Budgets are a statement of priorities, and at a time when Washington is attempting to slash protections for clean air and water, we are happy to see the State Senate and Assembly including several measures in their one-house budgets to protect our environment, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and prepare our grid for a clean energy future.
Notwithstanding the lack of funding for the MTA’s Capital Plan — which absolutely needs to be addressed in the final budget — there is a lot in these proposals we hope all three chambers will get behind in the final budget.
In particular, we strongly support the Senate’s inclusion of the NY HEAT Act and their resolution calling for the Governor to release Cap and Invest regulations — which are critical to energy affordability and funding clean air initiatives.
We also support the Assembly’s inclusion of tax credits to spur the development of utility-scale battery energy storage systems – key for grid resilience – as well as investments in zero-emission vehicles and EV charging infrastructure.
We were pleased to see both chambers come together to support expanded tax credits for solar energy, the reauthorization of the Superfund program, investments in thermal energy networks to help decarbonize our buildings, and much-needed boosts to both the Clean Water Infrastructure Act and Environmental Protection Fund.
Finally, the League strongly supports the Enhanced Automatic Voter Registration bill as advanced by the Senate in their one-house.
At this time of political uncertainty and daily upheaval out of Washington, New York must at once protect our environment and strengthen our democracy. We call on the Governor and the Senate and Assembly leadership to make sure the final budget does both.