New York Gets Down to the Business of the Budget
By Jeff Jones, Alliance for Clean Energy New York
Widespread concern that New York is facing a program-impacting budget deficit was reflected in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive spending plan released on Jan. 16, but despite this fact, her proposal was for a $233 billion budget, an increase of $4 to $6 billion (4.5% increase) over last year. So, it’s more like the so-called deficit is slowing the rate of annual spending growth, a fact that won’t go unmentioned by state lawmakers in this election year. While affordable housing, public safety, and mental health issues remained her top-of-mind priorities, she did propose taking $500 million from New York’s impressive $19 billion rainy day fund to help local governments – especially New York City – address the pressing surge in immigrants arriving in the state.
On the energy front, both her State of the State speech and her budget lacked the recent emphasis that the state has placed on having New York as a global leader in clean energy development and fighting the climate crisis. This reflects the inflationary roadblocks that have slowed, at least temporarily, progress on dozens of offshore and on land-based wind and solar projects. But on a positive note, it means that Hochul’s spending plan aims to upgrade the state’s general project siting atmosphere and improve the regulatory process.
“There have been many roadblocks to getting renewable energy projects to completion, and despite the improvements we have seen at the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES), a more streamlined and efficient process is needed in New York,” commented Deb Peck Kelleher, interim executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York.
Peck Kelleher, ACE NY staff, and member organizations are reviewing the details of the governor’s proposed Renewable Action Through Project Interconnection and Deployment Act (RAPID) with great interest. The RAPID Act proposes to move the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) from its current home at the Department of State to the Department of Public Service (DPS). Presented as a way to improve renewable energy siting further in the state, the ORES shift is designed to bring the agency responsible for siting projects closer to the one handling transmission. The relationship between siting and transmission is a long-standing problem in New York, as the state works to integrate renewable energy generated upstate and more offshore into the NYC metropolitan area grid, where the need is greatest. According to Peck Kelleher, it makes sense that this “vital office would fall under the purview of the DPS.” Many of those most concerned about the problems the RAPID Act is designed to alleviate see issues of authority and decision-making – who has the final say on siting and transmission decisions – as one of the more complex and complicated looming issues involved in integrating these two currently independent government bodies.
On another front, ACE NY applauds the governor’s proposed investments, including additional funding for the Office of Just Transition. From numerous perspectives, including labor, environmental justice, and community resilience, working to retrain the workforce for the new green economy is a crucial step toward the future.
With budget hearings underway this week, public reaction to the Governor’s budget proposals will become central to discussions in Albany for a while. Wednesday, Feb. 7, will be the notoriously long day of testimony on the environment, energy, and agriculture. After completion of the hearings, the Senate and Assembly conferences will begin work on their one-house budgets, which are likely to be released in early March. From there, it will be time to get down to three-way budget negotiations, with passage due by statute by March 31 (although the budget was a month late last year).
