Texas Ties Employer Audits to a New Wage Data Request and Raises Jobless Work Searches to Five; Colorado Targets Gas Lawn Mowers

The bottom line today

“An indicator of enhanced risk when considering whether to audit employers that choose not to contribute data requested by the legislature.” That is how the Texas Workforce Commission proposes to treat a business that leaves six new fields blank on its quarterly wage report [1]. The data request comes from a 2025 law; the audit lever comes from the agency [1, 2]. Same commission, better news: from today, people drawing unemployment benefits in Texas must contact five employers a week, not three [3]. In Colorado, the air quality commission wants commercial landscapers off most of their gas equipment in summer within six years [4]. New York’s utility regulator moved quickly to keep an offshore wind project on schedule [6].

TX Texas 40 TAC §815.107: six new fields on the quarterly wage report

What it does. The proposal adds to the list of what every taxed employer files each quarter. On top of total wages, each employee’s wages, names and Social Security numbers, the report would carry information on wages, industry, occupation field, full-time or part-time status, county of primary employment and remote work status [1]. A second new paragraph requires “any information requested” to help the commission conduct a biennial regional labor demand assessment [1]. Reimbursing employers and domestic employers who report annually pick up the same fields [1].

The new subsection (e) is the one to read twice. Failure to provide the data “shall be an indicator of enhanced risk” when the agency decides whether to audit [1].

Where it stands. Filed July 21 and published August 7 [1]. Comments go to TWCPolicyComments@twc.texas.gov by September 7; the earliest date the agency can adopt is September 6 [1].

The law behind it. S.B. 1786 rewrote Labor Code §204.0025. The old text said it was the Legislature’s intent that the commission, “subject to the availability of federal funding or other resources,” work with employers on better wage data [2]. The new text says the commission “shall” do so, and that enhanced filings “must include” the same six categories [2]. S.B. 1786 is mostly a higher education bill; the wage data change rides in Section 10, and the bill also requires a regional labor demand assessment to help colleges match programs to jobs [2]. It passed the House 139-7 and the Senate 30-0 [2].

Pratt’s read. The supporters’ case is in the preamble: better labor market data for economic development and school planning, and help fighting benefit fraud [1]. The agency says it surveyed national employer groups and held feedback sessions with chambers of commerce [1]. Fair enough, and occupation data is a real gap in state wage records.

The cost side is the part the agency waves through. The impact statement concedes “minimal initial costs for employers” and predicts they will fade as the fields become routine, then finds no adverse effect on small businesses because, it says, the rule places no requirements on them [1]. Both cannot be true. Someone at a 12-person contractor has to classify each worker, keep that current, and make sure the payroll vendor’s file carries it. The statute tells the commission to “work with employers” [2]. Tying blank fields to audit selection reads more like a mandate than a partnership. The commission should either make the fields plainly optional or own the requirement and count its cost.

TX Texas 40 TAC §815.28: five job contacts a week

What it does. The adopted rule raises the statewide minimum number of weekly work search contacts for unemployment claimants from three to five [3]. Local workforce development boards can still ask the commission for higher numbers in their regions [3]. It adds limited work-search exemptions for some claimants in disaster areas and for federal employees on temporary layoff during a furlough or shutdown, a change the agency says the U.S. Department of Labor recommended [3]. A companion change to §815.20 writes the agency’s existing identity verification requirements into the rule and carries out H.B. 3698’s expansion of reemployment services [3].

Where it stands. Adopted without changes, no comments received, effective today [3].

Pratt’s read. Credit where due. The commission’s reasoning is that online job searching is efficient and that the state has “the abundance of job opportunities in the thriving Texas economy” [3]. Employers fund the system through the contributions they pay with each quarterly report [1], and those same employers are the ones posting jobs that go unfilled. Five contacts is a modest ask. Nobody filed a comment against it [3].

CO Colorado Regulation Number 29: a summer phase-down for landscapers’ gas tools

What it does. The Air Quality Control Commission proposes to extend its lawn equipment rule, which since 2025 has restricted summer use of small gas equipment by state, local and federal agencies, to commercial lawn and garden operators [4]. Covered equipment is gas-powered push and hand-held string trimmers, hedge trimmers, blowers, edgers, pruners and walk-behind mowers under 10 horsepower [4]. Between June 1 and August 31, in the ozone nonattainment area, an operator could use only a set share of its covered gas inventory [4]:

• 90% in 2027
• 75% in 2028
• 60% in 2029
• 40% in 2030
• 20% in 2031
• 10% in 2032

Operators would keep records for five years and, starting March 1, 2028, file an annual report listing their equipment by type, horsepower and manufacturer, certified by a responsible official [4]. Work for emergencies, fire hazard reduction, public safety and forest, riparian or grassland management is exempt from the use limits but not from reporting [4].

Where it stands. Noticed in today’s Colorado Register. The hearing opens online November 18 and continues in Denver November 19 and 20, with initial comments and redlines due September 3 [5].

Pratt’s read. The commission’s case is the ozone map: the Denver Metro/North Front Range area is classified severe under the 2008 standard and serious under the 2015 standard, and missing attainment invites tighter federal treatment [4]. The notice says the limits cover only equipment “for which there are readily available electric alternatives” [5].

The draft calls the rule cost-effective and leans on electrification market research reported in November 2025 [4]. It does not say what a landscaping crew pays to replace most of its trimmers, blowers and mowers, or to add the batteries and charging a full summer day takes. A tiered schedule is better than a hard ban, and the draft gives operators until 2027 to start. But the business that loses here is small and local, it cannot move out of the Front Range, and its customers will pay the difference. The notice adds a warning: cost information not submitted by October 21 “will not be considered to be reasonably available” [5]. Landscapers who want their numbers in the economic analysis have until then.

NY New York Case 26-E-0333: Con Edison can serve Empire Wind at 345 kV

What it does. On an emergency basis, the Public Service Commission let Con Edison amend its tariffs to provide standby and station service above 138 kilovolts, which the old tariffs did not allow [6]. The change lets Empire Offshore Wind, an 816-megawatt project, draw power for testing behind-the-meter equipment by August 1 and for station service after it starts operating [6].

Where it stands. Effective July 21; the emergency rule expires October 18, and comments are open for 60 days after the notice [6].

Pratt’s read. The commission cites New York ISO findings that New York City’s supply would be deficient at summer peak through 2030 unless projects such as Empire Wind, now projected for July 2027, come online [6]. That is a cost problem for every large power user in Zone J. Con Edison petitioned on May 12 and had its order by July 21, with no impact on current customers [6]. A regulator that closes a tariff gap that quickly deserves the credit.

On the calendar

Texas’s work-search minimum applies from today [3]. Colorado redlines are due September 3 [5], and Texas wage-data comments close September 7 [1]. New York’s emergency order lapses October 18 [6]. Colorado’s cost information deadline is October 21, and its hearing opens November 18 [5].