Earthjustice Statement: New York State One-House Budgets SFY2025-26
NYS Senate’s and Assembly’s Budget Bills Offer Opportunities for Climate and Environmental Leadership
Contacts
Nydia Gutierrez, ngutierrez@earthjustice.org,
Monday evening, the New York State Senate and Assembly released their one-house budget bills for the SFY2025-26 budget. Both houses built upon the Executive Budget climate and environmental proposals with additional funding and policy items.
The following statement can be attributed to Liz Moran, New York policy advocate for Earthjustice:
“With the federal administration using a battering ram every single day to decimate public health and environmental protections, raise costs on consumers, and fill the wallets of corporate polluters, New York’s leadership could not be more important. Both the Senate and Assembly budgets present opportunities for New York’s final budget to cut energy bills, make housing more affordable, reduce pollution, and create good jobs. But that cannot happen unless the Assembly supports NY HEAT, which is the only policy on the table to cut and stabilize energy bills long term.
Additionally, the Governor must support the Senate and Assembly’s increased environmental funding if New York is going to have the resources necessary to protect public health in the face of this federal administration.”
While Earthjustice continues to review the one-house budget bills for details, we offer the following chart and assessments of what climate and environmental initiatives did, and did not, make it in the proposals:
| Policy/Funding Description | Governor’s Budget | Assembly Budget | Senate Budget | Earthjustice notes |
| NY HEAT Act | Omitted | Omitted | Included (S.4158/A.4870A) | We urge the Assembly to support NY HEAT in the final budget. |
| Clean Water Infrastructure Act (CWIA) funding | $500 million | $600 million, including $100 million for lead service line replacement, and other specific allocations for various water programs including $15 million for private well testing, $30M for septic system replacement, and more. | $600 million, including $100 million for lead service line replacement. | $600 million, including $100 million for lead service line replacement. Earthjustice strongly supports $100 million to replace lead service lines. We also urge the Governor and Senate to support the Assembly’s approach to specify funding allocations for different programs, rather than leaving funding levels for programs up in the air. |
| Sustainable Future Fund | $1 billion | $1 billion, including specific allocations for Empower+ and pre-weatherization, zero emissions vehicles and buses, EV charging stations, thermal energy, energy efficient public schools, and more. | $1 billion | Earthjustice strongly supports the Assembly’s approach and encourages the Governor and Senate to support these funding allocations. |
| Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) | $400 million | $500 million | $500 million | |
| Energy Affordability Program (EAP) | No new funding | $200 million | $200 million | |
| GAP Fund (S.3315/A.2101) | Not included | Includes portions of this through the Sustainable Future Fund’s $330 million allocation. | Includes GAP Fund in ELFA Part RRR | Earthjustice strongly supports GAP Fund and the funding the Assembly has proposed for it through the Sustainable Future Fund. We urge the Senate and Governor to follow suit. |
| Private Drinking Water Well Testing and Treatment | CWIA includes mention of program for private well testing and treatment of emerging contaminants. | Part EEE of TED establishes a new private well testing and remediation program that corresponds with $15 million in CWIA. | Part JJJ of TED establishes a program (S3972/A216) to provide grants to owners of private wells with confirmed PFAS contamination to install treatment technology or connect to a public water system. | |
| PFAS in firefighter gear | Included | Omitted | Included – adds language to prohibit PFAS, regardless of intention, in firefighter gear above a certain level determined by DEC starting in 2030. | |
| Climate Resilient Farms Program | $15.25 million | $20 million | $33 million | |
| Universal Free School Meals | $340 million | $340 million | $340 million | |
| Agriculture and Farmland Protection Activities | $21 million | $27 million | $30 million | |
| Section 11-a of the soil and water conservation districts law including projects to combat harmful algal blooms | $17.25 million | $20 million | $17.25 million | |
| Agricultural Waste Management | 1.9 million | $2 million | $1.9 million | |
| Agricultural non-point source abatement and control projects | $18.5 million | $19.5 million | $19 million | |
| Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act | Not included | Not included | Included, TED Part KKK (S.3456/A4282) | Earthjustice supports this policy |
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