2026 Climate, Jobs & Justice Agenda 

In the short window of this year’s post-budget legislative session, NY Renews has the following core legislative and regulatory demands as part of our 2026 Climate, Jobs & Justice Agenda. Learn more below, and reach out to zaz@nyrenews.org with any questions about how to plug into the campaign, or reach out to marie@nyrenews.org with any questions about the 2026 agenda.

(You can also read about the additional “longlist” bills we support under NY Renews 2026 Climate, Jobs & Justice Longlist.)

2026 Climate, Jobs, & Justice Agenda

GOAL 1: Advance and Defend the CLCPA

Despite extraordinary efforts by New Yorkers across the state to defend NY’s climate law, Governor Hochul is poised to unilaterally and significantly weaken the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. She has:

  • Delayed the deadline for releasing regulations to make progress toward the 2040 emissions-reduction targets from 2024 to 2028

  • Rendered NY’s 2030 emissions-reductions target unenforceable

  • Implemented a more lenient 2040 target for a 60 percent reduction in greenhouse gases (from 1990 levels)

  • Shifted NY’s powerful 20-year emissions accounting method to a weaker 100-year standard, which means NY will calculate the impact of planet-warming gases over 100 years rather than 20, a shift that makes reducing natural gas use less impactful toward lowering the state’s emissions

  • The state won’t include out-of-state emissions from fossil fuel extraction and transportation in its calculations, which it was previously required to do 

  • And the state will use a “net-zero” standard, which means “balancing out” the greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere with an equal amount removed (versus zero emissions, which means no greenhouse gases are emitted at all from the source), opening the door to the use of biofuels 

These climate law rollbacks amount to profound, harmful changes to the trajectory of New York’s climate future — and they were negotiated behind closed doors, without public input, and without meaningful partnership with members of the legislature. It’s an ominous sign for democracy here in New York.

Yet, we must keep lobbying our legislators to try to mitigate as much harm as possible. And there are significant bills on the table in the short window at the end of the 2026 legislative session that could help us speed up solar permitting, put money corporate utilities have squeezed from customers back into our pockets, and halt the expensive, environmentally catastrophic expansion of data centers across our state. Here’s what we’re focusing on for the remainder of the session.

GOAL 2: Oppose Utility Greed and Lower Energy Bills for New Yorkers

  • Ratepayer Refund Act (S.07693/A.08150) would make utilities give back money they didn't earn
    Over the last ten years, New York’s five major utilities grew their profits by more than 60%. Meanwhile, they’ve continued to raise rates for working people, exacerbating the state’s cost-of-living crisis. Today, roughly 1 in 4 New Yorkers can’t afford their energy bills. The Ratepayer Refund Act requires electric and gas utilities to return all revenues in excess of their authorized rates of return on equity to ratepayers. (Return on equity, or ROE, is the allowed rate of profit on capital investments made by utilities; it usually accounts for 15-20% of customer bills.) Under this bill, gas and electric utilities must return these “unearned” excess revenues to customers, likely in the form of a credit on their energy bills. It would also require utilities to report their excess revenues to the Department of Public Service. Ultimately, the bill will help stop utility companies from profiting beyond the amounts approved by the state regulators at the expense of residential households and small businesses. 

  • Data Center Moratorium (S.9144/A.10141)
    The rapid expansion of data centers across the United States, driven by the AI and crypto booms, presents one of the greatest affordability and environmental threats of our time. These data centers increase demand for energy, drive huge amounts of fossil fuel pollution, consume vast amounts of water, and dramatically raise electricity prices. They also undermine the sovereignty of Indigenous Nations, as we've seen in the fight against the STAMP data center. All this compounds the significant and concerning impacts of data centers on society, including job losses and the concentration of wealth. New York needs to pause data center expansion to assess their impacts and put adequate protections in place. This bill establishes a temporary moratorium on data center construction and requires the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Public Service Commission to conduct thorough reviews over the course of three years and institute rules and regulations to prevent the industry’s harms.

  • Halting expensive, slow, and harmful nuclear energy plans
    Nuclear energy is one of the most expensive forms of electricity generation on earth. Building and maintaining nuclear plants requires significant public investment, and massive, ongoing subsidies are often needed to keep them operating. Beyond the well-documented harms of nuclear energy, including water contamination and wastewater footprint, the impacts of mining uranium (often in or near disadvantaged and Indigenous communities), and long-term radioactive pollution, nuclear energy actively diverts financial and political resources away from proven renewable solutions. The cost to operate and build nuclear facilities frequently gets passed on to ratepayers, increasing the financial burden on households and businesses. Instead of investing time and money into nuclear energy buildout, New York could focus more strategically on expanding renewable energy solutions like wind, solar, and geothermal energy that are faster to deploy and increasingly cost-effective. Prioritizing these proven forms of clean energy can help NY meet its climate goals, reduce risk and harm, and accelerate the transition to a cleaner, more resilient energy system.

GOAL 3: Build an Affordable, Reliable Clean Energy Economy with Solar and Battery Storage 

  • SUNNY Act (A.9111/S.8512B)
    Solar Up Now, New York (or SUNNY) Act cuts red tape so renters, homeowners, businesses, and schools can install plug-in solar to lower their energy bills and cut emissions. Small portable solar panels, often referred to as “plug-in solar” or “balcony solar” devices, connect to a standard power outlet, cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, and produce ~200–1,600 watts of energy. They can save users $400-800 annually on energy bills. They can help people begin to transition to fully renewable energy in their homes or apartments, and can make a meaningful difference in ensuring that fixed and low-income individuals can get their energy needs met. This bill would define plug-in solar devices as distinct from “solar generating equipment,” thus removing costs and regulations that larger-scale professionally installed rooftop solar systems are subject to. The act also exempts portable solar generation devices from interconnection or net metering requirements and requires the state energy conservation construction code to allow for portable solar generation devices to be connected to a building’s wiring through an outlet.

  • Accelerate Solar for Affordable Power (ASAP) Act (S.6570/A.8758)
    To lower household energy costs and meet growing electricity demand, New York needs to increase energy supply quickly and cost-effectively. The ASAP Act would help accelerate rooftop and community solar deployment and drive down interconnection costs, lowering energy costs for homes and businesses across New York. The ASAP Act raises New York's distributed solar goal to 20 gigawatts by 2035, directs NYSERDA to develop an implementation plan to cost-effectively support rooftop and community solar deployment, and drives down costs through interconnection reforms. The ASAP Act would lead to $50B in direct utility bill savings for New York households and businesses, and $28B in indirect electric ratepayer savings by reducing wholesale energy prices for everyone. It would also help secure $3.6B in direct financial benefit to host communities, including lease revenue to rural landowners and tax revenue to local governments and school districts, and it would add 15,000 new solar industry jobs across the state, including blue-collar and white-collar positions. A significant portion of these jobs will be with New York-based businesses, a unionized workforce, and/or pay prevailing wages. Finally, it could help NY avoid 145 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions and improve public health outcomes by displacing fossil fuel combustion.

2026 Climate, Jobs & Justice Longlist 

What’s the longlist?

Each year, NY Renews issues dozens of memos in support of, or opposition to, bills that impact New York’s environment and climate. These bills are our coalition’s priority pieces of legislation from that list, which means they significantly forward climate justice, create clean energy jobs, or protect environmental justice communities in New York state. Reach out to avrielle@nyrenews.org with questions about any of our 2026 longlist bills. 

  • AC/DC Bill (A9039 Barrett/S8540 Gonzalez): Requires utilities to create a separate rate class for large energy users (like data centers) so they cover the full cost of their energy demand rather than shifting costs to other ratepayers. 

  • GAP Fund Act (A2101A Kelles/S3315 Gonzalez): Establishes a fund to help low- and moderate-income households pay off utility arrears and avoid service shutoffs.

  • Cap and Invest Guardrails Bill (A3975 Kelles/S4651A Parker): Sets limits and accountability measures on a cap-and-invest program to ensure emissions reductions while protecting consumers from high costs.

  • Customer Savings and Reliability Act (A8889 Simon/S8421 Krueger): Directs energy policy and investments toward lowering utility bills and maintaining grid reliability during the clean energy transition.

  • Public Renewables Transparency Act (A7686 Shrestha/S2462A Gianaris): Requires public reporting and oversight of state-run renewable energy projects to ensure transparency in costs, contracts, and performance.

  • Stop Climate Polluter Handouts Act (S3606A Krueger/A3675A Simon): Prohibits public subsidies, tax breaks, or financial support for fossil fuel companies and other major polluters.

  • Climate Liability Act (Myrie S4799, A72): Seeks to hold major fossil fuel companies financially responsible for climate-related damages and adaptation costs.

  • Clean Deliveries Act campaign (S1180A Gianaris/A3575 Mitaynes): Requires a transition to zero-emission last-mile delivery vehicles and reduces truck pollution in urban and environmental justice communities.

  • Establishes a Utility Intervenor Fund (A836 Solages/S2477 Parker): Creates a fund to support consumer and public-interest participation in utility rate and regulatory proceedings.

  • Suspends Certain Rate Changes (S5593 Mayer): Temporarily pauses or limits utility rate increases under specified conditions to protect customers from sudden cost spikes.

  • CUPDI Act (A7610 Shrestha/S1721-A Gonzalez): Strengthens oversight, planning, and public accountability in utility infrastructure and distributed energy investments.