New York Finalizes Its Social Media Feed Rules; Colorado Proposes a 0.86% Leave Premium and Halves a Food Business Credit

The bottom line today

What does it cost to keep a teenager off an algorithmic feed? New York’s attorney general has put a number on it: about $95 a year in lost revenue for every minor the law shields, and at most $144 million a year across all platforms [2]. Her office has now adopted the rule that turns the SAFE for Kids Act into an operating requirement, with no substantial changes from last fall’s draft [1]. The size exemptions are well built. The annual age-check certification is the cost that stays. In Colorado, the paid leave program sets a 2027 premium and quietly drops a renewal chore for employers who run their own plans, while a 2026 law shrinks a credit that small grocers and farms had counted on [4, 5, 8].

NY New York SAFE for Kids Act rule: age checks and parental consent before an algorithmic feed

What it does. The rule adds Part 700 to Title 13 of the state’s regulations to implement Article 45 of the General Business Law [1]. As proposed, a covered operator may not serve an addictive feed, or send nighttime notifications, to a user unless an age assurance method has shown the user is not a minor, or a parent has given verifiable consent [2]. Each age assurance method must be certified every year, with testing of false positive rates for ages 0 to 17, false negative rates for ages 18 to 30, and resistance to circumvention [2].

Platforms with fewer than 5 million monthly active users, or fewer than 20,000 monthly active users who are New York minors, are exempt, unless the platform’s primary user base is minors [2]. A platform that outgrows the exemption gets 180 days to comply the first time [2].

Where it stands. The notice of adoption was filed July 14 and published in the State Register on July 29 [1]. The office received 78 comments, including from platform operators, age assurance firms and trade groups, and made “no substantial revisions” [1]. The rule takes effect 180 days out, which this column counts as January 10 or January 25, 2027, depending on whether the clock runs from filing or publication [1, 2].

Pratt’s read. The office’s case is the Legislature’s: that New York minors are “in the midst of a mental health crisis caused by harmful social media use,” driven by feeds built from data about each user [2]. That is a serious finding, and the law is settled. The question for business is how it is administered.

Credit first. The office ran the cost of age checks against platforms of different sizes and set the exemption where, in its words, compliance below that line is not “commercially reasonable and technically feasible” [2]. That keeps a regional forum or a startup app out of a certification regime built for the six largest platforms.

The critique is in the ongoing obligations. Annual third-party certification, testing data sized to New York’s census population and appeal procedures are recurring costs, not one-time ones [2]. As proposed, section 700.9(b) also barred operators from withholding features from minors, degrading them or raising their price except as the feed rules require; the final notice lists only clarifying edits to that subsection [1, 2]. A platform that loses ad revenue on a user it cannot target may not recover it from that user. The $144 million estimate is a static one, which the office itself says likely overstates the long-run cost [2]. It also leaves out the age assurance spending [2].

CO Colorado FAMLI rules: a 0.86% premium for 2027 and no more eight-year renewals

What it does. The Division of Family and Medical Leave Insurance proposes amendments across its rulebook [7]. The premium rule sets the 2027 rate at “eighty-six hundredths of one percent of wages per employee” [4]. On a $60,000 salary that is $516 for the year, by this column’s count, part of which the employer may deduct from the worker’s pay under the statute [4]. The same rule lets a challenge to penalties and interest, not just premiums, go to reconsideration within 49 days of the due date or the assessment, whichever is later [4]. And an employer with an approved private plan reports its size at registration but no longer every year [4].

The private plan rule changes more. Today, approval of a private plan “expires after eight years,” and the employer must apply to renew at least 60 days before [6]. The proposal replaces that with approval that “lasts indefinitely” until a voluntary or involuntary termination [5].

Where it stands. The notices appeared in the July 25 Colorado Register, and the hearing on all six FAMLI rules is August 18 at 3 p.m. [7].

Pratt’s read. This is a good package for employers. A premium written into the rule gives payroll departments a figure to budget against before the year starts [4]. Ending the eight-year renewal removes a filing that bought the state nothing a termination process does not already cover [5, 6]. The division keeps its hold where it matters: an employer that leaves a private plan stays on the state plan for at least three years, or pays the premiums it would have owed [5].

CO Colorado HB 26-1289: the small food business credit shrinks to $5 million

What it does. The Department of Agriculture proposes rules for the Small Food Business Recovery and Resiliency Tax Credit to carry out House Bill 26-1289 [8]. The annual cap on credit certificates drops from $10 million to $5 million [8]. Review time for an application grows from 90 days to 150 [8]. Because the law struck the department’s authority to issue letters of eligibility, the rules delete the process that let a buyer confirm before purchase that equipment would qualify [8]. Retailers, and suppliers serving them, are reviewed first; small family farms that sell to those retailers come third [8]. Supplies, packaging, standard vehicles, labor, installation and warranties are now expressly excluded [8].

Where it stands. Hearing August 20 at 1 p.m. [7].

Pratt’s read. The department’s case is focus: the changes steer the money back to healthy food in low-income and underserved areas, its stated purpose [8]. Fair enough. But a credit that is halved, paid only after the purchase, with no advance answer and a five-month wait, is a weaker incentive for a corner grocer deciding whether to buy a walk-in cooler. The department itself urges applicants to check how much credit remains “before incurring any” expenses [8]. That is honest advice. It is also the risk the eligibility letter used to absorb.

NY New York Index REC white paper: settle renewable contracts on output, not the clock

What it does. The Public Service Commission is considering a staff and NYSERDA white paper that would settle future Index REC contracts against a technology output weighted index rather than an around-the-clock price, and settle at $0.01 per megawatt-hour whenever the local price falls below zero [3]. Holders of existing contracts, offshore wind included, would get a one-time choice to accept a modified contract at an adjusted strike price [3]. The two proposals are estimated to save ratepayers $4 billion to $9 billion over the next two decades [3]. A separate notice opens the draft 2026 Clean Energy Standard biennial review, which addresses how federal energy and trade policy changes have affected the state’s progress, including offshore wind [3].

Where it stands. Comments are open for 60 days from July 29 [3].

Pratt’s read. Credit where due. Paying solar and wind for what the grid gets, when it gets it, is how a business would write the contract, and the existing-contract change is voluntary [3]. Large users should file in support. Developers will price the new risk into future bids, and the savings figure is the agency’s estimate, not a bill credit yet.

On the calendar

Colorado’s FAMLI hearing is August 18, and the food credit hearing August 20 [7]. The 0.86% premium would apply from January 1, 2027 [4]. New York’s Index REC and Clean Energy Standard comments close 60 days after July 29, which this column counts as September 27 [3]. The SAFE for Kids rule takes effect in January 2027 [1].