🟪 Austin leaders advance $5.2M contract for multiyear, citywide audit program (Community Impact)

🟪 Breaking down APD's $25 million proposed budget increase (CBS Austin)

🟪 Austin ISD votes to close Paredes Middle School weeks before start of 2026-27 school year (KVUE)

🟪 Texas dominates migration across generations, but Austin lags behind Dallas with Gen Z (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Samsung to break ground on second Taylor fab before the end of this year (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 With future of U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade in limbo, Texas businesses navigate choppy waters (Houston Public Radio)

🟪 Big new power lines could prevent blackouts in Texas, but landowner opposition is fierce (KUT)

🟪 Why Republicans aren’t funding the Texas Senate race yet (New York Times)

READ ON!

🏛️ COUNCIL MEETINGS:

💰 Review the Fiscal Year 2026-27 budget documents here

🏛️ MEMO: Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Budget Adoption Timeline

🏛️ MEMO: Austin Staff Recommends $5.35 Million Reduction to Social Service Grants for FY27

🎙️ The BG Podcast is back! Episode 269 features my conversation with former San Antonio Mayor and HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros about the Austin–San Antonio mega region.

The discussion comes as the new Central Texas Alliance seeks to build consensus across 13 counties along and around the I-35 corridor.

Listen on:

🟪 BG Blog: Texas State or Austin Municipal Lobbyist? How to Hire the Right Firm

✅ Austin leaders advance $5.2M contract for multiyear, citywide audit program (Community Impact)

Austin will pay more than $5 million for a multiyear independent audit of all city departments, advancing the recurring citywide assessment program created by City Council this year.

What you need to know

The ongoing audit review will cover Austin's government, the programs and services it supports, and its third-party contracting. It'll include comparisons to peer cities, produce regular public reporting, and result in recommended improvements for city officials and department leaders.

The concept of a citywide audit was raised in the aftermath of last November's failed tax election. At that time, Mayor Kirk Watson said the result showed a need to restore trust in City Hall's approach with finances and public services. Council members then began considering the program alongside new spending policies for their offices... 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Breaking down APD's $25 million proposed budget increase (CBS Austin)

A breakdown of APD's $25 million increase reveals that a majority of the money will be allocated to wage increases, per a 2024 meet and confer agreement between the City of Austin and APD.

$9.9 million will go to citywide allocations, representing APD's budget for the shared city services they utilize, such as administrative costs, IT expenses, and fleet maintenance.

The third largest item is $1.3 million that will go to retirement stipends.

In terms of new resources, District 4 councilmember José "Chito" Vela confirmed with Kerri Lang from Austin's department of Budget and Organizational Excellence:

"Things that the police department did not have before that they now have: if I remember correctly, I think there was one additional position for recruitment.?" asked Vela.

"Yes, one civilian position for recruitment," confirmed Lang… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin ISD votes to close Paredes Middle School weeks before start of 2026-27 school year (KVUE)

The Austin ISD Board of Trustees voted on Thursday to close Paredes Middle School, just weeks before the 2026-27 school year is set to begin.

Thursday's vote came after the district first announced a proposal to close the campus on July 22. In its proposal, the district cited continued academic struggles with the South Austin school, and came in spite of investments the district said it made to improve academic success at the school.

The board agreed to the proposal, voting 7-2 in favor.

District leaders said the proposal came as a result of years of struggling student performance, with Paredes receiving its third consecutive "F" rating from the state despite additional resources and support. They also said they believe consolidating students into other campuses would expand access to academic programs, extracurricular activities and student services.

The closure is now set to happen just weeks before classes begin on Aug. 18. Under the plan, current Paredes students will move to either Bailey Middle School or Mendez Middle School, depending on their home address. Leaders also said that transportation would be provided for eligible students, and transfer requests would be prioritized to help families navigate the change… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin airport sets monthly passenger record with more than 2.1 million travelers in June (Austin American-Statesman)

The Austin airport was busier than ever in June.

New figures show that a record 2,102,853 passengers flew through Austin-Bergstrom International Airport that month, beating the previous record set last October by nearly 17,000 passengers.

The June surge is an increase of 4.4% year over year and a 5.1% increase over May. Through the first half of the year, 10.8 million people flew through Austin, up 4.6% from the same period in 2025.

Eight airlines posted gains a year ago, led by JetBlue Airways, which posted the airport's largest year-over-year increase with passenger traffic up 242%. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines remained the No. 1 carrier at the airport, increasing its passenger count by 11% to about 916,500.

Southwest carried more than a half million more passengers than the next-busiest carrier, Delta Air Lines, which carried about 402,000. Delta grew its Austin passenger count by 12%… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas dominates migration across generations, but Austin lags behind Dallas with Gen Z (Austin Business Journal)

The latest U-Haul Growth Index report shows that younger people are moving in higher volumes to metros like Dallas and San Francisco, while Austin falls behind. 

Despite Austin’s boom as a tech hub, it only places once on the short lists of leaders amongst generations, taking the No. 6 spot for Gen Z. New York, Dallas and Chicago took the top three spots for the metros with the largest influx of Gen Zers who were born between 1997 and 2012. Austin did not place among the top 10 net-gain metros with Boomers, Millennials or Gen X.

The Sun Belt region was most popular for the other categories. Dallas, Houston and Orlando ranked at the top among millennials. States like South Carolina and Florida were hotspots for Gen X and Boomers.

The report analyzed customer moves from July 2025 to June 2026 based on each state’s net gain or loss of one-way U-Haul equipment as well as their generation group.

“Generation Z is gravitating to densely populated markets with numerous colleges, entry-level jobs, and apartment access. Texas and California top their list. New York, Illinois and Colorado follow, reflecting a diverse blend of geography and politics in their destinations,” the U-Haul report said… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Samsung to break ground on second Taylor fab before the end of this year (Austin Business Journal)

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is planning to break ground on a second semiconductor fabrication plant at its Taylor site by the end of this year, with the goal for it to come online in 2030.

Representatives from the South Korean electronics giant acknowledged that during a quarterly earnings call, while also confirming again that the company will start production at the first plant this year. It comes months after it began laying the groundwork for the second building at its 1,200-acre campus northeast of Austin.

Samsung officials confirmed the details and declined further comment.

The company announced a record $62 billion in operating profit last quarter, a more than 19-fold increase year-over-year, according to ABC News. That came despite company officials acknowledging during the call that the chip supply-demand gap will continue to widen during the next year as companies scramble to keep up with the artificial intelligence boom… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ With future of U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade in limbo, Texas businesses navigate choppy waters (Houston Public Radio)

It's hard to overstate just how much Texas has riding on a successful renegotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. Mexico and Canada are Texas' No. 1 and No. 2 trading partners, respectively, just as they are for the U.S. as a whole. And that doesn't take into account direct investment in Texas by Mexican and Canadian companies.

All that trade and investment means that thousands of Texas jobs depend on the smooth flow of goods and services between the U.S. and its southern and northern neighbors. So, too, does the competitiveness of North America in the world economy as a whole. Since July 1, when the Trump administration announced it would not renew the USMCA and instead put the agreement under annual review, the U.S. has held bilateral trade talks with Mexico but not with Canada.

In the meantime, ratcheting up the pressure, President Donald Trump has announced a new 10% tariff on a fraction of Mexican imports and 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian imports, including cars and trucks. "The problem is not for Washington or Mexico City or Ottawa," said Tony Payan, director of the Claudio X. Gonzalez Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice University's Baker Institute. "The problem is for businesses, because a lot of these companies — manufacturers, energy companies — they’ve got long-term plans. They have to plan ahead 5, 10 years. And now they have to learn to live with the uncertainty of investments that may not be covered by the agreement whenever that is ratified, if it all." In 2024, two-way trade between Texas and Mexico came to $281.2 billion, while trade between Texas and Canada came to $69.2 billion.

Taken together, that's equivalent to 12% of the state's economy. Texas' main exports to Mexico and Canada are oil and natural gas products – but its manufacturing, particularly of vehicles, depends heavily on parts imported from both countries. Texas' and Mexico's economies have been historically integrated, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't suffer if the USMCA dies. That's even more the case with Texas' ties with Canada. Air Tractor, Inc. is a prime example of a company that has thrived thanks to USMCA. Based in the small North Texas city of Olney, the company makes aircraft for farming and aerial firefighting. It sells to customers throughout the U.S. and in more than 50 countries across the world… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Big new power lines could prevent blackouts in Texas, but landowner opposition is fierce (KUT)

Opponents of new ultra-high-voltage transmission lines voiced their concerns into the wee hours of the morning at a 15-hour-long state capitol hearing on Wednesday and Thursday. Speakers shared their fear over the project’s local impacts, their anger over the proliferation of data centers and their distrust of renewable energy.

State regulators and grid managers say that new electric transmission is necessary to maintain Texas grid reliability. But the long night of protest laid bare the challenges ahead for major additions to the energy system.

Here are some key takeaways… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Why Republicans aren’t funding the Texas Senate race yet (New York Times)

In one of this year’s most competitive Senate races, Republicans are refusing to spend money — so far. That peculiar dynamic is playing out in Texas, where the fate of the Republican nominee, Ken Paxton, will help decide which party controls the U.S. Senate. But Mr. Paxton has struggled to raise cash, and no one has stepped in yet to help him. Mr. Paxton finds himself in a unique situation among Senate candidates, according to interviews with a dozen Republicans with ties to his campaign. Republican donors still hold grudges from a bruising primary. The state, with its 18-plus television markets, is an epically expensive setting. And his Democratic opponent, James Talarico, has proved to be a particularly strong fund-raiser.

Perhaps the most striking piece of Mr. Paxton’s money woes is the high-stakes game of chicken that two of the Republican Party’s biggest money committees, along with their allied donors, are playing. Both of those groups, the Senate Leadership Fund and MAGA Inc., are not so secretly hoping that the other one swoops in to boost Mr. Paxton with tens of millions in spending, the Republicans said. Neither group has reached for its wallet yet. “Somebody is going to have to spend big money,” said Dan Eberhart, an oil executive who is raising contributions for Mr. Paxton. “We’ll see who blinks.” In the primary, Mr. Paxton defeated Senator John Cornyn, a favorite of many of the country’s and state’s largest donors.

The Republican nominee still lacks enthusiasm from these contributors, who financed ads in the primary repeatedly calling him a criminal and a womanizer. Their opinions largely haven’t changed, especially with the continuing drumbeat of revelations of Mr. Paxton’s world travels with his girlfriend, the Republicans said. Mr. Paxton is not getting help from Washington, either. National Republican groups are slated to spend tens of millions of dollars this summer and fall in every other top-tier Senate race, including in some states that prominent handicappers think are not as competitive as Texas. They even plan to spend more in noncompetitive Kansas. In most states, Republicans are expected to outspend Democrats — for instance in Ohio, where the G.O.P. commitment totals over $100 million… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Establishment fails to stop rise of democratic socialist in Wisconsin (Washington Post)

A democratic socialist is surging in Wisconsin’s Democratic primary race for governor, and establishment figures are showing no signs of stopping her. Polling this week shows that state Rep. Francesca Hong is well-positioned to win the five-way primary on Aug. 11. She had 38 percent of the vote in a survey of likely voters released Wednesday by Marquette University Law School. Behind her were former lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes with 16 percent and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley with 7 percent. Two other candidates — state Sen. Kelda Roys and former state administration secretary Joel Brennan — trailed with 2 percent each. More than a third of those polled were undecided.

Hong also led in a State Navigate poll released Tuesday that showed her with support from 44 percent of likely voters. Crowley had 15 percent, Barnes 14 percent and the other two in the low single digits. Thirteen percent of likely voters were undecided. Democratic socialists have performed well this year in solidly Democratic urban areas, and they hope to expand their reach into swing states that President Donald Trump has won. Hong offers a test case of how progressives can fare in such places, as does Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for Senate in Michigan’s Aug. 4 Democratic primary on a left-wing platform. Establishment Democrats worry that Hong can’t win the general election, but they have not coalesced around a single alternative to try to truncate her rise. The polling shows those challenges would continue even if they did rally behind someone. In the only televised debate of the primary campaign Tuesday, Hong’s opponents took a hands-off approach. None of them used the debate to criticize her, even when moderators left them openings by asking Hong about her past calls to abolish the police. The winner of the Democratic primary contest is expected to face U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who has a nominal opponent in the Republican primary race… 🟪 (READ MORE)