New York lawmakers delayed the state’s climate targets and adopted more restrictions on insurance payouts in a state budget measure approved Tuesday.
The state Senate passed the measure 52-11, and the state Assembly 109-34. Several Republicans voted for the measure, noting the climate goal rollbacks have been backed by their party for years.
The budget measure also includes a mechanism to cap “excess profits” generated by utility companies and to compel utility providers to disclose top executives’ compensation when companies ask the state to increase their rates.
Democratic lawmakers in both of the state’s legislative bodies had resisted proposals from Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to weaken New York’s sweeping 2019 climate law, but conceded to her changes on Tuesday after a nearly two-month deadlock. Those changes include a different method to measure greenhouse gas emissions, which environmental advocates argue could obscure how potent such emissions are.
New York’s environmental agency must come up with regulations by 2028 to achieve a 60% reduction in state emissions by 2040, according to the new rules. The initial law had required the first emissions goal be met by 2030.
“I cannot support in whole this tremendous rollback that will set us back decades,” said Assemblymember Anna Kelles (D), a climate scientist who broke with most other Democrats to vote against the legislation.
Hochul pitched the climate goal delay as an affordability measure, with her administration warning about increased household costs if the state were to follow the law closely.
But a coalition of environmental advocacy organizations, including the New York League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resources Defense Council, criticized the move in a statement, saying the changes will “prolong our reliance on costly and unpredictable fossil fuels, at the exact moment families can least afford it.”
“I’m not happy with everything that’s in this bill,” said Assemblymember Deborah Glick (D), who chairs the environmental committee. But Glick said she would vote for the measure because of its investments in renewable energy sources, while cautioning that the retooled methane accounting method could be harmful.
Lawmakers also had criticized Hochul’s proposals to impose caps on certain damages in car accidents, and change the definition of a “serious injury” in such incidents. The new cap is $100,000 for non-economic loss, such as pain and suffering for plaintiffs who are found at fault in a car accident.
Drivers who are even partially at fault in an accident will face further restrictions on recovering damages under the new changes. The tweaks to the law had been heavily lobbied against by the New York State Trial Lawyers Association but backed by Uber, which spent nearly $10 million pushing Hochul to adopt them.
Republican lawmakers, who have little power in either chamber, protested the lack of a financial plan and the budget’s 56-day-delay.
“It feels like we’re flying the plane while we’re trying to fix it,” Assemblymember Mary Beth Walsh (R) said. “Fundamentally that’s a very irresponsible way to budget.”
Other Policies
The budget measure approved Tuesday also includes a “super speeders” program intended to curb dangerous driving incidents in New York City by requiring repeat violators to install speed-control devices.
Lawmakers agreed to Hochul’s increased guardrails on social media and gaming platforms, requiring age verification through multiple methods. New York will also require default privacy settings for minors and increase parental oversight of minor accounts.