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Presented By

November 24, 2025

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Austin 2026: The New Rules of Economic Development at City Hall (Bingham Group)

🟪 Austin firefighters not willing to renegotiate labor contract with Council "right now" (CBS Austin)

🟪 UT regents considering new site for MD Anderson hospital campus (KUT)

🟪 Korean company purchases Austin-area golf courses for $85M (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Gov. Greg Abbott, long a defender of states’ rights, embraces Trump’s push to expand presidential power (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Supreme Court blocks order that found Texas congressional map is likely racially biased (NPR)

🟪 How the U.S. economy became hooked on AI spending (Wall Street Journal)

READ ON!

[FIRM NEWS]

[New Blog] Austin 2026: The New Rules of Economic Development at City Hall

Learn more about Bingham Group’s new practice — and review all of our services here: binghamgp.com/services

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ City Manager Executives and Advisors Staff Visual Chart

🏛️ City of Austin Org Chart (as of July 2025)

ℹ️ 2025 Essential Resources for Navigating the City of Austin

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Austin firefighters not willing to renegotiate labor contract with Council "right now" (CBS Austin)

The Austin Firefighters Association (AFA) has expressed frustration after the city council postponed a vote on a labor contract for the second time. Austin City Council is asking the AFA to come back to the negotiation table, but the AFA said that's not going to happen now.

The contract, which was tentatively agreed upon, would increase firefighter pay and reduce their working hours. AFA President Bob Nicks criticized Council's decision.

"They're holding our mental health over our heads," he said. " "It seems to be a new city way of harassing and disgracing the firefighters to get what they want, and it's kind of disgusting."

The postponement was due to a charter amendment on staffing, with Councilman Jose "Chito" Vela stating at Tuesday's work session, "I just don't see how we can approve a contract when there's a charter amendment on this type out there.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ UT regents considering new site for MD Anderson hospital campus (KUT)

The University of Texas Board of Regents is considering changing the site for the future UT Austin academic medical campus. Previously, university leadership had announced that the development, which is set to include an MD Anderson Cancer Center location and an additional university medical tower, would be built at the site of the former Frank Erwin Center off I-35 in downtown Austin.

Kevin Eltife, chairman of the UT Board of Regents, announced the potential change at a meeting Thursday, calling the medical campus "one of the biggest projects of this generation."

“We're not just building an integrated academic medical center," he said. "We're building a district for the future. For that reason, we're looking at a larger site.”

The board is eying an unspecified, undeveloped UT-owned property north of UT Austin's main campus and near the Domain. Eltife said there had a been "a lot of discussion" about the project with both UT Austin President Jim Davis and Peter Pisters, the president of MD Anderson Cancer Center… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Korean company purchases Austin-area golf courses for $85M (Austin Business Journal)

A Korean entity has acquired three Austin-area golf courses, according to deed records, published news reports and officials. It signifies the continued interest of Korean entities in doing business in the area.

Two courses, Avery Ranch Golf Club in Williamson County and Teravista Golf Club in Round Rock, on Oct. 24 were acquired by separate entities that tie to the same address in Lewisville, which is near Dallas, according to Williamson County property records. The courses were owned by Round Rock-based Magnolia Hospitality Management Co. LLC.

While the identity of the company behind the purchase was not disclosed, KoreaTexas Forum CEO EC Chi, who has direct knowledge of the matter, confirmed news reports out of Korea that Hanlim Construction, which is known for operating Hanlim Yongin Country Club and two others, is the company behind the purchases… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Gov. Greg Abbott, long a defender of states’ rights, embraces Trump’s push to expand presidential power (Texas Tribune)

Just last year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott joined a bipartisan chorus of governors in denouncing a Biden administration plan they said would strip states of powers guaranteed to them under federal law.

The plan would have transferred Air National Guard units from six states to the U.S. Space Force, the newly created military branch, stoking concerns about federal overreach and the erosion of governors’ control over their own guard forces. Texas wasn’t among the affected states, but Abbott made his opposition unmistakable in an open letter to the president.

He called the plan an “intolerable threat that would set a “dangerous precedent.”

“I strongly oppose any attempt to sideline governors when it comes to their respective National Guards,” he wrote.

A year later, Abbott helped Donald Trump do just that. He said that he “fully authorized” the president’s plan to send Texas National Guard members to Illinois and Oregon to protect federal law enforcement personnel who are executing immigration laws. Those states’ governors vigorously objected, saying such action was an unnecessary escalation that interfered with state sovereignty.

That, constitutional experts say, sets a risky example that may be difficult to reverse.

“What he’s doing is short-term gain for his political positions, and Texas’ political positions, but not for Texas as a state moving forward,” said Georgetown University Law Center professor Victoria Nourse. “You might like this president, but you’re not necessarily going to like what happens to Texas with the next one.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Supreme Court blocks order that found Texas congressional map is likely racially biased (NPR)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that found Texas' 2026 congressional redistricting plan pushed by President Trump likely discriminates on the basis of race.

The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito will remain in place at least for the next few days while the court considers whether to allow the new map favorable to Republicans to be used in the midterm elections.

The court's conservative majority has blocked similar lower court rulings because they have come too close to elections.

The order came about an hour after the state called on the high court to intervene to avoid confusion as congressional primary elections approach in March. The justices have blocked past lower-court rulings in congressional redistricting cases, most recently in Alabama and Louisiana, that came several months before elections… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas is developing a required reading list for all K-12 students. What to know (Houston Chronicle)

Texas will soon become the first state to adopt a mandatory list of books that must be taught at each grade level in classrooms statewide. The Republican-controlled State Board of Education on Wednesday began work on the list of literary works, which they plan to finalize next year. The list must have at least one literary work for every grade K-12 and will be accompanied by a vocabulary requirement. Some of the early titles up for discussion include “Number the Stars,” “The Outsiders” and “Romeo and Juliet.” Though many states have required public schools to teach certain textbooks, Texas appears to be the only one with a list of literary works. The initiative comes as Republican state lawmakers have moved to restrict the types of books that can be stocked at public school libraries and expand parents' control over the titles their children can check out.

The literary works and vocabulary list requirements were included in a broader curriculum package, known as House Bill 1605, that that GOP-led Legislature passed in 2023. State Rep. Brad Buckley, a Republican of Salado and the legislation’s lead House sponsor, described the bill as a “back to basics” effort that would give the state board more authority to align classroom standards statewide and raise expectations. “There’s never been a more important time to double down on student achievement with a high bar,” Buckley said at a workshop on the bill in 2023. “You will get from students what you expect from them.”

The legislation requires incorporating the mandatory reading into the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, the state standards known as TEKS, meaning the books could become part of Texas’ standardized testing. Education Commissioner Mike Morath is slated to present a preliminary list of titles sometime next month to the 15-member state board, which is made up of 10 Republicans and 5 Democrats. The list will be debated and finalized across two State Board of Education meetings in January and April. The state board will also decide on a list of vocabulary words that students at each grade level will be expected to know… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission moves forward with permanent hemp regulations (Community Impact)

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is moving forward with a set of permanent rules designed to prohibit the sale of consumable THC products to anyone under 21 years old.

The five-member commission voted at a Nov. 18 meeting to publish the proposed permanent rules in the Texas Register, launching a public comment period that ends Jan. 4. The proposal is similar to emergency rules adopted Sept. 23, which are currently in effect and prohibit Texas alcohol retailers from selling intoxicating THC products to minors.

As proposed, the permanent rules would require that:

• Texas retailers with TABC licenses do not sell, offer to sell, serve or deliver consumable THC products to minors.

• TABC license holders verify that a customer has “an apparently valid, unexpired proof of identification” and is at least 21 years old before selling them THC products.

Under the proposed rules, retailers would not be required to check the IDs of customers who appear to be over 40 years old or “obviously of age,” TABC general counsel James Person said during the Nov. 18 meeting… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ How the U.S. economy became hooked on AI spending (Wall Street Journal)

The turbulence that hit stocks tied to artificial intelligence last week highlights a broader risk to the economy. Growth has become so dependent on AI-related investment and wealth that if the boom turns to bust, it could take the broader economy with it. Business investment in artificial intelligence might have accounted for as much as half of the growth in gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, in the first six months of the year. Rising AI stocks are also boosting household wealth, leading to more consumer spending, especially in recent months.

“It’s certainly plausible that the economy would already be in a recession” without the AI boom, said Peter Berezin, chief global strategist at BCA Research. Take away AI spending, and the economy looks in worse shape. Although job growth was higher than expected in September, job creation has nonetheless slowed this year and the unemployment rate is inching up.

Private business investment excluding AI-related categories is mostly flat since 2019, according to Deutsche Bank. Outside of data centers, other commercial construction, such as shopping centers or office buildings, is down. That makes the economy more dependent on AI.

“It’s the only source of investment right now,” said Stephen Juneau, an economist at Bank of America. Bank of America estimates that just four companies—Microsoft, Amazon.com, Alphabet and Meta Platforms—will make $344 billion in capital expenditures this year (equivalent to roughly 1.1% of GDP), up from $228 billion last year. Barclays estimates that investment in software, computer equipment and data centers boosted GDP growth by around 1 percentage point annualized in the first half of 2025. AI explained much, though not all, of that… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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