The three commissioners who run Texas’s unemployment and job-training agency meet Sept. 28 with three dockets of benefit appeals stacked on one agenda — several hundred cases in a single sitting.
The Texas Workforce Commission is the last administrative stop for a Texan whose unemployment claim has been turned down at the levels below. Recent agendas have carried one of those numbered appeal dockets, sometimes two; this one carries three. Dockets 37, 38 and 39 together run to several hundred unemployment cases, about two dozen claims for unpaid wages under the state wage law and three tax cases against employers. No fair housing or child labor cases will be heard.
The commissioners also decide how the state spreads around the money that lets an adult pay for a high school equivalency test. Texas law directs the education agency to send the workforce commission funds so anyone 21 or older can have the cost of one exam covered; the commission hands out the vouchers through local adult education providers and votes each year on the split. Alongside it are the first performance targets for local workforce boards covering the two contract years that begin in 2027, and separate targets for how quickly parents on child care assistance find work.
Two reports owed to the Legislature by Oct. 1 come up for approval. One is an inventory of every apprenticeship and internship in Texas open to people with disabilities — how many exist, how long they run, who pays for them, and how many participants ended in full-time work. The other reports what state agencies think of the cafeterias and vending stands that legally blind Texans operate in public buildings under a program the commission administers. The commissioners will also adopt an order spending from a fund built out of penalties and interest collected from employers, which underwrites the state’s wage, minimum wage and child labor enforcement.
The standing item on state and federal legislation is not idle this cycle. The commission is itself under Sunset review, the periodic audit that decides whether a Texas agency survives, in the cycle feeding the legislative session that opens in January. The agenda closes with the usual executive-session options, among them the employment of the executive director — a job Steve Pier has held since February.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 10 a.m. CT Monday, September 28, 2026. Notice TRD 2026005633 was filed September 18. The next commission meeting is set for October 6.
- Where
- TWC Main Building, Room 244, 101 E. 15th St., Austin. A Zoom link is published in the notice.
- Governing body & chair
- Texas Workforce Commission — three full-time commissioners appointed by the governor to six-year terms, one representing employers, one labor and one the public. Chairman Joe Esparza. No seat is vacant.
- Format
- Regular commission meeting, 23 items. Three appeal dockets, two reports due to the Legislature by October 1, several policy votes, and six executive-session options including personnel and litigation.
- Live video
- The Zoom link is in the notice; recordings are posted afterward to the agency’s YouTube channel. Virtual speakers must register with the agency by 5 p.m. September 25.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · 2026 meeting materials
Commissioners
- Joe Esparza — chairman; employer seat; former deputy secretary of state; term to 2027.
- Alberto Treviño III — labor seat; Harlingen; retired Border Patrol agent and union officer.
- Brent Connett — public seat; Austin; former deputy appointments director for the governor; term to 2031.
Roster taken from the agency’s July 2026 organizational chart and cross-checked against the governor’s appointment releases. The agency’s own commissioners page is out of date and still describes a previous chairman; it was not used. Esparza was named chair in September 2025, when Connett was appointed to the public seat. Treviño’s term end could not be confirmed from a governor’s release and is not printed. Executive Director Steve Pier took office February 2, 2026, succeeding Ed Serna. General Counsel Les Trobman staffs the meeting; agenda contact Erin Guzman, 512-936-3671.