Latest news with #HouseBill274
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bill targets affordability of EMS coverage for towns
(WKBN) – WKBN 27 First News has reported on local municipalities grappling with the affordability of providing EMS services to their residents. With a nationwide shortage of emergency medical services, cities and towns are looking for ways to make sure that ambulances are available when they are needed. Some local areas use private services while others staff ambulances through their fire departments. However, it's a costly endeavor. House Bill 274 would provide a mandate of EMS services for townships, villages and cities, just like what is ensured for police and fire protection, while creating grant money for those municipalities that combine or create formal shared services to save money for taxpayers. The incentive would include a $100,000 grant or 50% of operations for the first year following the combination of first responder departments. The lawmakers say this incentive will help to offset startup costs for new services and provide an incentive to decrease costs to taxpayers in the long run. The bill and the money it provides are sponsored by State Representatives David Thomas (R-Jefferson) and Thomas Hall (R-Madison Township). They say it's part of an effort to reform property taxes. By sharing services, the cost of ambulance service can be spread out. 'Our taxpayers cannot continue to pay for the equipment, personnel, and structures in every entity for each of our counties,' said Rep. Thomas. 'Our goal is to meet that reality with an encouragement to broaden the base of taxpayers contributing to the costs of services.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas House panel unanimously rejects bill to put Austin under Legislature's thumb
A bill that would have turned Texas' capital city into the "District of Austin" was dead on arrival in the House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday. In other words, the "DOA" bill was DOA. House Bill 274 by Republican Rep. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park sought to make many of the actions of the Austin City Council subject to review by the speaker of the House and the lieutenant governor. Cain had cited crime and sundry mismanagement allegations as the basis for his bill. The 11 members of the State Affairs Committee apparently thought the measure was kind of silly. Sometimes when lawmakers want to kill a bill, they try talking it to death. This time, they giggled the life out of it. More: Here's what Austin's city manager is proposing for police, property taxes in budget draft State Affairs Chairman Ken King, a Republican from the Panhandle city of Canadian, chuckled as he said Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, had made a motion to pass the bill on to the full House for consideration. Then when Geren actually voted no, there was a snicker or two. By the time King cast the final vote and announced the 11-0 tally, many on the House panel and in the committee room laughed out loud. It was unclear whether Cain found the exercise, which took less than three minutes to play out, amusing. He doesn't serve on the State Affairs Committee and he did not return a Statesman call seeking comment. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin to remain a city, and not a 'district' overseen by Legislature
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘District of Austin' bill voted down by Texas House committee
Editor's Note: The above video is KXAN's previous coverage of HB 274. AUSTIN (KXAN) — House Bill 274, otherwise known as the 'District of Austin' bill, was voted down 11-0 by the House Committee on State Affairs PAST COVERAGE | 'Throwing stones': Lawmaker behind District of Austin bill challenged in hearing The bill, which was introduced March 19, would have stripped the city of Austin of its governing authority and turned it into the District of Austin. A similar bill was filed in 2022, but it was also voted down. Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Houston, who authored the bill, previously said HB 274 would help ensure Austin remained accountable to Texas by establishing a District of Austin as the official city of the state's government. Cain cited the city's 'surging crime' as a reason for the bill; however, he did not cite a specific report for his claim about Austin's crime rates. Previously, the city of Austin released a memo, opposing the bill and calling it 'vague' and lacking clarity on how the District of Austin would be governed. In a previous hearing, state lawmakers expressed similar concerns. 'Austin's Violent Crime Rate for 2024 is 59.6% lower than Houston, 43.8% lower than Lubbock, and 21.4% lower than San Antonio according to the Texas Department of Public Safety Uniform Crime Reporting System Crime in Texas Report Top 25 Violent Crime Comparison report,' the memo said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Throwing stones': Lawmaker behind District of Austin bill challenged in hearing
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas leaders challenged a Houston-area representative who authored House Bill 274, which would strip the city of Austin of its governing authority and turn it into the District of Austin. 'House Bill 274 is a simple bill, it seeks to establish a District of Austin as the official city of Texas government,' said Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Houston, at the House State Affairs Committee Wednesday. 'Ensuring the capital city remains accountable to the state that it represents.' It's not the first time a bill has been filed to force state control onto the city of Austin. North Texas Rep. Jared Patterson filed a similar bill in 2022. The director of the Donaldson Center for Communication Studies at the University of Texas told KXAN that Patterson's 2022 bill was nothing more than 'a heavy dose of political theater.' That description could also describe Wednesday's hearing on HB 274. 'For years, staffers, constituents and even our own family members visiting the capital face rising fears due to surging crime in Austin,' Cain said. 'The city's leadership has repeatedly made reckless decisions: defunding the police, refusing to prosecute violent criminals and allowing businesses to go unchecked.' Several state lawmakers on the committee challenged Cain on those remarks, including Rep. Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas. Anchía pulled up a website analyzing crime data, which rates cities on an A through F scale. He proceeded to quiz Cain on crime ratings for Deer Park, a city in Cain's district, versus the city of Austin. 'Austin is actually slightly better … violent crime grade was actually a C, rather than a C- for Deer Park. Should we use the Mississippi example and do that to provide a special district to Deer Park?' Anchía said. Cain rebutted that Deer Park isn't the state's capital nor is a majority of state government conducted there. He also said 'we've consistently had issues with this city' and that it wasn't necessarily crime that led to his bill. However, his presentation of the bill focused on crime as a central arguement. 'There's a parable in the Bible about a glass house and throwing stones. I think it's John 8:1-11. I would ask you to reflect,' Anchía finished. You can watch the full interaction here. Cain didn't cite a specific report for his claim about Austin's crime rates, but said that violent crime in the city had increased since 2019. So what does the data say? Data from the city of Austin and the Texas Department of Public Safety both show similar crime trends for Austin. The overall crime rate, as reported to DPS, decreased roughly 8% from 2019 to 2023, according to DPS' 2023 Crime in Texas report. That report shows a 26% increase in Austin's violent crime between 2019 to 2023. But it also shows a 7% decrease between 2022 to 2023. Some police departments, like Deer Park in Harris County, are not large enough for inclusion in DPS's annual Crime in Texas report. The Harris County Sheriff's Office reported a 14.7% increase in its crime rate during the same five-year time period. It also reported a more significant increase in crime over that extended time period — up by nearly 40% from 2019 to 2023 and by more than 10% from 2022 to 2023. After the city of Austin moved to reform its police budget in 2020, state lawmakers stepped in to make sure that didn't happen. In Texas, large cities can't cut any funding from their police department without losing property and sales tax revenue. For consecutive years since then, APD has received a 'record high' budget as a result. It received a roughly $18 million bump this past budget season. City policymakers continuously remind the public during budget sessions that the APD budget can't be cut due to state law. Texas Legislature passes bill requiring largest cities to hold elections before cutting police funds As for 'refusing to prosecute,' city government has no control over court cases. Whether or not violent criminals are prosecuted is the responsibility of Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza, an elected official. KXAN has done extensive reporting on the data of Garza's tenure. The city of Austin directly addressed Cain's bill in a memo released Wednesday night: HB 274 District of AustinDownload It unsurprisingly opposed the notion, and the city's Intergovernmental Relations Office wrote that the bill is 'vague' and lacks clarity on how the District of Austin would be governed. State lawmakers also expressed those concerns during the committee meeting. The memo also responded to the bill's rhetoric about Austin's crime rate, economic opportunity and governing style. 'Austin's Violent Crime Rate for 2024 is 59.6% lower than Houston, 43.8% lower than Lubbock, and 21.4% lower than San Antonio according to the Texas Department of Public Safety Uniform Crime Reporting System Crime in Texas Report Top 25 Violent Crime Comparison report,' reads the memo, addressing Cain's chief argument for the District of Austin being necessary. It's unclear what Cain referred to by saying Austin was 'allowing businesses to go unchecked.' The city of Austin responded to that as well, writing that Austin has been 'the best performing economy among the top 50 metros in the United States over the last five years,' with its GDP up 39%. 'Austin ranks eighth for 4.5% growth over the last year,' the memo reads, 'Austin is the tenth best performing in job growth among the top 50 metros, adding 22,700 jobs, or 1.7% growth, in the year ending in December.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Today at the Roundhouse, March 6
Mar. 6—Weather forecasts are warning of a blustery day in Santa Fe, but it's unclear what political winds might be blowing in the Roundhouse. Here's a look at which hearings and events to keep an eye out for on Thursday, March 6: Crime and drug trafficking: The Senate could take up a bill, Senate Bill 70, to expand New Mexico's Racketeering Act to include more offenses. Meanwhile, the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee is set to hear a proposal, House Bill 274, to make trafficking fentanyl a first-degree felony punishable by a life sentence. Game commission reform: An effort to overhaul the state's Department of Game and Fish, Senate Bill 5, goes before its first House committee in the morning — the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee — after passing the Senate last weekend. Hitting the hardwood: Legislators will trade in their suits for sneakers for the annual legislative charity basketball game. This year's game pitting the House Aggies against the Senate Lobos will be held at Santa Fe Indian School. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. Money raised by the game benefits the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center's patient care fund. Climate Crisis Day: The Sierra Club's Rio Grande Chapter will hold a rally in the Capitol rotunda focused on various climate-related legislative proposals.
