We applaud the State Senate and Assembly for restoring funding for the Clean Water Infrastructure Act in their one house budgets. Now we need the governor to join them so that number remains at or above $600M. The two chambers also held strong on refusing to allow raids on EPF funds, which would amount to a cut in environmental spending. We applaud the Senate and Assembly for prioritizing clean school buses by joining Gov. Hochul to ensure school districts across the state can pay for electric school buses with state funds without impacting school aid. We are pleased to see the State Senate funding unionized thermal energy network projects at the University at Buffalo and SUNY Purchase and are very encouraged they continue to push for the NY HEAT Act. If we are going to make the clean energy transition work, we need the Assembly to step up to the plate to ensure NY HEAT is adopted this year and that we continue to advance thermal energy projects.
There is no transition without transmission and so we need to remove as many barriers as possible to getting renewable energy developed and also transmitted. We are encouraged that both houses included versions of the RAPID Act and that the three parties adopted common sense reforms to ensure we can reach our goal of 100% clean energy by 2040.
While it’s good news that the Senate and Assembly included versions of a sales tax exemption for residential battery storage, we need to do much more on that front, including boosting utility-scale battery storage in the state. Finally, we are disappointed that both chambers passed on a historic opportunity to move toward a Clean Fuel Standard; it’s essential that both chambers come together this year with the governor to pass this measure, which would be a game changer for New York’s clean transportation transition.
If we are serious about addressing climate change, we need the final budget to include policies and funding that can make that a reality and we look forward to working with all parties throughout the process.
Follow NYLCV’s Environmental Budget Tracker throughout budget negotiations here.