June 20, 2026
I’ve spent the past few weeks recapping the just-concluded 2026 legislative session, in particular the newly enacted 2026-27 state budget that in the end, in the view of many, will only stand to worsen New York State’s affordability crisis.
The new budget raises state spending to an all-time high. We just learned the final tally of this enacted budget is a whopping, eye-popping $277 billion! That’s right, the state Division of the Budget (DOB) quietly put out an updated financial plan revealing that the new budget is nearly $10 billion more than what we were told it would be upon its enactment in late May, a nearly $25 billion hike over last year’s budget.
As I’ve been saying, there are things for everyone to like in this budget. There better be in a fiscal plan that spreads around taxpayer dollars like there’s no tomorrow.
Except that there’s always a tomorrow and, for those of us deeply concerned about out-of-control state government spending, the bottom line on the new budget is that it fails to take the steps needed to meaningfully address the worst affordability crisis that New Yorkers have faced in a long time.
That’s especially true when it comes to energy affordability.
Picture this. You’ve been elected to the New York State Legislature. The people you represent are hurting. They send you to Albany to do something about it. The state they call home is no longer affordable. They can’t afford the taxes. The wasteful, ineffective programs their tax dollars are paying for don’t impact their lives. Their businesses struggle under the stifling grasp of overregulation. They can’t afford basic necessities like food. And for many years, they’ve been paying among the highest energy costs, utility bills, and gas prices in the entire nation.
What do you do as their representative in Albany? If you’re a member of the Democrat majority that controls the Senate, Assembly and Governor’s Office, you not only do nothing – you actually make it worse.
For yet another legislative session, we watched the Democrats in charge make it worse by approving higher taxes on energy and radical mandates, all in the name of advancing their badly misguided “green” energy strategy that fuels their far-left political agenda but does absolutely nothing to provide real relief from rising energy costs.
New York utility costs are among the highest in the nation, with recent data showing residential electricity prices up to 70% higher than the national average. Since 2019, New York’s average residential electricity prices have risen 58 percent, outpacing the national average increase of 36 percent. To make matters worse, we have been receiving ongoing warnings from the NYISO, the agency that manages our state’s power grid, that the grid cannot handle projected electrical demand. In plain English, that means even higher prices, more brownouts and blackouts on hot summer days, less economic development to keep our towns and cities vital, and other untold levels of pain.
Energy is a necessity, not a luxury. Energy affordability is a crisis that demands action. Instead of decisive action, here’s what the Democrat-led Legislature delivered this session:
> An extension of the absurd, unrealistic deadlines for the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) implementation. There simply is no proof – even with the extended deadlines – that the proposed energy goals will ever be reached in ways that are affordable, feasible, and reliable;
> The continuation of the so-called “Cap and Invest” scheme that was intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and generate funding for climate initiatives;
> No action on a gas tax holiday that would have provided immediate relief to millions of drivers across New York;
> A refusal to deliver $3 billion in immediate relief to ratepayers that could have been provided with existing, unused funding that’s being hoarded in a slush fund in NYSERDA’s coffers; and the
> Continuation of the costly and potentially dangerous electric school bus mandate.
To counteract these crazy out-of-touch policies, our conference put forward policies that would actually allow New Yorkers to keep money in their pockets by promoting transparency, and ensuring that ratepayers are fully informed about the costs they bear. Our proposals include measures that I sponsor or co-sponsor, and strongly support, that would:
> Provide a one-year utility bill tax and surcharge holiday and two-year green energy tax holiday. Government taxes and fees account for between 25 to 50% of a customer’s utility bill. This bill would provide meaningful and immediate relief to ratepayers as they face skyrocketing energy costs (S8463);
> Repeal the zero-emission school bus mandate. All across New York, especially upstate, the costs just to operate an electric school bus could be $500,000 each and that doesn’t include the maintenance (S4748);
> Establishes the “Ratepayer Disclosure and Transparency Act,” that would, for the first time, give ratepayers a transparent view of how monthly, state-imposed surcharges on their utility bills are being used to fund various clean energy programs, including initiatives mandated under the CLCPA of 2019 (S6412); and
> Eliminate the System Benefits Charge (SBC) on utility bills. NYSERDA uses this unnecessary fee to fund renewable energy projects and fails to make the state’s energy supply more affordable. Eliminating this charge will save New York ratepayers over $150 million per year (7075).
We have advanced many other proposals that we believe would better build a comprehensive state energy policy focused on affordability, feasibility, and reliability.
The policies coming out from Albany have already delivered a heavy price tag for ratepayers and taxpayers, small businesses and manufacturers, school districts, farmers, and entire local economies. Their so-called green energy plan is not achievable. It is not responsible and is completely irrational. It lacks critical foresight and common sense, and it unreasonably risks energy grid reliability and affordability.
In the weeks and months ahead, Albany Democrats will be out there telling New Yorkers how great this year’s legislative session was for energy affordability.
New Yorkers know better. They will know better every time they open their next utility bill. They will know better when Governor Hochul sends them a taxpayer-funded “energy rebate” check for a measly $100 or $200 in an attempt to buy off their anger.
Before it’s too late, New Yorkers need to go on telling Albany Democrats how sick and tired they are of skyrocketing energy costs and the unworkable mandates that the Democrats keep trying to sell them as a fix.
