Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s 30-day amendments to her executive budget were largely the typical technical exercise of making adjustments to the original spending plan.<\/p>\n
Despite signals this month<\/a> that she could seek changes to the state\u2019s 2019 climate law<\/a> or pursue other policy shifts, no such proposals were included. Still, her office says potential tweaks to the climate law are not off the table\u00a0during budget negotiations, where Hochul wields the power of New York’s executive driven budget process.\u00a0<\/p>\n While including a policy change that would truly rock Albany in the primarily nitty gritty amendments would be unusual, the initial budget document was largely absent of the types of proposals governors \u2014 and particularly Hochul \u2014 often use to shape state law. The budget process is one of the chief avenues for that influence, though avoiding a fight with the Democratic-led Legislature in an election year would not be surprising.<\/p>\n Specifically, Hochul herself indicated she might seek to revise how emissions are calculated under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, known as the CLCPA, or pursue other changes to the law. Instead, the most noteworthy of the amendments spread around an additional $2.7 billion, bringing the total budget to $262.7 billion.<\/p>\n The increase is driven in part by $1.5 billion in additional revenue from the state\u2019s managed care organization tax and $600 million in higher-than-expected investment returns.<\/p>\n As announced over the weekend, Hochul is directing $1.5 billion in additional state aid to New York City as Mayor Zohran Mamdani works to close a $7 billion budget gap. Mamdani has urged the governor to raise taxes on high earners, a proposal that has lost steam by the day as Hochul doubles and triples down on no tax hikes.<\/p>\n The governor also proposed $150 million in aid for municipalities outside New York City to ease immediate fiscal stress.<\/p>\n That includes a $100 million increase to the Temporary Municipal Assistance program as well as $30 million for the city of Buffalo and $20 million to assist other local governments.<\/p>\n State Republicans derided the additional funding for New York City as a \u201cbailout,\u201d criticizing Hochul for allowing the budget to grow beyond her original proposal.<\/p>\n The amendments also include $2.5 million for artificial intelligence programs at SUNY and CUNY and scale back a proposal to allow self-driving cars upstate, limiting the pilot program to New York City.<\/p>\n Climate advocates, including Liz Moran of Earthjustice, had been watching closely for changes to the CLCPA.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were happy to see that the governor did not include any rollbacks to our nation-leading climate law,\u201d Moran said. \u201cAt a time when the federal government is embracing climate denialism and rolling back key environmental protections, all of which are resulting in higher energy bills, we need our climate law.\u201d<\/p>\n The absence of rollbacks does not mean an end to the conversation, and Moran urged Hochul and the legislature to leave the law alone as negotiations heat up and more policy often enters the discussion.<\/p>\n Hochul said earlier this month that New York\u2019s method of counting emissions \u2014 measuring impacts over 20 years rather than 100 \u2014 puts the state at a disadvantage over other states.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are the conversations that I\u2019m having with the Legislature. I don\u2019t want to get ahead of it,\u201d she said in early February.<\/p>\n Ken Lovett, Hochul\u2019s senior communications adviser on energy and environment, told Spectrum News 1 that position remains unchanged as budget talks continue ahead of the April 1 deadline.<\/p>\n \u201cThe governor has been honest with New Yorkers about the need to prioritize energy affordability and reliability through an all-of-the-above approach and looks forward to continuing those discussions with the Legislature during the budget negotiations,\u201d Lovett said.<\/p>\n Blair Horner, senior policy adviser for NYPIRG, pointed out Hochul has a propensity for using the tug and pull of budget negations to advance non-budget issues, a tactic that often pushes past the deadline. Last year the primary budget delay were Hochul-driven changes to the state\u2019s discovery laws, and both Hochul and the Legislature introduced new asks later in the process which dragged things out even further.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a non-election season, those late adds included everything from changing the way lieutenant governors are elected, to policy on masking in public, to changes to standards for non-public schools.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s used her leverage in the budget process to drive non-budget issues, and usually that means the budget is very late \u2014 last year it was the beginning of May,\u201d Horner said. \u201cWhether she wants to do that during an election year is another question entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n Climate groups are planning multiple rallies at the state Capitol in March ahead of the April 1 deadline. Katherine Nadeau, deputy executive director of Environmental Advocates NY, said the group is working with legislative allies to defend the law.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things we\u2019re doing is working closely with our legislative allies and the folks who fought for this law to make sure it stays strong,\u201d she said. \u201cNot just staying strong in this moment, but that New York is moving toward embracing a climate future that is healthier, more affordable and puts New Yorkers first.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. 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