Statement on Senate Sponsorship of Climate and Community Protection Act

On Wednesday June 7th, all eight members of the Independent Democratic Conference introduced the New York State Climate and Community Protection Act of 2017.

In response, the NY Renews coalition of 110 labor, community, environmental, and environmental justice organizations across the state released the following statement:

"The eight members of the IDC have chosen to jointly sponsor the strongest climate, jobs, and justice legislation in the country, the New York State Climate and Community Protection Act. Now is the time for these eight senators to deliver on their support by bringing the bill to the Senate floor for a vote. With President Trump's disastrous decision to pull the United States out of the historic Paris Climate Agreement, the federal government has abdicated responsibility on climate change, and forfeited leadership on renewable energy. Passing strong climate legislation in New York has never been more urgent, and the only way to do that is to bring it up for a vote. As IDC leader Senator Klein has stated, ‘the Independent Democratic Conference is creating a majority coalition with Republicans because you must engage in order to make things happen.’ On the issue of climate, now is the time to make things happen. The IDC must request that its Republican partners bring the Climate and Community Protection Act to a vote, and finally pass the bill that will help protect New York families from the impacts of climate change while ensuring jobs in the clean, renewable energy economy are governed by fair labor standards. The bill is already moving in the Assembly and has attracted bi-partisan support."