Sean Mahar, interim commissioner of the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation, was adamant Tuesday that Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to not include a full rollout of the state’s Cap and Invest program in her executive budget as was expected is not a delay. The comments came following a joint budget hearing on environmental conservation and energy.

“Cap and Invest is continuing to move. We’re prioritizing moving the reporting rules first at the governor’s direction and that’s showing you that Cap and Invest is still an active initiative in the state that we need to get right,” he said. 

The program would cap the state’s greenhouse emissions while charging for use allowances and using the money to fund climate initiatives and rebates to reduce utility costs. In her executive budget, Hochul only mentioned developing regulations for reporting greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the year.

State Assemblymember Anna Kelles told Spectrum News 1 following Mahar’s testimony that whether you call it a delay or not — when it comes to climate issues — adhering to a timeline is part of getting it right.

“If we don’t even have the regulations until the end of this year or the middle of next year, it won’t follow that timeline,” she said.

Also a hot button issue: electric vehicles.

In addition to bipartisan concern over access to charging infrastructure and power grid capacity, calls from Republicans ranged from ending New York’s zero-emission school bus mandate and making it optional for districts to replacing it with a pilot program that would explore different terrain.

“This is unproven in the rural North Country school districts, and we need a pause," said Assemblymember Matt Simpson during a news conference that coincided with the hearing. “It isn’t that our school districts aren’t looking at an effective way to implement this. There isn’t an effective way.”

Maher and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) President Doreen Harris assured lawmakers that the state is developing programming to help schools ensure they are ready for the transition, which requires them to purchase exclusively zero-emission buses by 2027, with all buses in compliance by 2035.

“We work directly with NYSERDA on that to ensure that we are creating the right programs,” Maher said.

When asked pointed questions about the timeline and potential changes to it, Harris pointed out to Republican lawmakers that it was the Legislature who passed the mandate, and NYSERDA is simply developing programming to put it in motion, a reminder that major changes would take legislation. 

Even Democratic lawmakers like Kelles and state Sen. Pat Fahy acknowledged that school districts have legitimate concerns, but Kelles argued that those concerns can be addressed by adequately funding the transition.

“It’s not impossible, it’s totally possible, its just that we need to make sure that we invest in all of the steps so that it’s a rational transition and we support our school districts,” she said.