AUSTIN, Texas — Austin continues to attract workers, especially remote workers, with a new study finding that the area saw the largest increase of any U.S. metro in remote workers. 

An analysis published by The New York Times’ The Upshot–a section of the paper that uses data to analyze everyday life–found that Austin experienced more growth in remote workers than any other U.S. city during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Upshot looked at data from the American Community Survey the year right before the pandemic and during the pandemic to see migration data for America’s metros. 

While many California cities—including San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles—experienced a huge swing in remote workers moving out of their metros, Austin and Dallas saw a net increase in remote migration. 

According to the New York Times, Austin added a net 28,000 remote workers and about 32% of people who moved into the city worked remotely. The next closest city was Denver, with a net increase of 23,000 remote workers. 

The Upshot also found that Austin had a net increase of 34,000 in-person workers during the pandemic, which was up from the pre-pandemic time that saw a 31,000 net increase. 

The Upshot’s analysis found that one of the main reasons Austin saw such an increase in remote workers was because there were more remote-friendly jobs available. 

Austin has long been a hub for the technology industry. According to the U.S. News & World Report, the top employers in Austin are Apple and IBM, and the city ranks as the ninth-best place to live in the U.S.

Dallas saw a 10,000 net increase in remote workers, with 26% of people who moved to the area working remotely, but the city saw a drastic decline in the amount of in-person workers moving there. 

From 2018 to 2019, Dallas had a net increase of 55,000 in-person workers moving to the city, but from 2020 to 2021, the city only saw a net increase of 4,000 in-person workers. 

But Dallas has also been a part of a recent phenomenon spurred by the pandemic: people moving to exurbs—communities on the outer margins of metro areas. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Anna, Texas—45 miles north of Dallas—was the fourth-fastest growing city in the U.S. last year. 

The state agency responsible for making sure Texas political candidates, state officers, lobbyists and others comply with campaign finance law could use some help from the Legislature in the upcoming session to do its job more effectively.

That’s the main takeaway from a lengthy review of the Texas Ethics Commission by the state’s Sunset Advisory Commission staff, who issued a report on the agency last month.

Specifically, lawmakers should clean up the “numerous requirements and layers upon layers of exemptions” that make “compliance challenging for the regulated community and enforcement difficult” for the TEC, the staff report states.

We urge the Sunset commission to approve the recommendations made by the staff in the report, and send them on to the Legislature for action. The work of the ethics agency, established through a constitutional amendment in 1991, is vital to ensure transparency behind the millions of dollars donated to campaigns every year, and lawmakers must champion it.

Far from calling for widespread ethics reform, which the Legislature has failed to pass in more than a decade, the Sunset staff is simply recommending commonsense tweaks to the agency’s enabling statute to allow for a more efficient process.

Doing so would amend the “complicated, outdated, and unclear statute” that “hinders meaningful disclosure, strains TEC’s limited resources, and burdens filers,” according to the staff report.

For example, innocent filing errors or submitting required forms even minutes after deadlines are minor violations that nonetheless trigger a confusing administrative process and often result in civil penalties. Another example is that the statute still requires the TEC to send late notices and other documents via mail, sometimes registered or certified, when email would make better sense.

“Receiving a notice by first-class mail can take up to five days, during which time the penalty could have increased by up to $500″ for a late filing, the staff report noted. Another recommendation: the Legislature should allow the TEC to redirect unspent funds in its budget for other purposes to its on-going technology needs.

J.R. Johnson, executive director of the TEC, applauded the Sunset staff’s “thorough and thoughtful” work in a Dec. 2 letter. He said he welcomed the proposed clean-up of the agency’s regulations so that it can “accomplish its mission” more successfully. The Sunset commission and lawmakers should take note that the agency leadership stands ready to implement changes.

The admirable mission of the TEC is needed now more than ever. There are “historic levels of money pouring into elections and few limits on campaign contributions and expenditures,” the Sunset staff noted. The public deserves a TEC unencumbered by chasing after minor filing mistakes and outdated processes so that it can focus on the more ethically questionable activities of political candidates, office holders, lobbyists and others.

We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com

For us? You shouldn’t have.

We think living in Austin is the greatest gift of all, but our city has actually been on the receiving end of quite a few delightful donations. From parks to sculptures and more, check out these four gifts given to the city.

Zilker Park | The land for Austin’s signature park was gifted to the city by businessman Andrew Jackson Zilker in multiple donations from 1917 to 1934, the same year Zilker Park officially earned its name. Happy 90th, Zilker Park.

Pink Granite for the Texas State Capitol | The iconic Texas State Capitol building — which is taller than the US Capitol, by the way — was built using pink granite from Granite Mountain, located just outside of Marble Falls. In 1885, Granite Mountain owners William H. Westfall and Nimrod L. Norton supplied the granite for free, as long as the railroad track used to transport it was extended to the quarry site.

Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Statue | One of Austin’s most well-known landmarks, this statue on Lady Bird Lake was donated to the city by Vaughan’s family and fan club. For just over 30 years, the statue has marked a site where Vaughan often performed in person.

Robert de Niro’s film archive | The renowned actor from “The Godfather” donated the archive of his film career to the Harry Ransom Center in 2006. At the time, the collection of artifacts was estimated to be worth ~$5 million.

These extraordinary gifts not only add character and value to our city but also show how generosity can have a lasting impact. Do you know of another major gift donated to our city? Let us know.