NY Budget Fails to Include NY HEAT Act, But Includes All-Electric Buildings Act and EPF Funding

ALBANY, NY – The final New York State FY ‘24 budget has been printed and will be voted on this week. The budget will not include the NY HEAT Act, but includes the All-Electric Building Act and steady funding for the Environmental Protection Fund.

The following is reaction from Richard Schrader, the New York Legislative and Policy Director for NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

“The failure to incorporate the NY HEAT Act in the budget is a tremendous blow to the state's clean energy transition and risks New York’s position as a national climate leader. Worse, it keeps the state stuck with a dirty and increasingly expensive fossil gas system. Without the NY HEAT Act, New Yorkers will pay more than $150 billion for outmoded dirty infrastructure. Governor Hochul needs to lead on getting the NY HEAT Act passed in this session.

“The adoption of the All-Electric Building Act is a historic step forward that will address greenhouse gasses and other harmful emissions from new buildings. And the inclusion of $200 million each for utility bill support and the EmPower+ program for efficiency and electrification of low-income homes is a down payment on equitable building transformation; but, New York simply cannot achieve its climate goals without the passage of the New York HEAT Act.

“The Environmental Protection Fund received $400 million in the budget, which encouragingly maintains the level of investment from last year, and will provide for key environmental initiatives, such as protecting our parks, oceans, and lakes.”

Background

New York cannot achieve the goals laid out in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act without the NY HEAT Act. Passing the legislation this session is critical, as it: 

• Empowers the Public Service Commission to equitably achieve the Climate Act’s climate justice and emission reduction targets and makes doing so an express regulatory objective, instead of requiring investments in fossil gas infrastructure;
• Removes both the gas utility obligation to serve and the 100-foot rule subsidy for expanding the gas system, thereby removing statutory conflicts with the Climate Act;
• Facilitates a well-planned and strategic downsizing of the gas system by enabling community-scale solutions that facilitate retirement of fossil gas infrastructure over time; and,
• Protects vulnerable customers from disproportionately bearing the cost of a disorderly transition to clean energy, by ensuring that low to middle income households pay no more than 6 percent of their income for their energy bills. 

For more information on the NY HEAT Act, read this NRDC blog.

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.