Governor Hochul announced that upcoming electric building mandates have been paused
Column by Assemblyman Phil Palmesano (R,C-Corning)
With the news that the state is delaying the All-Electric Buildings Act indefinitely, due to ongoing litigation in federal court, I thought it prudent to talk about how this is great news for New Yorkers.
The act, which bans all new construction from having gas hookups, was flawed and dangerous from the word go. A few months ago, I traveled the state to warn about the state’s radical energy policies and to let people know about the lack of affordability, reliability, feasibility, and energy choice in the state energy policies being advanced by the governor and Democrats in Albany. The governor and Albany Democrats were advancing this policy despite the fact that 71% of New Yorkers, including 76% of Independents, do not want a ban on natural gas and two-thirds want there to be a balance between renewable resources and natural gas, including 74% of Democrats.
For years, my colleagues and I have warned that the radical energy/climate agenda being pushed by Albany Democrats would make life more expensive for New Yorkers, and now it is finally happening. Under the not-so-watchful eye of Gov. Hochul, we have seen energy affordability, reliability, feasibility, and consumer energy choice take a back seat as they continue to rubber-stamp the radical Green New Deal agenda in New York. Our Democratic colleagues told us we were simply fear-mongering, but the fact of the matter is, we were right all along. The average New York family and business will continue to pay more every month while sacrificing energy choice, reliability and risking overwhelming the grid.
The NY Assemblyman penned this column in early 2025:
The fact of the matter is, even though 60% of New Yorkers heat their homes with natural gas and 40% of our generation comes from natural gas, Gov. Hochul and Albany Democrats’ energy policies are simply designed to dismantle the affordable and reliable natural gas infrastructure, supply, and delivery system. It’s designed to take away consumer choice on how you heat your home, cook your food, power your buildings and the vehicle you drive. It will jeopardize the reliability of the grid, leading to dangerous and deadly blackouts, and it will continue our nation-leading outmigration of more New York families, farmers, small businesses, and manufacturers leaving our state.
There is no doubt that if the All-Electric Buildings Act is allowed to be implemented, it will certainly result in higher costs for new home and building construction, continued skyrocketing utility bills, loss of good-paying union jobs, and a dangerous jeopardization of our state’s energy grid.
The irony of all this is that these out-of-touch policies do nothing to meaningfully make an impact on global emissions, as New York only contributes 0.4% of global emissions, while China contributes 30%, has 1,000 coal plants and is building more every week. And while we continue to see the negative impacts of New York’s Green New Deal (CLCPA) policies, we can take a temporary sigh of relief knowing this particular part of it will not be implemented at this time. But my promise to you is that every day I will continue to work hard to make sure to point out that our state’s energy policies absolutely must prioritize energy affordability, reliability, feasibility, safety, fuel diversity and energy choice to help ensure that ratepayers and the economy of New York are not sacrificed for the sake of progressive virtue signaling for votes by the governor and downstate Democrats.
Assemblyman Palmesano represents the 132nd District, which includes Schuyler County, Yates County and parts of Chemung County, Seneca County and Steuben County. For more information about Assemblyman Palmesano, please follow him on Facebook.
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