NY Renews Coalition Responds to Governor Hochul’s Premature Budget Announcement
For Immediate Release: May 7, 2026
Contact: Marie Scarles, marie@nyrenews.org, (646) 389-8429
Web: www.nyrenews.org | Instagram | Twitter | Bluesky | Facebook
In response to the Governor’s premature budget announcement and the climate law deal, as previously reported in POLITICO, NY Renews Executive Director Stephan Edel issued the following statement on behalf of the coalition:
“In announcing a budget deal that hasn’t been made, and hiding all ‘negotiations' behind closed doors, Governor Hochul is doing an end-run around the people of New York and the State Legislature. Not only is she threatening to eviscerate nation-leading climate and environmental justice protections as written into law in the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, but she is also doing so by trouncing the will of the people and the legislators elected to represent them.
This is not only bad for the democratic process in New York: It is also an attempt to make profound, harmful changes to the trajectory of New York’s climate future behind closed doors, without public input, and without meaningful partnership with leaders of the legislature.
Governor Hochul: Stop carrying water for the fossil fuel industry and New York’s small coterie of billionaires. Protect our climate future to lower bills, save lives, and create the clean-energy future our families deserve.”
Quotes from NY Renews coalition leaders:
“Governor Hochul is so dug in on gutting the Climate Act behind closed doors, she is prematurely announcing deals without Legislature approval as our legislators hold on and fight hard for the Climate Law,” said Eddie Bautista, Executive Director of the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance. “The Governor making unilateral decisions is not an exception at this point, but a pattern of behavior like delaying congestion pricing, which she now champions. It’s clear the Governor will drag her feet and change laws simply because she doesn’t want to implement them. We say no kings in the USA, but that also means no queens in NYC either.
“Governor Hochul continues her behind-closed-doors tactics to move forward her agenda, prioritizing the fossil fuel billionaires over New Yorkers and our futures,” said Ethan Gormley, Legislative Coordinator, Citizen Action of New York. “It is entirely unacceptable for our governor to eviscerate our 2019 Climate Law as she steamrolls the Legislature and hides her actions from the public.”
“Governor Hochul’s made it clear today she only cares about the wealthiest New Yorkers, fossil fuel companies, and the donors to her re-election campaign,” said Shiv Soin, Co-Executive Director of TREEage. “By cutting our state’s landmark climate law, not taxing the rich, and refusing to deal with the affordability crisis head-on, Kathy Hochul is deliberately setting up the next generation to inherit these crises and face the worst of these impacts. We strongly urge the Legislature not to accept this deal and continue negotiating until New Yorkers get the budget they deserve.”
“Third Act Upstate New York opposes the supposed deal, which would undermine New York State’s progress toward addressing climate change,” said Alan Cole, a leader of Third Act Upstate New York. “Governor Hochul rightly says that the world has changed since New York’s Climate Act was passed in 2019; the truth is that the need for action has become even more urgent. Now is not the time to back off on implementing the law.”
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NY Renews is a coalition of nearly 400 environmental justice, labor, and community groups, and the force behind the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. We fight for good jobs and climate justice for New Yorkers statewide.