{"id":326,"date":"2024-11-12T22:06:31","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T22:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weact.org\/?page_id=326"},"modified":"2026-03-09T11:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T15:41:13","slug":"nys","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/weact.org\/es\/our-impact\/nys\/","title":{"rendered":"State Impacts"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":322,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":""},"class_list":["post-326","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_hero_links","acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_hero_links":{"title":"New York State Impacts","abstract":"","links":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"2025 \u2013 Banning PFAS and Other Toxic Chemicals from Menstrual Products<\/strong>\r\nOn March 26th, 2025, as part of the JustGreen Partnership, we helped pass the Ban on PFAS and Toxic Chemicals Bill<\/a>, which will regulate the sale and distribution of menstrual products (pads, tampons, liners, sponges, etc.) in New York State that contain restricted substances or unsafe chemicals, including PFAS \u201cforever chemicals,\u201d heavy metals like lead and mercury, hormone disrupting parabens, and carcinogens like formaldehyde and toluene.\r\n\r\nWomen and femmes of color are already disproportionately exposed to toxic chemicals in their lived environment, and even more so from beauty products that are marketed towards them. One way to reduce this dangerous exposure is to ban toxic chemicals in period products, which pose a heightened risk given their use in sensitive areas of the body as well as their duration of use. This crucial legislation for menstruators\u2019 health will prohibit the use of chemicals such as PFAS, talc, lead, synthetic fragrances and so many more. These toxins are closely linked to cancer outcomes, contribute to fertility and reproductive challenges, reduce immune function, and interfere with hormones.\r\n\r\nWe are pleased to report that New York State Governor Kathy Hochul signed the bill into law<\/a> on December 19th, 2025. New York has joined California, Maine, and Vermont in restricting PFAS in menstrual products, and our law restricts even more harmful chemicals in these products.\r\n\r\n2025 \u2013 Saving $200 million per Year by Repealing the 100-Foot Rule<\/strong>\r\nOn June 18th, 2025, as part of the Renewable Heat Now coalition, we helped pass legislation that eliminates the 100-foot rule<\/a>, part of the State\u2019s Public Service Law that had required utilities to build a gas pipeline to any building or home within 100 feet of an existing gas main at an expense of $200 million per year \u2013 paid for by ratepayers across the state. Under this new legislation, which amends the Public Service Law, a utility will still be obligated to provide gas service to any building within 100 feet of an existing gas line but only if it requests gas service, provided that those requesting the service agree to pay for the material and installation costs of installing that gas line. New York State Governor Kathy Hochul signed the bill into law<\/a> on December 19th, 2025.\r\n\r\n2025 - Legal Victory to Defend the New York State Climate Act<\/strong>\r\nWe were among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for failing to issue the regulations required by law, under the New York State Climate Act (originally known as the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, or CLCPA). We were part of a coalition that helped pass this landmark climate law in 2019, setting aggressive goals for the state to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels.\r\n\r\nThe DEC was required to finalize regulations for this by January 1st, 2024. After a year of failing to comply, the DEC announced in January 2025 that the draft regulations it had been promising would not be released that year, nor would they specify a date when it would comply.\r\n\r\nWithout comprehensive regulations in place, New York does not currently have a pathway to achieve the steep greenhouse gas reductions the law requires by 2030. So, in March 2025, WE ACT joined Citizen Action of New York, PUSH Buffalo, and the Sierra Club \u2013 and represented by Earthjustice, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, and the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic - in filing a lawsuit urging the Albany County Supreme Court to order the release of overdue regulations. On October 24th, 2025, the court ruled in our favor, ordering the DEC to issue these regulations no later than by February 6th, 2026. Learn More<\/a>\r\n\r\n2025 - Secured $2 Million for Pre-Electrification Pilot Program<\/strong>\r\nLow-income households often face the biggest barriers to energy efficiency, weatherization, and electrification due to living in older housing stock with deferred maintenance that prevents basic energy upgrades to make homes more affordable, comfortable, and healthy. For example, homes that have environmental health hazards like lead, mold, and asbestos - or other code violations - will have to resolve these issues before they can qualify for energy efficiency or electrification interventions. This pre-electrification work is usually too costly for homeowners and building owners to take on themselves and is not currently funded by existing state programs.\r\n\r\nIn May 2025, as part of New York State\u2019s final budget, the Green Affordable Pre-Electrification (GAP) Fund was funded as a $2 million pilot. This falls well-short of the funding needed to address barriers to pre-electrification across the state, but it is still something we had been advocating for. We will continue to push to make this pilot needs to be made permanent and for the fund to receive a substantial and durable investment from the state, prioritizing spending in low-income communities and communities of color.\r\n\r\n2025 - Helping Enforce Law Banning Mercury from Cosmetics<\/strong>\r\nOn October 8th, 2025, the New York State Attorney General\u2019s Office took action to address the illegal sales of skin lighteners that contain mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin. Three years ago, we helped pass <\/span>a law banning the sale of mercury in cosmetics<\/span><\/a> \u2013 in-store or online \u2013 in New York State.<\/span>\r\n\r\nHowever, our staff still spotted skin lightening products that they suspected contained mercury being sold online. We obtained some samples, had them tested, and confirmed that they did in fact contain mercury \u2013 up to 29,000 times more than the legal limit.<\/span>\r\n\r\nWe shared this with the Attorney General\u2019s office, who did their own investigation and testing, and <\/span>took action against three companies<\/span><\/a> \u2013 sending a strong message to manufacturers and retailers of these harmful products, both here and abroad<\/span><\/strong>. Learn More<\/a>\r\n\r\n2024 \u2013 Identifying Lead Water Pipes<\/strong>\r\nWe worked with the JustGreen Partnership and Lead Free Kids New York to pass the Lead Pipe Right to Know Act in 2024. This new law requires public water systems to take inventory of the service lines \u2013 the water pipes \u2013 in their system to identify which ones contain or may contain lead. This is an important win, given that New York State leads the nation in cases of children with elevated blood levels.\r\n\r\n2023 \u2013 Banning Gas in New Construction<\/strong>\r\nStudies show that air pollution from buildings burning fossil fuels leads to nearly 2,000 premature deaths each year across New York State. That is why we built on our success in banning gas in new building construction in New York City to pass a similar law, the All-Electric Building Act, which Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law in May 2023. Beginning in 2026, new buildings seven stories and under must be built all electric, and beginning in 2029 for taller buildings.\r\n\r\n2022 \u2013 Cumulative Impacts Legislation<\/strong>\r\nWe worked with fellow advocates to convince New York State Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the Cumulative Impacts bill into law on December 31, 2022. This landmark environmental justice legislation ensures that cumulative impacts are taken into consideration in the State\u2019s environmental permitting processes when potentially polluting facilities seek permits in disadvantaged communities. It\u2019s a historic move, making New York the second such in the nation with such a law, following New Jersey\u2019s groundbreaking legislation signed in 2020, which was advanced by the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance and others.\r\n\r\nLow-income communities and communities of color throughout New York State have historically been burdened by a disproportionate number of pollution-generating facilities such as factories, power plants, bus depots, sewage treatment plants, garbage dumps and transfer stations, and trucking centers. This inequitable siting has turned these communities into environmental sacrifice zones, with the cumulative impacts of these multiple sources of pollution exponentially harming their residents, causing health impacts such as asthma, lung and heart disease, increased birth defects, and learning impairments. Current laws and regulations do not take the cumulative impacts of pollution into account when approving such facilities, instead treating them as if they were the only source of pollution that residents will have to endure, which is why this Cumulative Impacts bill will be landmark legislation in addressing the environmental racism that has plagued the health and well-being of these communities for generations.\r\n\r\n2022 \u2013 Banning Mercury from Skin Lightening Products<\/strong>\r\nWorking with the JustGreen Partnership, we were able to get New York State Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the Mercury Out of Cosmetics bill into law on December 23, 2022. This law bans the sale \u2013 both in-store and online \u2013 of cosmetics and other personal care products that contain mercury. Despite being a persistent neurotoxin that can cause kidney damage, psychosis, and peripheral neuropathy among other adverse effects, mercury is still used as a preservative in creams designed to lighten skin color. A global industry estimated to be worth $32.1 billion by 2024, skin lighteners and whiteners are marketed almost exclusively to people of color, based on the perpetuation of racist beauty standards, and because of inconsistencies in the labeling of ingredients, many users are unaware that they are applying this highly toxic substance directly to their skin.\r\n\r\n2021 \u2013 Our Youth Education Program Wins Environmental Excellence Award<\/strong>\r\nOur Youth Environmental Health & Justice Leadership Training program received an Environmental Excellence Award from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. This program prepares students to be environmental and climate justice advocates for their community.\r\n\r\n2020 \u2013 Child Safe Products Act<\/strong>\r\nChildren of color are disproportionately exposed to toxic chemicals such as arsenic, formaldehyde, lead, mercury and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Researchers have linked these and other toxic chemicals found in children\u2019s toys and essential products to cancer, learning disorders, genetic anomalies, hyperactivity, developmental delays, and asthma.\r\n\r\nThese tainted children\u2019s products are sold at stores in Central Harlem, East Harlem, Inwood, Washington Heights, and around our state. We can\u2019t reduce our children\u2019s exposure to this environmental harm by shopping outside of our community or buying more expensive items. We need strong enforcement of existing laws and passage of new legislation.\r\n\r\nThe Child Safe Products Act created a framework for protecting children by requiring product makers to disclose chemicals of concern and restricting some of the most harmful. This is a fight we were heavily involved in for years, along with our colleagues in the JustGreen Partnership. On February 7, 2020, New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed it into law. Working together, we were able to turn off the tap on toxic chemicals and make New York the healthiest state for all families!\r\n\r\n2020 \u2013 Banning PFAS in Food Packaging<\/strong>\r\nHelped pass a bill that will ban PFAS in food packaging in New York State in 2020.\r\n\r\n2020 \u2013 Banning TCE<\/strong>\r\nWe helped pass a bill banning the use of trichloroethylene.\r\n\r\n2019 \u2013 Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act<\/strong>\r\nAlso in 2019, we helped pass the landmark Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act in New York State.\r\n\r\n2019 \u2013 Period Product Labeling Act<\/strong>\r\nHelped pass the Period Product Labeling Act in New York State in 2019.\r\n\r\n2016 \u2013 Lead in Public School Drinking Water<\/strong>\r\nIn 2016, we helped pass legislation requiring tests for lead in water in every public school in New York State.\r\n\r\n2010 \u2013 Banning BPA in Children\u2019s Products<\/strong>\r\nIn 2010, we helped pass New York State legislation banning BPA chemicals in children\u2019s products.","include_drop_cap":false}}]},"yoast_head":"\nState Impacts - WE ACT for Environmental Justice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/weact.org\/es\/our-impact\/nys\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"State Impacts - WE ACT for Environmental Justice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/weact.org\/es\/our-impact\/nys\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WE ACT for Environmental Justice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-09T15:41:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/weact.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/share-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/weact.org\/our-impact\/nys\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/weact.org\/our-impact\/nys\/\",\"name\":\"State Impacts - WE ACT for Environmental Justice\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/weact.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-12T22:06:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T15:41:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/weact.org\/our-impact\/nys\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/weact.org\/our-impact\/nys\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/weact.org\/our-impact\/nys\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/weact.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Our Impact\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/weact.org\/our-impact\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"State Impacts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/weact.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/weact.org\/\",\"name\":\"WE ACT for Environmental Justice\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/weact.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"State Impacts - WE ACT for Environmental Justice","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/weact.org\/es\/our-impact\/nys\/","og_locale":"es_ES","og_type":"article","og_title":"State Impacts - WE ACT for Environmental Justice","og_url":"https:\/\/weact.org\/es\/our-impact\/nys\/","og_site_name":"WE ACT for Environmental Justice","article_modified_time":"2026-03-09T15:41:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/weact.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/share-image.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/weact.org\/our-impact\/nys\/","url":"https:\/\/weact.org\/our-impact\/nys\/","name":"State Impacts - WE ACT for Environmental Justice","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/weact.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-11-12T22:06:31+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-09T15:41:13+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/weact.org\/our-impact\/nys\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/weact.org\/our-impact\/nys\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/weact.org\/our-impact\/nys\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/weact.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Our Impact","item":"https:\/\/weact.org\/our-impact\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"State Impacts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/weact.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/weact.org\/","name":"WE ACT for Environmental Justice","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/weact.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/weact.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/weact.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/weact.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weact.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weact.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/weact.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/326\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weact.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/weact.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}