Bill > S08849

This bill, known as the "regional equity in policy implementation act," establishes a framework for assessing the impact of statewide climate, energy, and infrastructure policies on different regions of New York State. It recognizes that regions like the North Country, Capital Region, and New York City have varying economic capacities, infrastructure, and readiness for green economy transitions, and that uniform policies can create inequitable burdens. To address this, the bill mandates a ten-point "regional impact test" for any proposed policy, which will evaluate ten criteria including infrastructure readiness, economic capacity, workforce availability, technological readiness, geographic and climatic conditions, community needs, municipal capacity, cost-benefit distribution, implementation timeline feasibility, and equity and resiliency outcomes. Based on this test, each region will be rated as "high impact," "moderate impact," or "low/no impact," and if three or more regions score "high impact," the policy must be revised or include mitigation measures tailored to those regions. The bill also requires a publicly available report detailing the test's findings, regional disparities, strategies to support less ready regions, and proposed mitigation efforts, and it will apply to policies adopted on or after January 1, 2027.

Budget and Finance

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S8849