ALBANY \u2013 Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s \u201cState of the State\u201d agenda for 2026 will include new policies barring ICE at \u201csensitive locations,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
In her fifth \u201cState of the State\u201d address Tuesday, the upstate Democrat will try to strike a delicate balance between supporting Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s Democratic socialist vision for New York City while not isolating moderate and independent voters she needs to secure reelection this November.<\/p>\n
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers her State of the State address at the Hart Theater, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Albany. Hans Pennink<\/p>\n
According to draft notes of Hochul\u2019s presentation shared with The Post, she will also push a \u201cLet Them Build\u201d agenda to make \u201ccommon sense reforms\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
Top highlights of Hochul\u2019s State of the State agenda include:<\/p>\n
Immigration:<\/p>\n
Legislation going after \u201cunchecked federal aggression,\u201d allowing New Yorkers to sue ICE and other federal agents for violating their constitutional rights in state court<\/p>\n
Legislation to bar ICE raids at sensitive locations such as schools, houses of worship and hospitals without a judicial warrant<\/p>\n
Affordability<\/p>\n
Provide state funds for the first two years of Mamdani\u2019s initiative to bring \u201cuniversal child care\u201d to New York City. This includes expanding the city\u2019s 3K program to 2-year-olds, with 2,000 spots opening later this year at the cost of $75 million<\/p>\n
Cracking down on insurance fraud, specifically schemes involving staged car accidents<\/p>\n
Calling for another freeze in tuition for SUNY and CUNY for the second year<\/p>\n
Expanding opportunities for free community college for students in high-demand professions<\/p>\n
Making \u201ccommon sense reforms\u201d to the state\u2019s environmental review process for big development process \u201cto speed up the delivery of housing and other critical infrastructure projects that New Yorkers need\u201d including a two-year deadline on projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s preaching to the choir. It\u2019s a smart move politically,\u201d one higher education source told The Post of the tuition freeze.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe legislature is not going to approve a tuition increase in an election year,\u201d the source added.<\/p>\n
Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s 2026 \u201cState of the State\u201d agenda is set to include limits on ICE activity at \u201csensitive locations,\u201d pilot programs for autonomous vehicles in upstate cities and more. Hans Pennink<\/p>\n
Online and Artificial Intelligence<\/p>\n
Proposing a series of measures restricting kids\u2019 access to AI chatbots, limiting how strangers can reach out to kids through online platforms such as Roblox, and implementing parental controls over kids\u2019 ability to send money online.<\/p>\n
Restricting\u00a0 the use of \u201cdeep fakes\u201d of a candidate in political campaigns<\/p>\n
Creating a new \u201cOffice of Digital Innovation, Government, Integrity, and Trust\u201d to be an \u201cauthoritative body\u201d on technological governance<\/p>\n
People demonstrate during \u201cNo Wars, No Kings, No ICE\u201d 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<\/p>\n
\u201cIndustries of the Future\u201d<\/p>\n
Plans to build downstate semiconductor chip design center<\/p>\n
Developing up to four quantum computer hubs statewide<\/p>\n
Public Safety<\/p>\n
Maintaining police presence on the subways overnight<\/p>\n
Increasing the presence of SCOUT (Subway Co-Response Outreach Teams) \u2013\u00a0pairing MTA police with mental health professionals \u2013\u00a0to address severe mental health crises and homelessness in the subway system<\/p>\n
Adding more safety barriers to subway platforms<\/p>\n
Implementing a 25-foot buffer zone prohibiting protests around houses of worship and abortion clinics to limit harassment<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Transportation<\/p>\n
Allowing municipalities outside New York City to authorize temporary experiments for autonomous vehicles<\/p>\n
Giving New York City the ability to install \u201cspeed assistance technology\u201d on vehicles of repeat \u201csuper speeders\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Promoting the continuance of the 2nd Avenue subway expansion and Jamaica Station redevelopment<\/p>\n
Hochul is set to deliver her speech Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. at the \u201cEgg\u201d performing arts center at the Empire State Plaza in Albany to a packed house of lawmakers and other political bigwigs.<\/p>\n
The speech is traditionally scant on details, with the nitty-gritty to be laid out in the governor\u2019s executive budget presentation later this month.<\/p>\n
Hochul\u2019s team didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALBANY \u2013 Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s \u201cState of the State\u201d agenda for 2026 will include new policies barring ICE…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4241,68,2035,2301,426,57,9,11,10,10227,43015,58,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-98391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-albany","9":"tag-exclusive","10":"tag-ice","11":"tag-immigration","12":"tag-kathy-hochul","13":"tag-metro","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-headlines","16":"tag-new-york-news","17":"tag-sanctuary-cities","18":"tag-state-of-the-state","19":"tag-us-news","20":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}