Border money. Governor Greg Abbott said Friday he wants to put “as much as possible” of the $7.5 billion federal reimbursement for Operation Lone Star toward property tax relief, Texas Scorecard reported. Abbott said the final split will be worked out with lawmakers and that part of the money must keep paying for border operations. Texas has also applied for its share of $3 billion in border reimbursement from the Department of Justice, his office said.
Bexar County. A federal jury in San Antonio found Bexar County liable Monday for a sheriff’s office traffic stop program that violated the Fourth Amendment rights of Houston driver Alek Schott, the Institute for Justice, which represented him, said. A deputy stopped Schott on Interstate 35 in March 2022 after a tip passed through a WhatsApp group chat, which the deputy testified he believed came from a man at a federal fusion center in Laredo. Schott was held 76 minutes, and the jury awarded him $76, one dollar for each minute. The Institute for Justice said it will ask the court to bar the county from using baseless stops as a tool for warrantless searches.
Campus speech. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals hears arguments at 9 a.m. Monday in New Orleans on the University of Texas System’s appeal of an injunction blocking Senate Bill 2972, KXAN reported. The law requires public universities to restrict several forms of protected speech after 10 p.m. and during the last two weeks of a semester. Federal District Judge Alan Ezra blocked it last October in a suit brought by student groups represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. The Texas Attorney General’s office, representing the system, argues the law sets content-neutral rules on time, place and manner.
City contracts. Austin Chief Financial Officer Ed Van Eenoo told a Texas House committee Wednesday that an audit of 25 city-funded social service providers found 76 percent of the contracts “failed to meet one or more performance expectations,” Texas Scorecard reported. The House Select Committee on Governmental Oversight, chaired by Rep. Cody Vasut of Angleton, took testimony on how local governments spend public money on consultants and nongovernmental organizations. Asked about consequences for providers that miss targets, Van Eenoo said, “right now, there are not good consequences in place for that contract.”
Brownsville. Governor Abbott broke ground Wednesday on Saronic Technologies’ Port Alpha shipyard at the Port of Brownsville, a private investment of more than $3 billion to build autonomous and manned ships, his office said. The office said the yard will generate up to 10,000 jobs and open with 150,000 gross tons of annual shipbuilding capacity.
Alberta. Finance Canada briefing notes released to CBC News under access-to-information law show Ottawa studying a possible $18 billion fiscal shock, corporate head office flight and a move of Albertans to neighboring provinces if Alberta leaves Canada, CBC reported Saturday. The notes call federal pension laws “flawed” for handling an Alberta exit from the Canada Pension Plan. Albertans vote October 19 on whether to remain in Canada or hold a future vote to leave.
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