ALBANY – Gov. Kathy Hochul’s “State of the State” agenda for 2026 will include new policies barring ICE at “sensitive locations,” allowing upstate cities to test autonomous vehicles, a new downstate semiconductor chip design center and another tuition freeze for CUNY and SUNY schools, The Post has learned.
In her fifth “State of the State” address Tuesday, the upstate Democrat will try to strike a delicate balance between supporting Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Democratic socialist vision for New York City while not isolating moderate and independent voters she needs to secure reelection this November.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers her State of the State address at the Hart Theater, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Albany. Hans Pennink
According to draft notes of Hochul’s presentation shared with The Post, she will also push a “Let Them Build” agenda to make “common sense reforms” to local development processes, implement 25-foot protest-free buffer zones around houses of worship and abortion clinics, expand child care for New York City 2-year-olds, crack down on bogus car insurance scams, pay to keep cops on overnight subway trains and set up four new quantum computing hubs across the state.
Top highlights of Hochul’s State of the State agenda include:
Immigration:
Legislation going after “unchecked federal aggression,” allowing New Yorkers to sue ICE and other federal agents for violating their constitutional rights in state court
Legislation to bar ICE raids at sensitive locations such as schools, houses of worship and hospitals without a judicial warrant
Affordability
Provide state funds for the first two years of Mamdani’s initiative to bring “universal child care” to New York City. This includes expanding the city’s 3K program to 2-year-olds, with 2,000 spots opening later this year at the cost of $75 million
Cracking down on insurance fraud, specifically schemes involving staged car accidents
Calling for another freeze in tuition for SUNY and CUNY for the second year
Expanding opportunities for free community college for students in high-demand professions
Making “common sense reforms” to the state’s environmental review process for big development process “to speed up the delivery of housing and other critical infrastructure projects that New Yorkers need” including a two-year deadline on projects.
“She’s preaching to the choir. It’s a smart move politically,” one higher education source told The Post of the tuition freeze.
“The legislature is not going to approve a tuition increase in an election year,” the source added.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2026 “State of the State” agenda is set to include limits on ICE activity at “sensitive locations,” pilot programs for autonomous vehicles in upstate cities and more. Hans Pennink
Online and Artificial Intelligence
Proposing a series of measures restricting kids’ access to AI chatbots, limiting how strangers can reach out to kids through online platforms such as Roblox, and implementing parental controls over kids’ ability to send money online.
Restricting the use of “deep fakes” of a candidate in political campaigns
Creating a new “Office of Digital Innovation, Government, Integrity, and Trust” to be an “authoritative body” on technological governance
People demonstrate during “No Wars, No Kings, No ICE” anti-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protest in New York City, after an immigration agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in her car in Minneapolis. REUTERS
“Industries of the Future”
Plans to build downstate semiconductor chip design center
Developing up to four quantum computer hubs statewide
Public Safety
Maintaining police presence on the subways overnight
Increasing the presence of SCOUT (Subway Co-Response Outreach Teams) – pairing MTA police with mental health professionals – to address severe mental health crises and homelessness in the subway system
Adding more safety barriers to subway platforms
Implementing a 25-foot buffer zone prohibiting protests around houses of worship and abortion clinics to limit harassment
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani visits Friends of Crown Heights Educational Center, an early childhood program in Brooklyn. Stephen Yang for the NY Post
Transportation
Allowing municipalities outside New York City to authorize temporary experiments for autonomous vehicles
Giving New York City the ability to install “speed assistance technology” on vehicles of repeat “super speeders”
Promoting the continuance of the 2nd Avenue subway expansion and Jamaica Station redevelopment
Hochul is set to deliver her speech Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. at the “Egg” performing arts center at the Empire State Plaza in Albany to a packed house of lawmakers and other political bigwigs.
The speech is traditionally scant on details, with the nitty-gritty to be laid out in the governor’s executive budget presentation later this month.
Hochul’s team didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.