Governor Hochul Announces Agreement on FY 2027 State Budget

Tackling Utility Costs

New Yorkers deserve reliable energy at a price they can afford, which is why the final State Budget includes a comprehensive energy affordability package designed to put money back into New Yorkers’ pockets and protect against future drivers of rate increases.

The final State Budget will include a one-time, $1 billion energy rebate to provide relief to New Yorkers dealing with rising energy costs.

The Budget also includes a Ratepayer Protection Plan comprised of a sweeping set of reforms to modernize the Public Service Law, demand strict fiscal discipline from utilities and empower the State to fight more effectively for lower bills. The Budget will:

• Tie executive pay directly to customer affordability.
• Require utilities to present a Budget constrained option that keeps their operating and capital costs below the rate of inflation when requesting a rate increase to ensure efficiency and affordability are prioritized.
• Ensure customers do not foot the bill for hidden costs like lobbying, political contributions and unnecessary executive travel.

The final State Budget also includes measures to:

• Invest millions more into the EmPower+ program, which has helped nearly 42,000 low- and moderate-income households across the state finance energy improvements, saving families about $600 per year on their utility bills.
• Modernize the way utility rate cases are reviewed to help keep prices manageable.
• Incentivize the use of smart technology to help reduce energy usage and bills.

This is in addition to other work the Governor has announced to drive down energy rates for consumers, such as her proposal to ensure large data centers pay their fair share for energy.

In addition, the final State Budget will enact common-sense changes to the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act that continues the state’s nation-leading commitment to clean energy and climate goals while at the same time prioritizing affordability.

Comprehensive Immigration Protections

Amid an unprecedented escalation in aggressive federal immigration enforcement by ICE, the final State Budget will include a comprehensive plan that will expand protections for New Yorkers, safeguard basic rights, and hold federal immigration officials accountable. The plan will:

• Prohibit local law enforcement from being deputized by ICE for federal civil immigration enforcement by eliminating 287(g) agreements, barring state and local police from acting as civil immigration agents, or using taxpayer-funded resources or personnel to carry out federal civil immigration enforcement and detention.
• Establish a state right to sue federal, state, and local officials, including ICE officers, for constitutional violations.
• Deny ICE permission from entering sensitive locations – including schools, libraries, health care facilities, polling locations, and homes – without a judicial warrant.
• Ban federal, state, and local law enforcement from wearing masks while on duty.
• Strictly prohibit the use of state, local or school civil resources—including employee time—for civil immigration enforcement activities.
• Ensure all students can access education without fear of ICE interference, codifying the right to a free public education regardless of immigration status.

Let Them Build

The final State Budget will include landmark reforms to cut red tape and speed up the building of critically needed housing and infrastructure projects that often face extensive delays and raise costs for New Yorkers. The Budget will include a series of common sense changes to modernize the fifty-year old State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) to expedite critical projects that have been consistently found not to have any significant environmental impacts. By allowing projects that localities want to move forward that will not harm the environment to do so faster, these actions will make it easier and more affordable to deliver the new housing and infrastructure that New Yorkers need while we continue to preserve our environment and conserve New York’s natural resources.

The Budget will:

• Provide exemptions from duplicative environmental review for new housing that is desperately needed and does not result in significant environmental impacts. These exemptions will cut costs and speed construction. In New York City, qualifying housing in medium and high-density areas up to 500 units will be exempted, with projects up to 250 units exempted in the rest of the city. Outside of New York City, the exemptions would apply to qualifying housing of up to 300 units in urbanized areas, up to 100 units in non-urban areas, and up to 20 units in areas that have no zoning. Housing must be on previously disturbed land and connected to water and sewer systems upon occupancy.
• Add further SEQRA exemptions for categories of beneficial projects including clean water infrastructure, public parks and trails, green infrastructure, and public schools within New York City.
• Establish a clear, two-year timeline to complete an environmental impact statement, creating accountability and ensuring faster decisions for communities.
• Overhaul overcomplicated bureaucratic processes to make it easier for communities to build without impacting or impairing local laws and processes related to local zoning and other environmental permitting.

Safe By Design

Building on New York State’s work to protect our children from digital harms such as addictive algorithmic feeds on social media and the distractions of cell phones within schools, the Budget includes nation-leading legislation designed to protect children from online predators, scammers and harmful AI chatbots integrated on online platforms. These changes were motivated by extensive reports of incidents where children have been left vulnerable to grooming, child abuse, and exposure to violent and inappropriate content, including content that promotes suicide.

The Budget will enact substantial protections for children across a variety of online spaces and gaming platforms, including:

• Mandating platforms automatically apply privacy-protective settings for children by default, meaning non-connections cannot message kids, view their profile, or tag them in content.
• Requiring children’s location settings to be inaccessible by default to people they are not connected with.
• Requiring children under 13 receive parental approval for new connections on online gaming platforms.
• Disabling integrated AI chatbots for children.
• Instituting new financial protections relating to children’s expenditures on gaming websites, including parental limits on a child’s financial transactions.