MRT: State Tax Revenues Down 17% from Projections in 2020; Urban Counties Order Use of Masks for Businesses; Cornyn: Congress Prepared to Act if DACA Struck Down
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BY: @MattMackowiak
THURSDAY – 06/18/20
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TOP NEWS
"State Tax Revenues Down 17 Percent from Projections in 2020,"The Texan's Brad Johnson -- "After years of steadily climbing the economic speedometer, three months ago, society slammed the brakes. State and local governments instituted their own, often conflicting or rapidly changing, stay-at-home and business closure orders.
Since then, economic activity rapidly slowed, millions of jobs were lost, and concerns about fish-tailing into a recession abound.
While many are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel, financial repercussions will be felt for months to come.
One of those consequences is the depreciation of tax revenues on which state and local governments rely.
Back in April, the Texas Comptroller’s Office announced a drastic — but unsurprising — 9.3 percent drop in sales tax revenues from April 2019. At the time, that was the sharpest drop since January 2010." The Texan
"US Supreme Court halts Texas execution over clergy question,"AP's Juan A. Lozano -- "The U.S. Supreme Court granted a reprieve Tuesday to a Texas inmate scheduled to die for fatally stabbing an 85-year-old woman more than two decades ago, continuing a more than four-month delay of executions in the nation’s busiest death penalty state during the coronavirus pandemic.
The justices blocked Ruben Gutierrez’s execution about an hour before he could have been executed. Gutierrez’s attorneys had argued his religious rights are being violated because the prison system won’t allow a chaplain to accompany him in the death chamber.
The Texas prison system last year banned clergy from the death chamber following a Supreme Court ruling that halted the execution of another inmate, Patrick Murphy, who had requested a Buddhist adviser be allowed in the chamber. In response to the ruling in Murphy’s case, the Texas prison system changed its policy, only allowing prison security staff into the execution chamber.
“As a devout Catholic, Mr. Gutierrez’s faith requires the assistance of clergy to help him pass from life into afterlife. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice changed its policy for its own convenience, but spiritual comfort at the time of death is not a convenience; it’s a protected legal right,” Shawn Nolan, one of Mr. Gutierrez’s attorneys, said after the stay was granted.
The Supreme Court said it granted the stay pending a ruling by the high court on Gutierrez’s petition on the issue of whether to allow a spiritual adviser to accompany him in the death chamber. A decision on the petition was expected at a later date." AP
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
"Texas counties order use of face masks to fight COVID-19,"AP's Acacia Coronado and Jim Vertuno -- "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday local governments can require businesses to mandate customers and workers to wear face masks after one the state’s most populous counties ordered such a measure amid record numbers of new cases of coronavirus and hospitalizations.
The order for Bexar County, which includes the San Antonio area, takes effect Monday and businesses could face fines up to $1,000 for failing to comply.
Abbott, a Republican, has refused to order individuals to wear masks as part of his statewide orders, but said other local governments are free to do the same as Bexar County. The mayor of Austin said his city would.
In an interview with Waco television station KWTX, Abbott said his previous state order would have allowed the move long ago, adding county officials had “finally figured that out.”
“We want to make sure individual liberty is not infringed upon by government and hence government cannot require individuals to wear masks,” Abbott said.
“Local governments can require stores and businesses to require masks .... They’ve always had the opportunity and ability. Just like they can require people to wear shoes and shirts, these businesses can require people to wear face masks,” Abbott said.
Abbott said under his statewide orders, no person can be jailed for not wearing a mask and local governments can’t force individuals wear one.
Small business advocates criticized the Bexar County measure as turning them into mask “police” and exposing them to legal liability if they don’t.
“Texas business owners are deeply concerned about the possibility of trial lawyers exploiting the pandemic for financial gain,” said Annie Spilman, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.
In May, Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton lashed out at the cities of San Antonio, Dallas and Austin over what he called “unlawful” local orders that are tougher than restrictions prescribed by Abbott, and threatened lawsuits if the cities don’t back off.
But Texas has seen a spike in new cases and hospitalizations since then, and on Tuesday, nine mayors of some of Texas’ largest cities sent a bipartisan letter asking for the authority to enforce the use of face coverings.
Texas reported new record highs of new cases and hospitalizations Wednesday. The state passed the 3,000 mark in new cases for the first time with 3,129. The 2,793 COVID-19 patients in the hospital is an 85% increase since Memorial Day." AP
"Bexar and Hidalgo counties require face masks in businesses as coronavirus surges. Other Texas leaders consider similar measures,"The Texas Tribune's Valeria Olivares -- "With Gov. Greg Abbott’s apparent blessing, Bexar and Hidalgo counties have imposed a new mask rule for local businesses, saying they must require employees and customers to wear masks when social distancing isn't possible. The move appears to open a new way for local officials to require mask use in certain public spaces after Abbott stymied prior efforts by local officials to put the onus on residents.
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff's and Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez's orders comes after Abbott issued an executive order June 3 banning local governments from imposing fines or criminal penalties on people who don't wear masks in public.
Wolff's order states that, starting Monday and running through the end of the month, businesses in Bexar County must require face masks "where six feet of separation is not feasible" before the business risks facing a fine of up to $1,000. Cortez's order states businesses in Hidalgo County will risk being fined starting Saturday and will remain in effect until further notice.
The orders also state that, consistent with Abbott's executive order, "no civil or criminal penalty will be imposed on individuals for failure to wear a face covering." Later in the day, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg signed an update to his emergency health order to express support for and adopt Wolff's order, saying that, as the number of coronavirus cases increase in the city, "masks are our best line of defense."" Texas Tribune
"Cronk to eliminate 100 Austin police positions, delay cadet class,"The Austin American-Statesman's Ryan Autullo -- "Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk plans to eliminate nearly 100 sworn positions from the city’s Police Department and delay a police cadet class that was scheduled to start in July as part of a list of changes aimed at addressing concerns about the department’s treatment of minorities.
Cronk made the announcement Wednesday in a three-page memo that outlined his response to calls from City Council members to reimagine the Police Department.
The memo says Cronk will propose a budget for next year that shifts several functions that have traditionally been handled by the Police Department to other departments. The services include the forensics lab, 911 dispatch, victims services and the training academy. This year, the Police Department received more than $440 million of the city’s $4.2 billion budget. Next year’s budget likely will be approved in August.
“This reimagining can only be achieved if we have candid input from our community, a commitment from our public safety employees, and the support of our City Council,” Cronk wrote.
The Greater Austin Crime Commission, a nonprofit group that supports local law enforcement agencies, issued a statement questioning the elimination of the sworn positions, citing studies that contend the department is already understaffed.
“Policing reforms are possible without jeopardizing the safety of our neighborhoods,” the group said. “These decisions should be made with community input and understanding the consequences. You can’t solve a public safety crisis by creating another.”
Cronk’s letter did not address the employment status of Police Chief Brian Manley, who has been under fire over allegations that the department has a culture of racism that has led to the unjustified use of force by officers against Blacks and Hispanics. Several council members called for Manley’s resignation after protesters were injured by beanbag ammunition fired by Austin officers during racial injustice demonstrations after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Manley’s department is also under fire for the death of Michael Ramos, a Black and Hispanic man who was unarmed when he was shot to death in April by Austin officer Christopher Taylor.
All 11 City Council members last week sponsored a resolution that stated they have “no confidence” that the Police Department’s leadership will implement changes to end disproportionate violence against people of color and low-income residents.
State law does not allow Cronk to fire Manley, but he could demote him to a role equivalent to Manley’s position before he became chief.
Cronk’s letter sets the stage for further discussion Thursday at the first meeting of the new Public Safety Committee, which the council created last week to oversee policing. The committee, led by Council Member Jimmy Flannigan, is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m.
Cronk’s plan to eliminate nearly 100 sworn officer positions reflects a resolution the council approved last week to do away with any positions in the department that cannot be reasonably filled within the next year and to not add any additional officers next year.
The delayed cadet class has not been rescheduled." Austin American-Statesman
"Tesla could get more than $60 million in tax breaks to choose site in Southeast Travis County,"The Austin American-Statesman's Shonda Novak and Lori Hawkins -- "In a bid to help lure Tesla to Central Texas, the Del Valle Independent School District is considering an incentives deal that could potentially save the electric automaker up to $68 million on its property tax bill over 10 years if it brings a major assembly plant -- and thousands of jobs -- to Travis County.
The proposed agreement -- which was made public by the Texas Comptroller’s office Thursday -- calls for Tesla to build a 4 million- to 5 million-square foot facility that would eventually employ 5,000 or more workers on a site just off Texas 130 in Southeast Travis County. If the Del Valle school board approves the agreement and Tesla moves forward with the factory on the site, construction could start in the third quarter of this year, according to documents file with the Texas Comptroller’s Office.
The Travis County Commissioners Court is also considering a separate incentives agreement with Tesla, although the terms of that deal have not been made public, and it has not yet been approved by the commissioners court. Gov. Greg Abbott’s office has not said whether the state is also considering offering incentive money from the Texas Enterprise Fund.
If the incentives deals are approved, Tesla accepts them and brings its assembly plant to Travis County, it would be one of the most significant economic development deals in Central Texas history.
The new facility — which Tesla calls a “gigafactory” — would build Tesla’s upcoming Cybertruck electric pickup, as well as be a second site to build the Model Y SUV. Previous media reports have suggested it could become Tesla’s biggest facility, surpassing the company’s vehicle assembly factory in Fremont, Calif., that employs 10,000 people. However, the documents filed with the comptroller’s office don’t indicate if the workforce could eventually grow to that size.
The proposed Tesla incentives deal with the Del Valle school district is a Chapter 313 agreement. That refers to Chapter 313 of the Texas Tax Code, which allows state school districts to grant a property tax break for an economic development project. The state is then required to repay the school district for the amount of property tax it gives up in the agreement.
In its application for the Del Valle incentives deal, Tesla said that it is considering both the Travis County site and a site or sites in Oklahoma as the location for the facility.
The Travis County site is a roughly 2,100 acre property in the Austin Green development, at Texas 130 and Harold Green Road. The property is currently a sand and gravel mining site owned and operated by Martin Marietta, according to documents filed with the comptroller’s office.
“To continue to meet increased demand and provide new products, an additional manufacturing facility is required in the United States,” Tesla said in its application. The company says eight states were identified as “viable contenders” for the facility, which the company wants to locate in the central U.S.
“The current focus is on Oklahoma and Texas as potential locations for the new facility,” Tesla said." Austin American-Statesman
TEXANS IN DC
"Cornyn says Congress ‘preparing’ to act on DACA as Supreme Court ruling looms,"The Houston Chronicle's Benjamin Wermund -- "Texas Sen. John Cornyn said Congress is prepared to step in to protect the so-called Dreamers — undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children — if the Supreme Court allows President Donald Trump to scrap an Obama-era program that protects them from deportation.
“We need to protect these young people, who through no fault of their own find themselves in a very, very difficult position,” said Cornyn, a Texas Republican and former state Supreme Court justice. “We don’t hold children responsible for the acts of parents in America, and we shouldn’t start here.”
The Supreme Court could rule as soon as Thursday on Trump’s decision to end protections for some 700,000 immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, whose fates have been in limbo for nearly three years. About 109,000 of the Dreamers live in Texas.
A decision in Trump’s favor could create “a lot of chaos and uncertainty,” Cornyn said. The influential senator who until last year served as the GOP whip said he is talking to other senators as well as members of the House and officials in the Trump administration to “provide ourselves the space and the time in Congress in order to deal with this in a reasonable way.”" Houston Chronicle
"U.S. Sen. John Cornyn faces outcry from Democrats after questioning idea of systemic racism,"Texas Tribune's Abby Livingston -- "U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has faced a barrage of criticism from Texas and national Democrats in recent days for his comments and questions about racism made during a hearing over how to overhaul the country's criminal justice system in the wake of Minneapolis resident George Floyd's death at the hands of police.
Cornyn, a Republican who is up for reelection in the fall, seemed to question in the hearing whether isolated acts of police misconduct ought to be characterized as signs of systemic racism within all police departments and among police officers. The two Democrats who are locked in a battle for their party's nomination released highly critical statements on the state's senior senator, saying Cornyn didn't understand the idea of broader systemic issues in policing and other public institutions harming black people.
“There are a lot of differences between John Cornyn and myself," said state Sen. Royce West of Dallas. "One is that I know systemic racism exists and that it hurts black and brown people disproportionately."
“If Senator Cornyn can’t even grasp the concept of systemic racism, there’s a 0% chance he’s equipped to legislate solutions to address racial injustice in America," said Air Force veteran M.J. Hegar." Texas Tribune
"Ted Cruz claims Google is targeting conservative news outlets,"The Austin American-Statesman's Nicole Cobler -- "U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, sent a letter Wednesday to Google expressing concerns over the internet giant’s move to ban one right-wing site from its advertising platform and to issue a warning to another.
This is familiar territory for Cruz, who has spent at least a year threatening to regulate social media companies over alleged censorship of conservative media organizations.
“This is part of a bigger problem,” Cruz wrote in a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. “The culture of free speech in this country is under attack, and Google is helping lead the charge.”
Cruz’s letter was in response to news reports Tuesday that Google banned ZeroHedge, a far-right website known for posting conspiracy theories, from its advertising platform. Google told NBC News that there were policy violations in the comment section of stories about recent nationwide protests on police brutality.
The tech giant also issued a warning Tuesday to The Federalist, another conservative media outlet, over similar comment section violations." Austin American-Statesman
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
"Pence to visit Texas for 'Freedom' event at megachurch," via AP-- "Vice President Mike Pence will visit Texas later this month for a “Celebrate Freedom” event at a Dallas megachurch, officials said Wednesday.
Pence’s office said the vice president will travel to Dallas on June 28 and will visit First Baptist Church. He will also speak at the church’s event, which is described as “an annual celebration of America’s freedom and spiritual foundation.”
Robert Jeffress, the pastor of the 14,000-member, Southern Baptist church, is one of President Donald Trump’s leading allies among conservative evangelical Christians.
This weekend, Pence is scheduled to attend Trump’s first campaign rally since the coronavirus campaign began in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He also spent time in Iowa this week, visiting a diner and speaking at a Winnebago facility." AP
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