NY Renews Statement on the 2025-2026 One-House Budget Proposals 

March 11, 2025

Contact: Marie Scarles | (646) 389-8429‬ | marie@nyrenews.org

Web: @NYRenews | www.nyrenews.org

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In response to the one-house budget proposals released by the New York State Assembly and Senate, NY Renews Executive Director Stephan Edel issued the following statement:

“We urge the legislature to stand up for New Yorkers by ensuring that the final budget includes stronger climate action and increased dedicated funding. The One-House Budget Resolutions have modestly advanced policy and spending for NY HEAT and the GAP Fund, which are both vital for shifting to a clean-energy future—but these appropriations are only a start. Our state must take action proportionate to the scale of the climate challenges that affect every aspect of our lives, from the bills we pay, to the air our children breathe, to the storms our homes and businesses increasingly endure. 

The Governor continues to drag her feet on the state’s Cap and Invest System, indefinitely delaying the billions that state agencies have projected it would raise to invest in climate solutions by and for New Yorkers. It’s time to hold the Governor accountable for climate action to protect our state from the outrageous Federal cuts to climate and equity priorities. The Senate rightly called on the Executive to immediately release all draft regulations; we are far past due on the program’s rollout.

While the $1 billion for the Sustainable Futures Program begins to direct money where it is needed most—thanks to the Senate’s direction that it be on-budget through the Climate Action Fund—a well designed Cap and Invest program will make polluters pay to sustain climate investments and create safeguards around the toxic pollution affecting environmental justice communities.”

NY Renews Steering Committee leaders also issued the following statements:

  • “The legislature has a moral responsibility to prioritize climate justice in this year’s budget. When we fund climate justice, we are moving toward cleaner air, lower utility costs, and green union jobs,” said Theodore Moore, Executive Director of ALIGN, “Governor Hochul must also release the cap-and-invest regulations so we can start generating billions of dollars for New York from the pockets of dirty polluters. With Affordable Climate-Ready Homes and NY HEAT also on the table, legislators have an opportunity to show that New York is ready to take on the existential crisis of our time.”

  • “Every day, I see another sign of the climate crisis when I turn on my TV – this week, the fires on the East End of Long Island,” said Bob Cohen, Policy and Research Director of Citizen Action of New York. “Unfortunately, Governor Hochul talks the talk on climate but so often doesn’t walk the walk. For example, she is refusing to release promised and legally mandated cap-and-invest regulations that would cap greenhouse gas emissions and fund our clean energy future through steps like helping homeowners to pay to replace their polluting gas furnaces. It is up to the Legislature to force Governor Hochul to keep her promises by releasing the regulations and passing meaningful climate legislation through the budget – including the Affordable Climate-Ready Homes program and NY HEAT.”

  • “New Yorkers deserve a clean climate future, and the Governor must comply with the law to make that happen,” said Caroline Chen, Director of the Environmental Justice Program at the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. “The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act required the state to have already released cap-and-invest regulations to ensure that we meet our greenhouse gas reduction targets. Governor Hochul must do so immediately so that polluters are compelled to change course, meaningfully reduce air pollution and fund communities’ clean energy projects. Only doing so will ensure the health of New Yorkers and their pocketbooks.”

  • “When it comes to the NY Renews coalition's Indigenous Solidarity priorities, we are encouraged to see critical Native school and healthcare funding included in both houses, as well as no further funding for the STAMP industrial development site,” said Ryan Madden, Climate & Energy Campaigns Director at the Long Island Progressive Coalition. “The state legislature’s appropriations demonstrate the importance of supporting Indigenous sovereignty in New York, but more can always be done. For this year, we will continue to push for the Shinnecock Elder Caregiver Program and Montaukett Reinstatement bill to be included in the final budget."

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NY Renews is a coalition of 380+ environmental justice, community, faith, labor, and multi-issue organizations fighting for just climate policy for New Yorkers. We are the force behind the nation's most aggressive climate law, the 2019 NY State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. 

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