The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - August 12, 2024

Episode Date: August 12, 2024

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Howdy folks, today is Monday, August 12th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lausches, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday that he had opened an investigation into possible violations of state law amid allegations that an energy provider had engaged in fraud, waste, and improper use of taxpayer dollars, the latest spate of bad allegations regarding Centerpoint and how its conduct affected readiness during Hurricane Beryl, a storm that left millions of Texans without power. If the investigation uncovers unlawful activity, that activity will be met with the full force of the law. Hurricane Beryl, a Category 1 storm, made landfall on July 8, leaving over 2 million homes and businesses without power. Officials and residents quickly became frustrated with Centerpoint Energy's slow progress on repairs that left some residents without power for nearly two weeks. There were at least eight heat-related deaths in Harris County. Since then, lawmakers have lambasted Centerpoint

leadership over an alleged failure to manage vegetation near transmission lines, a significant cause of the widespread power outages. But State Senator Paul Bettencourt levied more serious allegations during a special Texas Senate hearing last month related to the company's $800 million lease agreement for massive generators that proved unusable in the aftermath of Beryl. Next, Meta, Google, TikTok, and X have all been formally issued document requests as part of an ongoing investigation conducted by the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs.

The document requests stem from a May committee hearing where testimony was offered from whistleblowers that included allegations of election interference at the big tech platforms. Senator Brian Hughes, chair of the committee, stated, If these committees decide not to comply with our requests for documents, we will be issuing subpoenas. Texas is serious about election integrity. Hughes and the committee approved the authorization for the subpoenas in May

following a motion from Senator Betancourt that compels both the procurement and inspection of documents from the big tech firms, in addition to having an employee or officer from the companies appear before the committee. In other news, legislation that will expand the federal judiciary to meet the growing caseload has passed the U.S. Senate, marking a point of bipartisan unanimity after the bill passed without opposition. The legislation, entitled the Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved, or JUDGES Act of 2024, adds new district judges to states nationwide, including Texas, where Congress found judges are being overburdened with growing dockets. According to the legislation, Congress has not created a new judgeship since 2003, which is the longest period the body has gone without creating a new judicial position in response to demand since 1789.

A study by the United States Judicial Conference found that since 2022, filings in the federal courts have increased by 30 percent, and as of March 2023, there were almost 687,000 pending cases. Also, the Dallas to Fort Worth high-speed rail plans are moving forward with two options for entering Dallas to reach the downtown station proposed by Texas Central Railroad. At the North Central Texas Council of Governments meeting on Thursday, August 8th, the Regional Transportation Council voted to allow the route consultants to proceed with engineering work on two alternative routes into Dallas from Fort Worth. In June, Dallas unanimously passed a resolution that it characterized as a pause

on plans to extend an anticipated high-speed rail line through its downtown area while it conducts an economic impact study. Last but not least, results from a new University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs survey revealed that the majority of Texans find housing affordability to be a concern and would support government policies designed to increase affordable housing options. As the fourth survey in a five-year series conducted by the UH Hobby School of Public Affairs to study Texas's changing population, the latest data was collected in both

English and Spanish from 2,257 Texans between the dates of June 20th and July 1st. When asked if they consider housing affordability to be a problem in their part of Texas, 90% of respondents shared that they do, 46% said they consider it to be somewhat of a problem, and 44% labeled housing affordability as a big problem. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.