It’s crunch time at the state capitol, as lawmakers work to get controversial legislative items like the NY HEAT Act, the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act and a slate of prison and immigration reform measures over the finish line before leaders deliver their closing remarks and flee the capital city.
With just days left in the legislative session, for Democrats the race is on to accomplish as much as possible on a compressed timeline thanks to the latest state budget in 15 years. For Republicans in the minority, the mission is to resist where necessary and find common ground where possible.
In the Assembly, with more members and different floor procedures than the Senate, the legislative session has been extended from June 12 to June 17.
Whether or not that will actually make the difference in getting tough bills passed depends on who you ask, but everyone agrees that avoiding a surprise like Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to pause congestion pricing hours before the end of last year's legislative session which torpedoed multiple bills that were hanging in the balance, can only help.
“In Albany, a few days could be a short amount of time, and a few days could be a long amount of time,” said Assemblymember Michaelle Solages.
In the state Senate, Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris told Spectrum News 1 there will be no extra days.
“Our plan is to conclude as scheduled,” he said.
In addition to those items with top billing, lawmakers have their own personal priorities. For Gianaris, it’s a bill to take on monopolies through reform of the state’s antitrust laws.
“More than ever, we are seeing these big tech companies consolidating and driving out smaller competition,” he said. “That hurts consumers ultimately so we’re trying to reset how enforcement takes place against these monopolies we’ve gotten in through the Senate before, hopefully the Assembly will join use."
He’s also pushing reform to rent guideline boards to decouple them from the whims of local executives.
Asked her priorities, State Senate Finance Committee Chair Liz Krueger had a list.
“Certainly, the NY HEAT Act is one of my priorities moving through before the end of session, I’m carrying quite a few bills that I feel very strongly about,” she said. “Some of them relate to reproductive health, some of them relate to fair business practices and affordability, some are a little off the beaten path but have an important role,” she said. “We’re all more than a little concerned about the role of AI.”
Then there are the big ones. Krueger and Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon carry the HEAT Act and are working to amend the bill to address concerns coming from some Western New York members which would allow utilities to opt out.
Krueger told Spectrum News 1 that the HEAT Act, which seeks to align the state’s utility policy with a transition away from natural gas, end the expansion of natural gas infrastructure, and seeks to cap utility rates at 6% of household income for many residential payers, will ultimately save rate payers once they have transitioned, arguing that the state and utility companies will primarily foot the bill for any transition costs.
“It’s a guarantee that it’s going to save us money, help with our environmental challenges, help address the continuing problem of climate change and damage being caused because we are so over reliant on oil and gas in our economy,” she said. “There are people who are afraid of change, and I understand that.”
State Senator Mario Mattera slammed the bill as ‘putting the cart before the horse,’ and suggested it would wreak havoc for ratepayers and negatively impact those employed in jobs related to natural gas infrastructure.
“They need to work on other things to make sure we can transition to renewable energy, like our infrastructure. Don’t you think you should fix your infrastructure first and then transition into renewable energy? We don’t have that, and there is the problem. Things like this, the NYHEAT Act is a disaster,” he said.
The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act and Bigger Better Bottle Bill are also on the move as the clock ticks down.
The packaging bill promotes "extended producer responsibility" and would require companies with an income in excess of $1 million to reduce their use of plastic by 30% over 12 years and phase out 17 toxic chemicals among other things. Opponents say it will be costly for businesses to navigate and limit innovation.
State Sen. Pete Harckham carries the bill in the Senate.
“Most members at least on our side of the aisle are willing to hear the truth and parse through the disinformation coming from the other side,” he said. “We’ve made 25 major compromises to industry in the last draft, it’s a good bill, it’s an actionable bill.”
NY HEAT and Packaging are both consistent winners in the Senate but have historically been tougher to sell in the Assembly.
Mattera said he hopes Democrats in the Assembly will provide a firewall.
“The packaging bill, things like the NY HEAT act, things like this are just hurting the pockets of New Yorkers and that’s the reason everybody is exiting out of here,” he said.
For many Democrats like Solages, who chairs the Black Puerto Rican Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, prison reform is a top priority.
That includes expanding oversight in state prisons and pushing reforms to the state’s parole and sentencing laws in response to the murders of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi at state facilities late in December 2024 and March 2025 respectively.
“There’s a lot of conversations going on, but at the end of the day I don’t want this to be talk, I want to see us take that first step,” she said.
That package is one area where Gianaris said the lack of time may play a role in stymying the degree of progress that advocates like Solages and Senate Corrections Committee Chair Julia Salazar are pushing for.
“Obviously it’s a tricky subject matter, we saw that with the wildcat strikes that happened earlier this year,” he said. “It’s a sticky wicket as we like to say, and with only a week and a half left we really have our work cut out for us on that.”
Solages is also among the substantial number of Democrats pushing for immigration reform in light of Trump Administration policy, and told Spectrum News 1 that could mean paring down larger initiatives like the New York for All act, which would limit collaboration between state and local law enforcement and ICE.
“If we’re not going to do the bill in chief, maybe do some iteration of the bill to show immigrant communities that we respect them, we care for them, and we are not going to condone this type of behavior,” she said.
Solages said other priorities for her include the "Maternal Health, Dignity and Consent Act" which prohibits drug, cannabis or alcohol testing and screening of pregnant or postpartum individuals and newborns without consent and only if it is within the scope of medical care, or the testing or screening is necessary for a medical emergency.
Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay told Spectrum News 1 that he’s concerned the caucus’s prison reform package won’t adequately address the safety concerns brought to light by the three-week illegal correction officer strike.
“I would like to see more addressing that we want to see safety in our facilities for both the inmates and the COs,” he said.
As for immigration, he thinks the state should butt out.
“Let that play out on the federal level without trying to insert our state’s political beliefs, or Democratic political beliefs, into that policy,” he said.
Barclay also pointed out that while these heftier items may send sparks flying, much of the day-to-day business in Albany over the next few weeks will include more common ground than you would expect.
“With all of the bills that are passed in Albany, most of them are passed with overwhelming bipartisan support,” he said. “For instance, there’s a lot about the budget I didn’t like, but some of the affordability acts like getting rid of the unemployment insurance deficit we have with the federal government I thought was a good idea, I thought the child tax credit was a good idea.”
When it comes to returning later in the year to address the potential impact of federal cuts, Gianaris said it remains likely.
“Given that the federal government is making some drastic suggestions as to what they might do to state budgets,” he said. “If the federal budget requires us to come back to deal with the consequences we stand ready to do so, frankly I think most people are expecting that will become necessary."