to follow the law.” The city of Dallas declined to comment Wednesday afternoon due to the pending notice of claims.

Dubbed the “Death Star” law, the legislation was widely seen as a successful attempt by the Texas Legislature to limit local powers in major urban areas. During the last legislative session, city officials sent Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, a list of 133 ordinances they say would be on the chopping block. But the city never took action. Instead, the law was stalled by a district court two days before it was set to take effect, after Houston, San Antonio and El Paso sued the state.

Dallas never joined the fight, though it did send a legal brief in support of other cities. In it, the city reiterated its status as a “home-rule” municipality, which gives it the ability to create a charter of rules to govern itself. In their ruling, appeals court judges said the cities had failed to “establish a concrete and particularized injury” if the law were active. “(The cities) allege that the Act is unconstitutional on its face and that they will have to review their charters, repeal preempted regulations, and suffer other such generalized injuries if forced to comply with its terms,” the opinion read, adding that without an actual local regulation that’s impacted by the law, there was no concrete dispute the court needed to resolve.

The 133 ordinances include regulations about minimum wages, water conservation, sexually oriented businesses, equal opportunity employment and anti-discrimination provisions. Ordinances in Dallas and Austin that required construction workers to get water breaks were also preempted by the Death Star bill, leading to outcry that reached the U.S. Capitol… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones' early head-butting with council may dim her political capital, expert says (San Antonio Current)

Gina Ortiz Jones has been in office for less than a month, but she's already drawn the ire of some on City Council. Controversial moves by new Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones — such as unilaterally trying to change the city's Council Consideration Request (CCR) process — could cost her political capital ahead of vital debates such as upcoming talks about how to deal with San Antonio's $170 million budget deficit, one political expert warns. "I think it would have been so much more prudent on her part to take it slow," University of Texas at San Antonio political scientist Jon Taylor said.

"If you want to push these things, great. But I'd argue maybe there's a time and place to do it after a few months. Perhaps it's just a case of inexperience." Last week, Jones — a former Under Secretary of the Air Force for the Biden White House — took steps to make it more difficult for members of City Council to bring policy proposals, called CCRs, up for discussion. Jones took the step without input from her colleagues on the dais, the Express-News reports.

Previously, council members only needed three signatures from colleagues before bringing a CCR to the rest of the body. However, under the new system, council members will need to get five signatures, win approval from both City Manager Erik Walsh and City Attorney Andy Segovia and work with Jones' chief of staff before their proposal can be heard. In response, a bipartisan group of council members including District 10 councilman Marc Whyte, a staunch conservative, progressive District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo and Marina Alderete Gavito of District 7 called on Jones to told a special meeting by Aug. 15 to publicly discuss the changes.

"This is not a right-wing conspiracy," Taylor said of the coalition fighting Jones' move. "This is a mix of council members from the left to the right who are concerned about being treated as colleagues, bering treated civilly, feeling like they at least have a voice." Indeed, Castillo endorsed Jones during her mayoral campaign. However, the councilwoman's former communications director, Amador Salazar, in a Thursday Facebook post decried Jones' rule change as "antidemocratic" for the power it gives city staffers Walsh and Segovia. "City Staff is unelected — if they are public servants, they must carry out the vision of the people's representatives, the people they elected," Salazar wrote.

This week, Jones appeared to add insult to injury by handing down a list of etiquette edicts, including referring to her as "Mayor Jones," even when she isn't present, the Express-News reports. Other new rules at City Hall include requiring council members to remain seated until Jones formally concludes a meeting, limiting side conversations with colleagues and aides while on the dais and handing over cell phones before entering executive session… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ AOC, Mamdani and progressives rake in cash as Democrats remain divided (Wall Street Journal)

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat who is the longest-serving woman in congressional history, has raised $678,667 so far this year in her bid to keep her competitive northwestern Ohio district in her party’s hands in next year’s midterm elections. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) has raised almost 23 times as much for her campaign committee.

The $15.4 million she has collected makes her the biggest House fundraiser this year, nearly doubling the total of the chamber’s most powerful member, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.). The contrast between the two women highlights how Democratic small-dollar donors, an increasingly important group as more fundraising moves online, often are biased in their support of ideological favorites rather than focusing on just those in competitive races.

Among the 10 incumbent Democrats who raised the most from individual donors this year, six are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a Wall Street Journal analysis of campaign finance disclosures shows. Three of the top four are progressives, with the exception being House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.). The financial strength among progressives presents a challenge to party leaders trying to nudge the Democratic message closer to the middle, where they might stand a better chance of winning over independent voters who decide close elections. Donations from individuals—as opposed to those from political-action committees—made up 99% of Ocasio-Cortez’s fundraising this year.

That is the highest proportion of any House incumbent running in 2026. Ocasio-Cortez, a heroine to the party’s progressive base, is expected to face an easy re-election in a district where she won 69% of the 2024 vote. Kaptur, a populist with working-class roots, is competing in a Toledo-area district she won by less than 1 percentage point in 2024 and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates as a “toss-up.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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