Governor’s proposed rollbacks should not be included in NYS budget for FY2027
Save the Sound is profoundly concerned that rollbacks to the requirements of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), New York’s Climate Law, proposed Friday by Governor Hochul will make New Yorkers more vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, particularly in the Long Island Sound region.
“We are already behind where we should be in terms of hitting the commitments established by New York’s Climate Law. Governor Hochul’s plan to move the goalposts rather than meet the mandated emissions targets would have a devastating impact on our environment, our economy, and the public health of New Yorkers,” said David Ansel, vice president of the Center for Water Protection at Save the Sound. “New York is on the front lines of climate change, nowhere more so than in the Long Island Sound region. Any attempt to further delay our obligation to transition away from fossil fuels only puts New Yorkers at greater risk of the rising consequences and costs of climate change.”
A 2023 report by Moody’s Analytics showed that two of the metro areas most vulnerable to sea-level rise, extreme heat, and water stress are in the Long Island Sound region: New York City ranked third in the nation, while Long Island ranked fourth.
A different report, “Severe Weather Events and Resiliency in New York State,” released in October 2025 by the New York State Comptroller, acknowledged that extreme weather events in New York “have become more frequent and more damaging. These changes are consistent with patterns observed worldwide and which are widely understood to be due to changes in the climate caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”
The CLCPA, enacted in 2019, currently requires a reduction of GHG emissions to 60% of 1990 levels by 2030 and to 15% by 2050. In an op-ed published Friday in Empire Report and posted to her official website, Governor Hochul proposes delaying until 2030 the release of regulations for a cap and invest program, which would charge major polluters for their emissions and split the proceeds between energy rebates for New Yorkers and investments in decarbonization, seven years later than the current law requires. She suggests designing the program to help the state meet a new 2040 emissions reduction target, but did not specify what that target would be, and wants to “change the accounting methodology” for tracking emissions, a reference to the Governor’s longstanding push to de-emphasize the impact of greenhouse gases like methane that cause extreme levels of warming but over a shorter period.
Save the Sound is concerned that failing to reduce the use of fossil fuels across the state will continue to all the escalation of severe weather overwhelming our wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, leading to further pollution of Long Island Sound and its tributaries, diminished resilience in our coastlines and communities, degraded habitat for aquatic wildlife, and greater risk to public health.
“Governor Hochul wrote that ‘we need more time.’ Unfortunately, the consequences of climate change are happening now,” said Ansel. “We cannot afford to wait any longer to stop the destructive behaviors that are fueling the climate emergency we are living under. We’re already experiencing an increase in severe weather events and the expense of cleaning up after them—especially in Suffolk County, which from 1996 through 2024 faced more of those events than any county in the state. Extending our dependency on fossil fuels for another decade cannot be an option.”
The Governor’s proposed rollbacks will increase long-term costs rather than providing the affordability relief the Governor seeks by including her plan in negotiations toward a final state budget for Fiscal Year 2027.
“Deferring and delaying the transition to renewable energy will not save New Yorkers money; it will only become more expensive in the future to clean up after devastating storms,” said Ansel. “We call on the Legislature to reject the proposed changes to the Climate Law that the Governor is calling for in the final state budget.”
Save the Sound is pushing for increased investment in clean water infrastructure in the budget for FY2027, as well as $1 billion for the Sustainable Future Fund and the inclusion of the Stop Climate Polluter Handouts Act, which will eliminate subsidies for the fossil fuel industry and save New York taxpayers $350 million per year.
New York’s budget is due before its new fiscal year begins on April 1.