MEMORANDUM OF OPPOSITION
ON PROPOSALS TO ROLLBACK THE CLCPA
April 30, 2026
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Dear Speaker Heastie and Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins,
We write to strongly oppose the reported proposed deal on CLCPA rollbacks in the budget that would undermine New York’s progress towards clean, affordable energy that secures our energy future and protects communities from deadly pollution. We call on the legislature to reject the Governor’s latest proposal to gut the climate law and advocate for binding targets, near-term pollution reductions, increased safeguards for overburdened communities, and accelerating clean energy deployment to advance energy affordability.
This is not a negotiation. It’s a manufactured crisis deployed in an election year. Our recent op-ed in the Times Union outlines the political choice being made to avoid accountability to a lawsuit and coerce the legislature into becoming accomplices in rewriting the climate law under the guise of protecting New Yorkers or risk being perceived as willing to sacrifice them to higher energy bills for the sake of climate progress. This is at the very least disingenuous, at worst, simply propaganda.
The proposal is not a simple tweak to the law based on an updated reality – it is a wholesale rewrite of the law. The governor has repeatedly asked for more time to implement the law and do so affordably, given the near term targets in it. However, the list of rollbacks being reported would essentially make the law a lofty goal rather than a law. They obscure the true climate impact of New York’s reliance on fracked gas – making emissions appear lower on paper while paving the way for increased investments in expensive fossil fuel generated electricity, delay implementation of emissions regulations to the end of 2028 and eliminate binding near-term emissions targets. This is the exact opposite of the legislative intent of the CLCPA.
The governor is using her outsized power in the budget process to coerce you to rewrite the law. She’s been clear about this for months – first through Blake Washington and then in an interview in early March – using the NYSERDA memo as a scare tactic and the lawsuit ruling as urgent justification.
None of the changes to the CLCPA will save a penny for New Yorkers struggling to pay their bills today. Despite the clear and actionable proposals put forward to address energy affordability from both houses of the legislature, the governor’s own admission and reports from multiple news outlets, the changes being sought to the climate law don’t bring down bills. So why the “hell or high water” approach to changing the CLCPA?
The governor’s concerns can be addressed with just two targeted changes: (a) updating the timing for releasing finalized emissions reduction regulations within 2027, and (b) a mandatory interim emissions target to anchor near-term action. Nothing more is needed to address the feasibility of the current obligations in the CLCPA or any affordability concerns.
We understand that you are under tremendous pressure to solidify a deal to move past the budget and get through many necessary priorities in this year’s session. If the narrow tweaks to the CLCPA can’t be achieved, we urge the legislature to rally around a counter-proposal that preserves the core tenets of the CLCPA and ensures any budget deal with CLCPA rollbacks includes the following policy and funding:
- Implementing regulations to be adopted by 2027 that are required to reduce emissions beginning right away on a declining trajectory consistent with science-based recommendations to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
- A mandatory interim emissions target in 2035 to compel action in the near-to mid-term instead, rather than weakening the enforceability of any targets until 2050.
- Amending the utility obligation to serve gas and eliminating the 100 foot rule for commercial customers (Affordable Gas Transition Act – Part P Sections 5–7 of FY25 Exec TED budget).
- $3 billion annually for the Sustainable Future Fund until cap-and-invest regulations are implemented and securing at least $3 billion in annual revenue.
- An additional $500 million in non-bonded annual funding for building repairs, insulation and upgrades to lower energy bills through the Green Affordable Pre-electrification (GAP) Fund, the NYS HCR Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), and Empower+ until resources from implementing regulations is realized.
- Meaningful protections for, and investment in, disadvantaged communities including cap-and-invest guardrails against pollution hotspots; a 45%-50% spending mandate with standardized agency tracking; a moratorium on repowering fossil fuel plants in or near DAC/EJ communities; and co-pollutant reductions near DACs.
These decisions will define New York’s energy future for generations. Enacting these rollbacks would make New York the first state to abandon a foundational climate law and remove mandatory emissions requirements at the very moment state leadership is needed most and constituents are calling for stronger action.
We hope to meet with you to help develop a strong proposal.
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