NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled a swath of proposals aimed at tackling the state’s affordability crisis, tapping into a message that catapulted Mayor Zohran Mamdani to City Hall as she seeks reelection in November.
She outlined plans to streamline affordable housing development, address insurance and utility costs, as well as plans to expand free childcare programs statewide, in an address to lawmakers in Albany on Tuesday. She also revealed plans to expand the state’s nuclear energy capacity, regulate AI usage in political campaigns and for children, and allow self-driving cars outside of New York City.
The governor’s emphasis on lowering costs and cutting red tape comes as elected officials of both parties embrace affordability as a major focus. President Donald Trump won the 2024 election in part on pledges to tackle inflation and rising costs, while Mamdani was elected in November with the highest voter turnout in decades, campaigning on a simple message that New York is far too unaffordable for most of its population.
Hochul’s agenda also embraces the so-called abundance political movement, a philosophy championed by some progressives that argues increasing energy and housing supply through deregulation help lower living expenses in much of the US. California Governor Gavin Newsom backed a law limiting environmental challenges on development, while bipartisan US Senators pushed federal legislation to eliminate regulations on manufactured homes.
“Government should make life more affordable, keep people safe, and expand opportunity—not shrink it,” Hochul said in an outline detailing her plan for the coming year.
Some of the proposals included in Hochul’s State of the State include:
• A $1.7 billion plan to expand free school and childcare programs, including a pledge to expand universal pre-kindergarten statewide, increase seats in New York City’s 3K program, and enact a new program to provide free childcare to 2-year-olds in the city
• The creation of “buffer zones around houses of worship and health-care facilities” for protests
• Plans to alter New York State’s Environmental Quality Review Act, limiting the review process to two-years in order to speed housing development
• An expansion of New York’s nuclear energy capacity to add five gigawatts of power, more than doubling the state’s current nuclear capacity
• A push for auto insurance tort reform and legislation that would crackdown on drivers who habitually break the speed limit, an initiative intended to help lower drivers’ insurance premiums
• Legislation that would authorize individuals to sue federal officers who violate their constitutional rights as well as a plan to limit immigration enforcement in sensitive locations such as schools, hospitals and houses of worship
• Establishment of a fund to provide $30 million in payments to farmers and livestock producers to combat address economic pressures brought on by tariffs and other trade agreements
Tuesday’s speech serves as a roadmap for Hochul’s political priorities as she and state lawmakers begin budget negotiations for the fiscal year starting April 1. It also gives a window into her upcoming reelection campaign as she seeks a second full term in office.
The proposal is also notable for what it didn’t include. Hochul has already promised to fund the state’s new childcare initiative without funds coming from an increase in income and corporate taxes in the coming year. She also made no mention of Mamdani’s campaign pledge to make New York City’s bus service free. Hochul has been dismissive of that proposal, which has been estimated to cost roughly $750 million a year. Mamdani’s proposal to freeze rents in the city’s roughly 1 million rent-stabilized housing units was also not brought up in her plan.
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