Texas Businesses Take the Voting Rights Fight to Washington

The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature this week passed a major bill overhauling election laws in the state, the latest of many to tighten voting rules this year. In Texas, as elsewhere, many businesses and industry groups have spoken out against the move, arguing that it is bad for the economy.

Texas has persuaded many companies to relocate or expand operations there with its business-friendly policies. But in taking a stand on voting rights, some companies have invited scrutiny of their words and actions, especially with political donations. Balancing this against the tightening of some of the country’s strictest voting rules will test companies’ social pledges with financial imperatives.

There is also the risk of political blowback for speaking out in a state with a Republican governor and a Republican senator embracing restrictive voting rules as a platform for potential presidential runs in 2024.

“It is about ensuring that all Texans trust the outcome of every election in Texas,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican who presides over the Texas Senate, said in a statement.

In the day or so after the voting bill passed, the first reaction of Texas-based businesses that spoke out on ballot access appeared to pivot to Washington, putting pressure on Congress to pass federal voting protections.

Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging service was fined nearly $270 million by Irish authorities on Thursday for not being transparent about how it uses data collected from people on the service, in a case that represents a big test of Europe’s ability to enforce its landmark data privacy law.

The 266-page decision is the first major ruling against Facebook under the European Union’s far-reaching General Data Protection Regulation, or G.D.P.R., a three-year-old law that many have criticized for not being properly enforced. Irish regulators said WhatsApp was not clear with users about how data was shared with other Facebook properties like its main social network and Instagram.

WhatsApp said it would appeal the decision, setting up what is expected to be a lengthy legal battle.

The G.D.P.R. was heralded as the world’s most comprehensive data privacy law when it was enacted, and championed as a model for the rest of the world to counter the data-hoarding practices of Facebook, Google and other internet giants. But the law has resulted in few fines or penalties, and many have said it has not fulfilled its promise.

Regulators in Ireland have been at the center of the debate. Under the law, companies must be regulated by the countries where they have their European headquarters. The European offices of Facebook, Google, Twitter, Apple and scores of other companies are based in Ireland because of its low corporate tax rates and other benefits.

• Paramount Pictures on Wednesday scrapped a plan to release a much-anticipated “Top Gun” sequel in theaters in November, citing uncertainty about the willingness of moviegoers to brave the fast-spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus, particularly overseas. “Top Gun: Maverick,” with Tom Cruise returning to the rebel fighter pilot role that made him a superstar, was rescheduled for theatrical release in May.

• Wells Fargo postponed its broader return to office until Oct. 18 from Oct. 4 for U.S. employees who are working from home, the bank’s chief operating officer Scott Powell wrote in a memo to staff Wednesday. The company will give employees at least 30 days of advance notice if those plans change.

• Tesla was ordered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the main federal auto safety agency, to hand over a trove of data on its Autopilot driver-assistance system as part of an investigation into Tesla cars crashing into fire trucks or other emergency vehicles parked on roads and highways. In a letter dated Tuesday, the NHTSA told the electric carmaker to produce detailed information on how Autopilot works, how it ensures drivers are paying attention to the road and whether there are any limits on where it can be turned on.

As the green building movement evolves beyond energy efficiency into new areas of sustainability, one promising effort focuses on finding new life for used building materials.

“Just in the past year or two, the conversation around deconstruction and reuse has really catapulted,” said Shawn Wood, a construction waste specialist for the City of Portland, Ore., which he believes is the first municipality in the country to adopt an ordinance requiring certain homes to be deconstructed, rather than demolished.

Deconstruction ordinances can help reduce waste, but more demand for salvaged materials is needed to really drive the market, he said. Interest is ticking up among municipal leaders and even Google as the construction industry tries to reduce its carbon footprint, reports Lisa Prevost for The New York Times.

But there are challenges to scaling up the effort for large commercial projects:

• Using salvaged materials isn’t necessarily a money saver if the materials have to be refurbished and stored.

• Older materials don’t necessarily adhere to new building codes and certifications.

• Structures built in the 1960s or later include more composite materials that are difficult to take apart and reuse.

Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong’s biggest carrier, has begun disciplinary proceedings against flight attendants and pilots who have refused to get Covid-19 vaccines, one of the first examples of an airline enforcing a vaccination mandate.

“We continue to review the future employment of those who are not vaccinated and assess whether they can continue to be employed as aircrew with Cathay Pacific,” a company spokesperson said in an email, following a policy announced in June that all air crew must be fully vaccinated by the end of August.

The carrier, which now operates all flights with fully vaccinated aircrew, employs 13,500 people in Hong Kong, according to its latest half-year report.

The spokesperson said that the vast majority of Hong Kong employees — 93 percent — had booked or received their vaccinations as of Thursday, including 99 percent of pilots and 93 percent of cabin crew.

But a number of those who remain, the company said, may risk losing their jobs. The airline said that most of the unvaccinated employees were exempt from its vaccine mandate because they had valid medical reasons or were on long-term leave.

The stringent policy — which other airlines like United Airlines, Air Canada and SWISS also adopted — is harsher than that of many other airlines, which have mostly focused on encouraging their employees to get shots. Delta Air Lines, for example, has said that workers who are not vaccinated by Nov. 1 will have to pay an additional $200 per month to remain on the airline’s health plan. More companies are considering imposing such fees on the unvaccinated, following the airline’s lead.

Apple said on Wednesday that it was adjusting its App Store policies to allow certain kinds of applications to do business more directly with their customers.

Under the change, so-called reader apps, which include Netflix and Spotify, will be permitted to include a link within their apps to direct users to set up or manage their accounts on the individual company’s website, rather than through the App Store.

That would let those companies avoid paying the traditional 30 percent fee that Apple charges when people make payments for things like subscriptions on the App Store. Apple had long prevented companies from steering their users to their own websites, which would have deprived it of that 30 percent cut. These reader apps “provide previously purchased content or content subscriptions for digital magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music and video,” according to the company.

Apple said the change related to an agreement with the Japanese Fair Trade Commission, which had been investigating the tech giant’s App Store policies.

Phil Schiller, the Apple executive who oversees the App Store, said in a statement that the change would “help developers of reader apps make it easier for users to set up and manage their apps and services, while protecting their privacy and maintaining their trust.”