Senate approves rebate program to spur electric landscaping equipment for businesses and public entities, excluding individual homeowners

The New York State Senate passed legislation on March 17, 2025, sponsored by Senator Krueger, to create a rebate program intended to help commercial landscaping businesses, municipal and nonprofit entities, schools and state authorities replace gas-powered landscaping equipment with electric alternatives.

Sponsor and supporters described the bill as aimed at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, lowering ground-level ozone and fine particulate pollution, and cutting noise from gas-powered equipment. Senator Krueger told colleagues the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) could administer the program and use funds available through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) or other NYSERDA funding streams to support rebates.

Eligibility as discussed on the floor includes commercial landscaping companies, municipalities, school districts, private schools, universities, state and local authorities, not-for-profit corporations and other nonprofit organizations. Individual homeowners are explicitly not eligible under the bill as discussed during floor debate. The sponsor said the program would focus on nonpersonal/commercial users; as a result the bill excludes most corded (plug-in) products because institutional users typically acquire battery-powered equipment at scale.

The bill lists qualifying equipment categories the program shall include: walk-behind and riding lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, leaf blowers, mulchers, chippers, chainsaws, cultivators, tillers, snow blowers and related equipment; floor debate also referenced “electric snow shovels.” Some senators pressed the sponsor on lifecycle concerns including battery production and disposal; Krueger repeatedly said both battery-powered and corded electric equipment are preferable to gas-powered equipment for emissions and health reasons, though the bill as written focuses on battery/electric commercial products.

Senator Murray and others asked why homeowners were excluded; Krueger said the bill intentionally targets commercial and institutional users, and many individual products are not eligible. The sponsor also said NYSERDA has flexibility in funding choices and could set limits and caps per year or per device.

Floor debate included technical and environmental questions: whether batteries or corded products are better for the environment, whether corded products would be eligible, whether municipalities can participate, and whether NYSERDA would need to draw on ratepayer-funded systems-benefit charges. The sponsor said corded options are not widely available at institutional scale, and that the expectation is that NYSERDA would set program details and caps.

The transcript records the final roll-call as 51 ayes and 9 nays; senators recorded voting no included Gallivan, Brafillo/Bridal, Lanza, Murray, O’Meara, Ortt, Stec, Walzick and White (as named in the transcript). The legislation was recorded as passed and the effective date was stated in the bill text as immediate.

Proponents cited public-health benefits from reduced ground-level ozone and particulate pollution and reduced noise; critics pressed for broader eligibility for homeowners, for clarity on funding mechanics and for consideration of battery lifecycle impacts. The bill advances to the next steps for enactment and any agency-level rulemaking that NYSERDA may require to stand up the rebate program.