Several Assembly Democrats plan to petition Gov. Kathy Hochul to roll back the statewide mandate to build all-electric buildings starting next year.
The All-Electric Buildings Act was tucked in the state budget in 2023, and bans new gas hookups in new buildings under seven stories starting Jan. 1. The mandate would apply to all other buildings constructed after Jan. 1, 2029.
Moderate Democrats in the lower house, especially upstate, are signing on to a letter asking Hochul to pause implementing the law after recent New York Independent System Operator reports show the state’s electric grid has significant reliability shortfalls over the next decade.
“This goal is well-intentioned, but I don’t believe we’re there right now,” said Assemblyman William Conrad, a Western New York Democrat who spearheaded the letter.
At least nine Assembly Democrats agreed to sign the letter in the first day Conrad circulated it, including Assemblymembers John McDonald III, William Magnarelli, Carrie Woerner, Judy Griffin, Paula Kay, Sam Berger and Simcha Eichenstein.
Conrad voted for and supports the law, but said the upcoming deadline has increased construction costs, impeding affordable housing projects. He’s circulating the letter and gathering signatures for a week before planning to send it to Hochul and legislative leaders Oct. 28.
“I don’t want to have a blackout or a brownout because, especially in the winter, that’s just something that I know my constituents and myself could not put up with,” Conrad said.
McDonald, a Cohoes Democrat, was one of the first lawmakers to sign on.
“Let’s stare reality in the face and do something about it,” he told Spectrum News 1. “Don’t bring things to a grinding halt — it means we slow down a little bit and put a temporary pause in there.”
NYISO reports show the electric grid could have reliability issues in New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley within five years, due to greater burdens from cryptocurrency, data mining and a shift to electric energy over fossil fuels.
“That, to me, was a flashing red beacon saying we’ve got a major problem,” McDonald said. “…We’re not bringing enough renewable energy to remain online and our commodity producers’ costs are rising. We need to take a step back, do a review, see what’s going to work and keep moving forward.”
In 2023, New York became the first state in the nation to prohibit gas and other fossil fuels in most new buildings. Western New York builders have said the law is slowing housing construction.
Moderate Democrats fear the mandate is halting affordable housing, and driving up construction costs already burdened by tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
“There has to be a rethinking of the timetable,” said Magnarelli, a Syracuse Democrat who chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee. “We can’t put people’s lives in jeopardy…We need to find some common ground. We’re creating fear and anxiety in different industries and different people that is absolutely unnecessary.”
Lawmakers pushing for the change said they’re open to a variety of solutions, including Hochul issuing an executive order allowing exemptions for developers, or working with other Northeastern states.
Magnarelli said various contractors and developers have told him they’re struggling to shoulder rising costs. Housing is critically needed in Onondaga County in anticipation of Micron building four semiconductor fabrication plants outside Syracuse.
The county is slated to need 2,000 units of housing each year for the next decade to accommodate the influx of workers, Magnarelli said.
“We’re not getting 1/10th of that,” the assemblyman said, adding utility companies also haven’t upgraded transformers to carry power into those new developments.
“Then what are we saying? We’re saying we can’t build the units — that is not an answer,” Magnarelli said. “…We have to be more strategic, we have to be more reasonable and we have to be more thoughtful as we go forward.”
Housing Providers of New York State Inc. Executive Director Richard Lanzarone agrees the mandate adds tens of thousands of dollars to building costs.
“I’m not saying we shouldn’t support it, but the timeline is totally unrealistic given the condition of our grid,” Lanzarone said.
Several other Assembly Democrats, like Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, are considering signing the letter before it’s sent to Hochul.
Lupardo pointed to a subdivision of the law that requires the energy code to be designed to achieve the state’s clean energy agenda “to the fullest extent feasible.”
“A central question for me is: How do we define ‘feasible’ in light of the issues raised around grid capacity and system reliability?” Lupardo said Tuesday.
But progressive Democrats are reluctant to delay or eliminate the all-electric timeline.
Assembly Housing Committee chair Linda Rosenthal said the state must stand up to President Trump’s administration that has rolled back clean energy projects.
Rosenthal said she’s open to discussing a brief delay.
“If it’s a one-year pushback, that’s one thing, if it’s many years, it’s something we’d have to talk about,” she said. “But I think we have to realize that the federal government has stripped its own agencies of the power to regulate pollution and emissions and it’s up to us in the state to save our climate.”
Rosenthal said state leaders must stand firm to provide renewable energy that’s reliable and affordable regardless of lacking federal support.
“The fact that the federal government is ripping up all the rules and the norms of the past in addition to the funding, the philosophy and the approach to sustainability means the state has to be strong,” Rosenthal said. “I’m afraid if we take a step backward here, we’ll take a step backward in other parts of our budget.”
A spokesperson with Gov. Hochul’s office would not confirm if the governor is having conversations about delaying implementation of the all-electric buildings mandate.
“The governor agrees with her Democratic colleagues that the state’s top energy priorities should focus on affordability and ensuring the lights and heat stay on for New Yorkers,” said Ken Lovett, Hochul’s spokesperson on energy and environment. “That is why she has been pushing an all-of-the-above approach to energy. In the meantime, she welcomes the opportunity to work with these lawmakers to reduce all housing cost drivers. That starts by pushing back against what is truly driving up housing costs — the tariffs imposed by Republicans in Washington on building materials like concrete, steel, and household appliances.”
Representatives from Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s office did not immediately return requests for comment.