The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - August 30, 2024

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

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Howdy folks, today is Friday, August 3rd, 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, State Representative Sean Thierry is switching parties to the GOP, she announced Friday at an event in Washington, D.C. held by Moms for Liberty. Theory said in a release, quote, The Democratic Party has veered so far left, so deep into the progressive abyss, that it now champions policies I cannot in good conscience support. Policies like promoting sex changes for vulnerable children and dismantling Title IX protections for women in sports. That's why I am leaving the left and joining the party of family,

faith, and freedom. Theory made the switch after a bruising primary in which a progressive challenger, Lauren Simmons, unseated her in a runoff. The state representative bucked her party on two big votes in the Texas House last session. She voted for the law banning gender modification procedures on minors and to prohibit sexually explicit materials in school libraries. Next, in their first televised interview since being officially selected for the Democratic presidential ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz sat down with CNN to cover, among other things, what Harris plans to do as president with the economy, energy policy, and issues at the border. CNN's Dana Bash began the interview by asking Harris what voters can expect on day one if she is elected. Harris said that among her highest priorities is to support

and strengthen the middle class. After being pressed to be more specific, Harris said that among her highest priorities is to support and strengthen the middle class. After being pressed to be more specific, Harris said she would implement her plan for an opportunity economy. Harris said she is planning on, quote, extending the child tax credit to $6,000 for families for the first year of their child's life. And, in previous weeks, she has mentioned a ban on price gouging by food suppliers and grocery stores would be a feature of her administration. During the interview, Harris again touched on price gouging and added that one of her proposals to address housing would be to institute a tax credit of $25,000 for first-time homebuyers. In other news, the Public Utility

Commission announced the 17-generation projects approved for low-interest loans from the state to fund a portion of capital costs. The Texas Energy Fund was created by the Texas legislature and approved by statewide voters in 2023 to provide 3% interest loans to companies for up to 60% of the power plant's capital cost. $5 billion was appropriated in the budget for that purpose. It was a more direct attempt to drive investment toward the construction of natural gas power plants that hadn't been built due to market imbalances caused by the federal government's production tax credit. Over the last decade, renewable energy companies have flocked to the state of Texas both for its land availability and to reap the financial benefits of a market environment favorable to those who could obtain

the PTC. After a year spent discussing and approving the program's guidelines and application, the PUC finally announced the TEF's first beneficiaries. The projects total 9,781 megawatts of new electric generation capacity. Last but not least, newly revealed evidence indicates that the Houston Housing Authority and a developer were aware of environmental hazards adjacent to the site of a $148 million low-income housing project, but neither disclosed the information on applications for state financial backing. In an email sent to the former CEO of HHA on September 5, 2019, Senior Vice President of the NRP Group, Jason Arechiga, wrote that a portion of the property at Houston's 800 Middle Street was, quote, off-limits. Arechiga followed with a memo outlining known hazards adjacent to a planned housing

project for up to 800 families. In the memo, NRP, which is also an equity partner with HHA on the project, states that the central tract of the property, the site of the housing, was previously the location of an industrial development that had undergone some remediation, but that, quote, residual contamination does remain present on this portion of the project area. NRP also noted that the adjacent northwest and northeast tracks had been landfills and that the latter, quote, appears to contain significant contamination issues which remain unresolved. Thanks for listening.

The Texan is off for Labor Day, so check back on Tuesday, September 3rd for the next edition of The Daily Rundown. 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.