Tag Archives: Austin

Feds join the state in defense of SB4

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose this was to be expected. About a month ago, the city of El Cenizo filed a lawsuit against the state, calling the bill unconstitutional. On Monday, the Trump administration got involved. The defendants in the lawsuit are the … Continue reading →

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Houston officially gets in the SB4 litigation business

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Well done. Houston City Council voted Wednesday to sue the state over its new “sanctuary cities” law, joining Texas’ three other largest cities in challenging the controversial measure. Council voted 10-6 to join San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, El Paso County … Continue reading →

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Getting ready for the first SB4 hearing

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

All eyes are going to be on this next week. On Monday, June 26, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia will hear the City of San Antonio’s request for a preliminary injunction to block Senate Bill 4, the “sanctuary cities” law, … Continue reading →

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Greg Abbott’s war on trees

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

This is just bizarre. One of the 20 items Gov. Greg Abbott has asked lawmakers to consider during the upcoming special session, which will begin July 18, is outlawing local tree regulations. More than 50 cities and towns in Texas … Continue reading →

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An SB4 threefer

Posted on June 12, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

We have our first SB4 casualty. A 15,000-member association of attorneys and law professors said on Wednesday that it is relocating its 2018 convention out of Texas in response to the state legislature passing Senate bill 4, a sweeping and … Continue reading →

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Dallas gets in the fight against SB4

Posted on June 9, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Good for them. Dallas is joining some other Texas cities, including Austin and San Antonio, in taking on the state’s so-called “sanctuary city” law. Mayor Mike Rawlings made the announcement Wednesday afternoon, calling SB4 “unconstitutional” and a law that “greatly … Continue reading →

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State files motion to combine all the “sanctuary cities” lawsuits

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

This isn’t a surprise, but there is a bit of a twist. In a filing late Thursday, Attorney General Ken Paxton asked a federal district court in Austin to absorb two other legal challenges that have been filed against the … Continue reading →

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Mayors (still) against climate change

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Someone’s gotta do it. On Thursday, President Donald Trump officially announced that the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, citing the deal’s failure “to serve American interests.” Hours later, governors, mayors, and environmental groups all had … Continue reading →

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San Antonio files “sanctuary cities” lawsuit

Posted on June 3, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Here they go. The cities of San Antonio and Austin announced on Thursday they have joined the fight to stop the state’s new immigration enforcement law, Senate Bill 4, in federal court. […] The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational … Continue reading →

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Uber and Lyft come rolling back

Posted on May 31, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

To Austin: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday signed into law a measure creating a statewide regulatory framework for ride-hailing companies, overriding local measures that prompted businesses such as Uber and Lyft to leave Austin and other cities. Uber and … Continue reading →

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More “sanctuary cities” plaintiffs gearing up

Posted on May 19, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Local governments are not going down without a fight. On Tuesday, which organizers said was the beginning of a “summer of resistance,” Austin City Council member Delia Garza said the city will move this week to take formal action to … Continue reading →

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Senate passes statewide rideshare bill

Posted on May 18, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a done deal. After a debate among lawmakers over the best way to regulate services like Uber and Lyft, the Texas Senate on Wednesday backed a proposal that would override local regulations concerning ride-hailing companies. House Bill 100 would … Continue reading →

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Paxton gets ahead of the “sanctuary cities” lawsuit rush

Posted on May 9, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

That’s one way to do it, I suppose. Attorney General Ken Paxton is looking to get ahead of an anticipated barrage of legal challenges to Texas’ ban on “sanctuary cities,” which takes effect Sept. 1. Shortly after Gov. Greg Abbott … Continue reading →

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The SB4 protests

Posted on May 2, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

I admire the hell out of this. At least two dozen protesters on the grounds of the Texas Capitol on Monday evening were charged with misdemeanor trespassing, the culmination of a day-long sit-in. The demonstration began around 10 a.m. Monday … Continue reading →

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Get ready for the “sanctuary cities” lawsuits

Posted on April 29, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

It’s just a matter of time. Now that Senate Bill 4 is on its way to becoming law, opponents are looking to the courts for relief – and a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court case is giving them hope. The high … Continue reading →

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The post-Uber Austin rideshare experience

Posted on April 23, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Texas Monthly notes the issues that some people faced during SxSW hailing a ride, and considers the rideshare landscape in Austin post-Uber and Lyft. But the thesis that Austin is experiencing a crisis around ride-hailing apps is an old one, … Continue reading →

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Houston hyperlooping

Posted on April 8, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

How soon can this be built? A Texas plan using the Hyperloop concept envisioned by Tesla founder Elon Musk is one of 35 proposals from around the globe competing this week in Washington for bragging rights as the best initial … Continue reading →

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NCAA rewards North Carolina for its weaksauce HB2 repeal

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

So this happened. Discrimination won the championship this year. The NCAA announced Tuesday morning that it completely fell for the bait-and-switch concocted by Republican leadership in North Carolina’s legislature and Gov. Roy Cooper (D). Last week, they passed a compromise … Continue reading →

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Senate committee hears rideshare bills

Posted on March 18, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

One of these, in some form, is likely to become law. Senate Bill 176, by state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, and Senate Bill 361 by state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, received a joint hearing after [Senate Business & Commerce Committee] … Continue reading →

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Restricting restrictions on AirBnB

Posted on March 3, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

I have issues with this. A legislative proposal that would limit local government control of short-term home rentals in Texas has reawakened a fight over regulations that has already played out in cities across the state. Senate Bill 451 by … Continue reading →

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Marching

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

In Austin. Up to 50,000 activists swarmed the Capitol grounds on Saturday to fight for women’s rights on the heels of Trump’s inauguration. The high-spirited crowd joined more than a million protesters nationwide. The Austin march was so large that … Continue reading →

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Who wants to rent their house out to Super Bowl visitors?

Posted on January 15, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t, but some people hope to make a lot of money renting theirs. With the Super Bowl heading to Houston next month, locals are starting to see dollar signs as well, hoping to cash in on visitors’ willingness to … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit over secular nativity display will proceed

Posted on December 27, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Merry secular Christmas, y’all. A lawsuit is moving forward against Gov. Greg Abbott over his order to remove a satirical nativity scene from the Texas Capitol last year. A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the … Continue reading →

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Uber wants back in Austin

Posted on November 21, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It’s how they get back that’s the question. The ride-hailing company Uber may return to the state’s capital despite leaving Austin in May after a bruising fight with the city over regulation of the industry, according to Trevor Theunissen, the … Continue reading →

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Mayor Turner picks Austin PD Chief for HPD

Posted on November 18, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: In a sweeping announcement, Mayor Sylvester Turner named four new department directors and a reappointment Thursday. Pending City Council confirmation, Art Acevedo of Austin will assume the position of police chief and El Paso’s Samuel Pena will … Continue reading →

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City reaches deal with Uber

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Mayor Sylvester Turner today announced a comprehensive strategy to streamline the City’s vehicle-for-hire licensing process to ensure that Uber remains in Houston and that Houstonians and visitors have as many transportation options as possible during the upcoming … Continue reading →

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Other rideshare companies sued over lack of access for disabled people

Posted on October 2, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Noted for the record. A state disability rights group has sued the ride-hailing apps Get Me and Fare in federal court, arguing that because the apps only partially offer text-to-speech software, they are unusable for blind people and therefore in violation … Continue reading →

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The bigger debtors’ prison problem

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not just Harris County. Last week, an Amarillo attorney released documents that he said showed the city jailed disabled people simply because they were unable to pay municipal fines. According to the Amarillo Globe-News, the victims of this apparent debtors’ prison system … Continue reading →

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Rideshare companies in Austin are complying with its fingerprint requirements

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Well, what do you know? All eight of the ride-hailing companies operating in Austin met a city requirement to have at least half of the rides they provided in July come from drivers who passed fingerprint-based background checks, according to … Continue reading →

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Driverless Ubers

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Ready or not, here they come. The option to hail a ride in a self-driving car, which was science fiction just a few years ago, will soon be available to Uber users in Pittsburgh, the first time the technology has … Continue reading →

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RIP, Lone Star Rail

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

This really does appear to be the end of the line. On a 17-1 vote late Monday, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board decided to kick off a two-month process to remove from its official 25-year transportation plan the … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues Austin over open carry

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

No subtext at all to this, I’m sure. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the city of Austin in Travis County district court, trying to force the city to comply with his reading of the state’s open carry law … Continue reading →

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How about a commuter hyperloop?

Posted on July 29, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

This sure sounds interesting. Navigating right-of-way for land development can be like drawing blood from fiercely independent landowners. But a San Antonio technology startup is banking that it has cracked the code to prying some surface rights from Texans by … Continue reading →

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Alignments proposed for Oklahoma City-South Texas passenger rail

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Check ’em out. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) have released 10 service and route options for new and improved conventional and high-speed passenger rail service connecting Oklahoma City, … Continue reading →

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