Capital Highlights Week of July 29 – August 2

Expanded passenger rail again on the table

A huge pot of federal rail funding and chronic highway congestion are prompting some Texas officials to again consider expanding passenger rail in Texas, according to The Texas Standard.
Congress set aside $66 billion three years ago in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for rail projects across the country, sparking some interest in increasing passenger rail service between the state’s major cities.
“It’s like the perfect storm forming, because 20 years ago if we talked about passenger rail in Texas, it would fall on deaf ears,” said Peter LeCody of the Texas Rail Advocates.
The state’s population is projected to increase from 30 million now to 47 million by 2050, sparking concerns of increased dependence on cars and more road congestion.
A plan to build a high-speed rail between Dallas and Houston with speeds of more than 200 miles per hour is back on  the drawing board after Amtrak shelved it due to difficulty acquiring land and leadership issues, The Tribune reported.
The Texas Central route has acquired about 30% of the land needed to build the Dallas-Houston line, which is expected to require more than $30 billion in financing from governmental and private sources. A number of private landowners remain steadfastly opposed to giving up their land for the proposed line.

Uvalde school officer pleads not guilty

A former Uvalde school police officer pleaded not guilty last week to charges of failing to protect children killed and wounded in the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
Adrian Gonzales is one of two officers who have been indicted after the slow response to the shooter by nearly 400 law enforcement personnel, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police Chief Pete Arredondo were indicted by a Uvalde grand jury in June. Arredondo pleaded not guilty on July 10.
“Mr. Gonzales’ position is he did not violate school district policy or state law,” said Nico LaHood, the former district attorney for Bexar County. LaHood is representing Gonzales.
The May 22, 2022, attack was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history. Gonzales, one of the first officers to arrive, was indicted on 29 charges of not confronting the shooter, even after hearing gunshots while standing in a school hallway.

Inmate phone fees to be slashed across state

Fees that Texas inmates pay to make phone calls will be cut drastically under new federal regulations to take place next year, The Tribune reported.
The Federal Communications Commission voted last week to cap the price of inmate phone calls and video calls as low as 5 cents per minute. Right now, rates across Texas prisons and jails average 23 cents a minute.
Most of the revenue from these calls — 60% — goes to the contractor, with the rest going to the state.
“The FCC’s order is a massive victory for incarcerated people, their families, and their allies who have spent decades fighting the exploitative prison telecom industry,” the Prison Policy Initiative wrote in a statement. 

CenterPoint CEO apologizes for Beryl outages

The head of CenterPoint Energy publicly apologized for failing to quickly respond to massive outages caused by Hurricane Beryl, The News reported.
Jason Wells told the Public Utility Commission last week that he took “personal accountability” for the outages, which affected hundreds of thousands of customers throughout the coastal region.
At least 36 people died because of the hurricane. Many of the deaths were attributed to heat.
“While we cannot erase the frustrations or difficulties so many of our customers endured, I, and my entire leadership team, will not make excuses,” Wells added. “We will improve and act with a sense of urgency.”
At its peak, about 2.26 million CenterPoint customers were without power. Damage from the storm is estimated at $4.6 billion. The company is seeking permission to harden its wire system, with the costs to be passed along to its ratepayers.

$95 million in housing credits announced

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs has awarded more than $95 million in housing tax credits to help finance the development or rehabilitation of more than 60 rental properties across the state. The awards will help developers build or repair more than 4,400 units offering affordable rents to qualified families.
“The Housing Tax Credit Program serves as a crucial factor in making affordable housing available to hard working families, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities,” said TDHCA Executive Director Bobby Wilkinson.
A list of application awards can be found at https://tinyurl.com/4jztsjp3.

Native bighorn sheep being released in West Texas

Desert bighorn sheep are being reintroduced in Franklin Mountains State Park this fall by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in hopes of restoring a population that was once extinct in Texas. The Austin American-Statesman reported repopulation of the herd at the park will being in October.
Currently, there are 11 free-ranging herds with approximately 1,500 desert bighorn sheep across Far West Texas, from Big Bend to El Paso. Overhunting and disease led to the sheep’s decline in the 1960s. Competition from the aoudad, an African species introduced in Texas in the 1950s by private ranchers, also contributed to the bighorn sheep’s decimation.

Texas still leads nation in job creation

Texas continues to outpace the nation and lead all states for jobs added over the past 12 months, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. The state’s civilian workforce reached a new high of 15.311 million in June.
“Our civilian labor force of 15.3 million people in Texas continues to prosper and break records each month,” said TWC Commissioner Alberto Treviño III.
Construction jobs grew by 4.4% last year, far outpacing the national growth rate and leading the state’s job growth.

Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: [email protected]