To date, AB 931 hasn't been discussed by the City Council's "State Legislation Committee" whose chair (chosen by Mayor Robert Garcia) has been Councilman Al Austin and no other Council incumbent has agendized the bill for full Council discussion. AB 931 is now just a few votes away from final legislative approval.

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Likewise not discussed by the State Legislation Committee or the full Council has been SB 905, a bill that could let bars remain open until 4 a.m. in just nine cities which include Long Beach because Mayor Garcia (who has no policysetting authority) told the bill's author that Long Beach wants it. (Downtown LB interests want it; Garcia dragooned LB into the bill without public discussion or Council approval and says he favors limiting to downtown LB and "special events"; a Council vote would be needed to apply it to LB and limit it to downtown.)

AB 931 and SB 905 are both co-authored by Assemblyman Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, a Democrat whose district covers parts of South L.A. and part of Huntington Park. Among the employees in Assemblyman Jones-Sawyer's L.A. office is Daysha Austin, who is Councilman Austin's wife.

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In 2017, the Council's State Legislation Committee (Austin + Mungo + Gonzalez) didn't discuss SB 35, a bill favored by multi-unit housing developers that in specified circumstances reduced local land-use decisionmaking and erased a number of the public's CEQA appeal rights. Neither the Mayor nor any Council incumbent agendized SB 35 for Council discussion, letting SB 35 advance to passage (the City remained "neutral") despite the fact that Austin's Committee had publicly voted to recommend -- and brought to the full Council for its voted approval -- a 2017 "State Legislative Agenda" that said the City would oppose to Sac'to legislation that threatened local control (including on land use.)

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In 2017, Councilman Austin indicated he's considering a possible state Senate run. He's term limited for Council in 2020 unless LB voters approve a Term Limits Charter Amendment on a costly November LB special election ballot sought by Garcia after LB's regular 2018 election cycle.

In the second half of 2017, Austin set up a formal political committee ("Al Austin for Senate 2020") that as of July 31, 2018 reported nearly $15,000 cash on hand. (Its single biggest contributor to date is "Riverwalk Builder, LLC": $4,400 in December 2017.)

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Speculation has also swirled about whether Mayor Garcia might seek to fill the state Senate seat if incumbent Lara wins statewide office in 2020. Others speculate that Garcia's Term Limits measure (if passed by LB voters in November) might induce Austin not to seek the Senate seat (and instead seek a third Council term) which would keep a Sac'to path clear for Garcia or perhaps his former Council office aide now-Councilwoman Lena Gonzalez or perhaps Councilman Roberto Uranga.

In November 2017, Councilman Austin proposed creation of a City "Ethics Commission," a nice item to list on a 2020 campaign flier. Mayor Garcia waited until after the June 2018 election cycle ended to unveil a toothless Charter Amendment for an "Ethics Commission" whose majority members would be picked by Garcia and LB's increasingly robotic City Auditor.

On August 14, Mayor Garcia named Councilman Austin among the co-authors of the ballot argument for politician-majority-picked "Ethics Commission."

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