Uber and Lyft’s self-imposed exile from Austin could be nearing the beginning of the end. On Wednesday, the Texas House of Representatives voted to approve House Bill 100 on a crucial second reading. The bill would create a statewide regulatory framework for transportation network companies and preempt local rules overwhelmingly upheld by Austin voters last […]
Texas State Legislature
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Urban Affairs Committee takes up preservation bill
A state representative will be making some changes to a bill he proposed that would set a rigorous statewide standard for historic preservation against a property owner’s objections. Discussion of Houston-area Rep. Gary Elkins’ House Bill 3418 at the April 11 House Urban Affairs Committee meeting lasted more than an hour. Elkins kicked it off […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Texas House bill takes aim at historic preservation rules
Fans of keeping historic buildings just as they are have sounded the alarm over a legislative bill that could bring wholesale change to preservation policies across the state, including here in Austin. State Rep. Gary Elkins, a Republican from northwestern Houston, filed House Bill 3418 earlier this month. It would alter the state’s Local Government […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Legislation spotlights Austin’s fair chance rules
Members of the Texas House Business & Industry Committee heard lengthy and conflicting testimony Monday on fair chance hiring regulations but did not take a vote on Austin Republican Rep. Paul Workman’s House Bill 577 – which would overturn Austin’s ordinance preventing employers from asking about criminal convictions on initial employment applications. City Council Member […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Workman’s bill could help Lake Travis town ditch Capital Metro
Leaders of one of the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s original members are hoping a state lawmaker can help them in their quest to quit the transit agency. Earlier this month, state Rep. Paul Workman filed House Bill 2627, which is aimed at helping Lago Vista fast track another election to leave Capital Metro. Last November, […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Mayor, Troxclair check in at the Capitol to talk short-term rentals
Mayor Steve Adler and City Council Member Ellen Troxclair took their disagreement over the city’s short-term rental regulations to the Texas Capitol on Tuesday evening. Both testified before the Senate Committee on Business & Commerce on Senate Bill 451, a measure that reverses new rules passed by Council last year. Those rules are set to […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Legislature drives closer to statewide ride-hailing regulations
Three bills that would trump Austin’s ride-hailing regulations swerved through the Texas Senate on Tuesday. In front of a standing-room-only crowd, the Committee on Business & Commerce took up Senate bills 113, 176 and 361. Each authored by Republican lawmakers, the bills would overturn rules passed by Austin’s City Council in 2015 and subsequently upheld […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Troxclair, Adler present opposite views on tax bill
City Council Member Ellen Troxclair and Mayor Steve Adler presented diametrically opposite views at Tuesday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing on Senate Bill 2, which would prevent cities and counties from raising taxes by more than 4 percent above the effective tax rate from one year to the next. The rate, called the rollback rate, is […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Reporter’s Notebook: ICE, ghosts and trees
ICE in Austin… Over the weekend, protests dominated the local news as Austinites grappled with how to react to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that began on Thursday. Meanwhile, public officials and agencies worked to come up with their own responses. District 4 City Council Member Greg Casar was one of the first to […]
Posted inTravis County
Travis County explores ways to overcome funding cuts
Travis County raised nearly $90,000 as of Monday afternoon through an online initiative set up after Gov. Greg Abbott cut $1.5 million in grant funding over Sheriff Sally Hernandez’s new immigration policy. State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) launched the fundraising site Friday in partnership with the Austin Community Foundation. “It was really quite spontaneous, and […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Updated: ‘Sanctuary City’ bill clears senate committee after 16 hours of public testimony
Texas lawmakers heard hours of public testimony Thursday and into early Friday morning over a bill banning so-called “sanctuary cities” in Texas, ultimately voting early this morning 7-2 -along party lines to send the bill to the full Senate Texas lawmakers heard hours of public testimony Thursday over a bill banning so-called “sanctuary cities” in […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Eckhardt on Abbott’s cuts: “It’s retribution”
Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt is offering unequivocal support for Sheriff Sally Hernandez in the face of costly punishment meted out by Gov. Greg Abbott in response to Hernandez’s new policies regarding immigration enforcement. “We have done an extensive review of those policies, and it is plain that under current federal and state law, the sheriff’s […]