City Council members voted Thursday to ask the city manager to look into creating a new department to oversee its labor rights laws – including rules that guarantee rest breaks for construction workers and mandate paid sick leave for private employees. These laws are currently overseen by at least two departments – the Code Department […]
Greg Casar
United States Congress representative for Texas’s 35th congressional district since 2023 and former Austin City Council member for District 4
Posted inCourts
Business groups sue to block city’s paid sick leave law
An Austin-based conservative think tank has sued the city over its paid sick leave ordinance. The ordinance, which goes into effect Oct. 1, requires all private businesses to provide anywhere from six to eight paid sick days per year for employees. The Texas Public Policy Foundation filed the lawsuit in district court Tuesday. The foundation […]
Posted inCity Council
Council approves paid sick leave ordinance
Shortly after midnight on Friday, Austin became the first city in the South to require employers to provide workers with paid sick leave. The ordinance, authored largely by City Council Member Greg Casar, will require businesses and nonprofits to provide employees with one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Workers at […]
Posted inCity Council
Casar reflects on a ‘hellish year’
2017 was a big year for Council Member Greg Casar. Nevertheless, in an interview for the Austin Monitor, he described it as “hellish.” On Nov. 9, 2016, the day after he was easily re-elected to Council, Casar was in no mood to celebrate. In an email missive to supporters and media, Casar called for a […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Why not?
Wrestling with a tough decision… Austin’s chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America party scored a significant boost this weekend when Council Member Greg Casar agreed to sign up as an official member. The District 4 representative spoke at a DSA town hall on Friday evening alongside national health care activist and Party World Rasslin’ […]
Posted inCourts
Casar reports on SB 4 hearing in New Orleans
City Council Member Greg Casar attended Tuesday’s hearing on Senate Bill 4 at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The city of Austin, along with Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, the small border city of El Cenizo, and Maverick and El Paso counties, filed suit to overturn the law that requires local […]
Posted inCity Council
Casar issues call for citywide paid sick days
This Labor Day, a group of community advocates and leaders gathered to celebrate the holiday with a push for more progressive employment legislation in Austin. The group, led by Council Member Greg Casar, issued a call for City Council to pass an ordinance that would give all Austinites access to paid sick days. “Nobody should […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Demonstrators arrested after staging sit-in at state office to protest ‘sanctuary’ bill
State troopers began arresting demonstrators who had staged an all-day sit-in at a state office building to protest legislation banning so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions Monday. City Council Member Greg Casar was arrested and cited with a Class B misdemeanor for Criminal Trespassing among nearly 20 other protesters. Dozens of people staged the sit-in at the Texas […]
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 inAustin
Democrats urged to join fight against SB 4
Matt Simpson, policy strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, told members of the Central Texas Democratic Forum on Monday that Senate Bill 4, the so-called sanctuary cities bill, throws out policies created by sheriffs and police departments across the state about how and when to ask about immigration status. “This is kind […]
Posted inCity Council
Immigration sparks Council fight
After a heated exchange between City Council members Ellen Troxclair and Greg Casar, Council voted 10-1 Thursday to approve $200,000 in emergency funding for immigrant legal services. Troxclair, Council’s only Republican, offered the only no vote and the only negative commentary about increasing funding to Catholic Charities of Central Texas to aid people seeking legal […]
Posted inCity Council
Casar cites work on labor issues for 2016
Greg Casar was re-elected to his District 4 City Council seat in November with only token, underfunded opposition – and that fact did not even make it onto the list of highlights he shared with the Austin Monitor. From his post at the Workers Defense Project, Casar was first elected in 2014 as a champion […]