Earthjustice Statement: New York Senate and Assembly Release One-House Budget Resolutions

Albany, NY —

The New York State Senate and Assembly released their one-house budget resolutions for the SFY2024 budget. The resolutions both included a mandate for all-electric new construction, marking a shift for the state Assembly, which puts New York on track to be the first state in the country to adopt a law to ban fossil fuels in new buildings. Advocates are now calling for alignment on the details, particularly to align with an enactment date of no later than December 31, 2024.

The Senate one-house resolution also included numerous climate initiatives, including a cap-and-invest program that provides stronger protections for environmental justice communities and directs funding to the Climate and Community Protection Fund, and policy to align the Public Service Law with emission reduction mandates of the CLCPA (S.2016, the NYHEAT Act).

The SFY2024 budget, due April 1st, will be the first following the release of New York’s final climate scoping plan to implement the landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).

Earthjustice has detailed the various climate proposals in the Governor’s and Legislature’s budget bills in the chart below.

The following statement can be attributed to Liz Moran, New York policy advocate for Earthjustice:

“Following enactment of New York’s nation-leading climate law, New York is on track to lead the nation again by stopping the use of fossil-fuels in new buildings — but time is of the essence. As the state with the highest building-sector emissions and most premature deaths in the country from fossil fuel combustion in buildings, this policy could not be more important for Governor Hochul and the Legislature to follow through on with a fast timeline. We applaud the Legislature for including the All-Electric Building Act in their one-house budget resolutions and urge for the final budget to include a start date no later than December 31, 2024.

“The table has also been set for the potential to have a nation-leading cap-and-invest program, but the Governor and the Assembly should follow the leadership of the Senate with the inclusion of strong protections for environmental justice communities and other safeguards to ensure the program effectively reduces emissions and directs investments where they are needed most.

“New York has the opportunity to adopt a budget that sets the state on the right path to meet its climate law mandates and demonstrates to the country what true climate leadership means — the Governor and the Legislature should not let this opportunity go to waste.”

While Earthjustice continues to review the one-house budget resolutions for details, we offer the following chart and assessments of what climate initiatives did, and did not, make it in the resolutions:

Policy/Funding Description	Governor’s Budget	Assembly Budget Resolution	Senate Budget Resolution
All-Electric New Construction Mandate	Included Details: Start date of 2026 for buildings three-stories and under; start date of 2029 for buildings four-stories and over	Included Details: Start date of 2026 for buildings six-stories and under; start date of 2029 for buildings seven-stories and over; directs the Department of Public Service (DPS) to determine electricity capacity for particular regions or projects	Included Details: Start date of 2025 for buildings six-stories and under; start date of 2028 for buildings seven-stories and over
Cap-and-Invest	Included Details: establishes a cap and invest program with some funds going to reduce costs for customers; broad exemption for industry; few details	NOT included	Included Details: sets declining emissions cap with price floor and ceiling; non-tradeable allowances; cap for individual facilities in disadvantaged communities; considerations for energy-intensive, trade-exposed industry and linkages to other regional programs; creates Climate and Community Protection Fund to invest revenue
Authorization of NYPA to build public renewable energy projects	Included Details: authorizes NYPA to build public renewable energy projects, but no specific requirements to do so.	NOT included	Included Details: Includes the text of S.4134 (Build Public Renewables Act), which includes mandates for NYPA to build more renewable plants, phase out fossil fuels, and labor provisions.
Climate and Community Protection Fund	NOT included	NOT included	Included Details: tied to cap-and-invest to direct funding raised. Funds programs in four areas: Climate, Jobs, and Infrastructure; Community-Directed Climate Solutions; Community and Worker Transition Assistance; and Energy Affordability.
Alignment of public service law with climate law mandates (NYHEAT Act)	NOT included	NOT included	Included Details: Aligns the public service law with the climate law mandates. Includes: Capping energy bills at 6% of a household’s income; ending costly and outdated fossil fuel subsidies, like the “100 Foot Rule,” which will result in savings of $200 million per year; empowers utilities to pursue safer and cleaner long-term energy sources, such as neighborhood-scale geothermal networks.
Vehicle electrification: $17M for light-duty state vehicle electrification and $20M for electric transit buses	Included	Included	Included
$200M for NYSERDA’s EmPower Plus program (electricity retrofit program for low-income households)	Included	Included	NOT Included Details: The Senate does include funding for renewable heating within the Climate and Community Protection fund
Decarbonization of State-Owned Buildings	NOT Included	Included Details: Requires state-owned facilities to reduce total on-site greenhouse gas emissions from 2024 base levels 50% by 2031, 75% by 2036, and 100% by 2041. Creates a jobs program for decarbonization, including creation of thermal energy networks and includes labor and community standards.	Included Details: Requires state-owned facilities to reduce total on-site greenhouse gas emissions from 2024 base levels 50% by 2031, 75% by 2036, and 100% by 2041. Creates a jobs program for decarbonization, including creation of thermal energy networks and includes labor and community standards.