The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - July 2, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Tuesday, July 2nd, 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, Congressman Lloyd Doggett became the first federal Democratic official to call on President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race following last week's debate with former President Donald Trump. The statement followed an interview where former Speaker Nancy Pelosi told MSNBC, quote, I think it's a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition? And so when people ask that question, it's legitimate of both candidates. Doggett's statement reads, quote, President Biden has continued to run substantially behind

Starting point is 00:00:51 Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump. I had hoped this debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not. Instead of reassuring voters, the president failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump's many lies. Our overriding consideration must be who has the best hope of saving our democracy from an authoritarian takeover by a criminal and his gang. I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same. Next, the Supreme Court of the United States has decided to review a lower court's decision in a case involving Texas' pornographic website age verification law. The case, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, began after House Bill 1811 was passed during the 88th legislature. The law requires a website that intentionally publishes,

Starting point is 00:01:47 quote, sexual material harmful to minors to verify the user's identity through digital identification, a third-party verification system that uses government-issued identification, or a, quote, commercially reasonable method that relies on public or private transactional data to verify the age of an individual. For a website to be subject to the age verification measures, more than one-third of its content must be deemed sexual material harmful to minors.

Starting point is 00:02:16 In other news, the Biden administration's pause on liquefied natural gas exporting permits has been paused by a Louisiana federal judge, finding that the plaintiff states, including Texas, have standing to challenge the policy. At the beginning of 2024, the Biden administration, through the Department of Energy, announced it would henceforth refuse to approve permits for the construction of new liquefied natural gas exporting facilities. It was part of the administration's plan to, quote, tackle the climate crisis at home. Louisiana, Texas, and 14 other red states sued the administration over the directive, saying it, quote, flouted the regulatory process

Starting point is 00:02:56 and upends the oil and gas industry. Also, the estimated cost of Texas' pair of laws against the Environmental, Social, and Governance Movement, also known as ESG, was based on faulty data, according to a new report from the American Energy Institute. A March analysis by TXP and released by the Texas Association of Business pegged the cost in, quote, lost economic activity from the 2021 Texas Legislature's Senate Bills 13 and 19 to be nearly $700 million. The pair of laws, among other things, forbade municipalities from seeking financing at banks deemed to be discriminating against oil and gas companies or firearms manufacturers. The pair was passed as a counter to the then-growing ESG movement within the world of capital. Portions of the business community, enough to get TAB to start pushing the envelope

Starting point is 00:03:50 on the issue, view those laws as artificially increasing their cost burden by limiting the financial institutions with whom municipalities may seek financing. State officials countered that businesses should not be actively adopting ESG policies designed to pressure or impair the fossil fuel and firearm industries. Last but not least, after public outcry, a new federal lawsuit, and a contentious public meeting, the Kima City Council voted in a 3-2 decision to cancel a summer concert series that closed a popular entertainment district street. But the city continues to face litigation over plans to close the street permanently. The Discover Kima Music Festival, approved by city administrator Aaron Smith using hotel occupancy tax revenues, closed 6th Street in the city's Lighthouse District on several Friday nights in June to set up a street

Starting point is 00:04:42 stage for live bands. Bar owners on 6th Street say they were only given a few days' notice before the first concert. City Council member Doug Meisinger, a former music promoter, said he too was caught off guard by the festival. Quote, I got a call saying, what is KimaFest? said Meisinger, who added his answer to the caller would, quote, haunt him forever. He said, I'm pretty sure if the city of Kima was putting on a music festival, I would know about it. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan,

Starting point is 00:05:13 please be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - July 2, 2024

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