HOCHUL PUNTS ON CLIMATE PROGRAM: Hochul is delaying action on a signature climate policy and instead offering a $1 billion investment in clean energy priorities this year. The governor won’t move forward on implementing “cap and invest” this year, despite promising draft regulations last year. Instead, she has directed state agencies to develop requirements for companies and polluters to report on their emissions. The delay suggests the governor is still wary of the potential consumer impacts and political consequences of a charge on emissions, which would raise upfront prices at the pump. But she could face backlash from environmental advocates for the delay. State agencies will propose “new reporting regulations by the end of this year to gather information on emissions sources, while creating more space and time for public transparency and a robust investment planning process,” the governor’s State of the State policy book notes. Hochul’s delay of a cap-and-trade style program is akin to her spiking congestion pricing and reviving it with a lower price. But the potentially yearslong delay could put New York farther behind as it struggles to cut greenhouse gasses as required by a landmark 2019 climate law. The state is not on track to cut total emissions 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030. “The delay is stunning,” said Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission. NYSERDA president and CEO Doreen Harris told POLITICO after Hochul’s speech that she’s excited for the $1 billion commitment in funding from the governor. “The sum is something that shouldn’t be underplayed,” Harris said. Harris said the governor wants policymakers to prioritize the reporting regulations for cap and invest, but that doesn’t mean other pieces cannot move forward before those rules are finalized. She said they’re still working on a new timeline for the policy. “It’s a very lengthy process and we’ll continue to implement,” she said. — Marie J. French INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENT: The governor proposed today a broad expansion of involuntary commitment for individuals suffering from severe mental illnesses. The proposal is a nod to the electorate’s fear of crime on the subway and the efforts of Mayor Eric Adams, who has tried and failed to pass several of the same changes in the state Legislature. “People should be able to get to work in the morning, attend a play, enjoy our incredible restaurants without the fear of random violence or dodging someone in the midst of a mental health crisis,” Hochul said. “We cannot allow our subway to be a rolling homeless shelter.” The governor is proposing to expand the legal criteria for forced mental health treatment to include substantial risk of physical harm due to a person’s inability to meet basic needs like food, shelter or clothing. The state’s current standard says only that someone who appears to be mentally ill must be “conducting themselves in a manner which is likely to result in serious harm to self or others.” Mental Health Commissioner Dr. Ann Marie Sullivan said the change proposed by Hochul would impact a small population of individuals who pose a danger to themselves and the public. "What the law that's been proposed does is it expands (involuntary commitment) for extreme cases – and I'm talking about severe and complete inability to care for yourself," Sullivan told POLITICO. "That would now enable us to help those individuals by helping them get in the hospital and treat their mental illness." Hochul said she would also push to give psychiatric nurse practitioners the authority to involuntarily hospitalize someone, expanding that power beyond doctors. “Now critics will say this criminalizes poverty or homelessness — I say that is flat out wrong,” she said “This is about having the humanity and the compassion to help people incapable of helping themselves.” — Joe Anuta, Maya Kaufman and Katelyn Cordero
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