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Senate rejects bid to force repeal of CLCPA cap-and-invest provision; resiliency bill passes
Summary
Senators debated a late amendment seeking to repeal a statutory cap-and-invest requirement tied to New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act; the chair ruled the amendment non-germane, the appeal failed, and the underlying Senate Print 3590A establishing an Office of Resilience was passed 51–9.
The New York State Senate on March 3 debated a contested appeal after a senator sought to introduce an amendment that would repeal Section 75-0109 of the Environmental Conservation Law, a provision tied to the state’s cap-and-invest framework under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). The presiding officer ruled the amendment non-germane and a motion to overrule the chair failed after a show-of-hands procedure.
Senator Walczyk argued for the amendment while seeking to tie it to the bill, saying the CLCPA’s cap-and-invest programs impose heavy costs on New Yorkers and citing a state memo he said projects higher fuel and utility prices (Senator Walczyk). “New Yorkers cannot afford $5.25 for a gallon of gas,” he said as he urged colleagues to consider a repeal of the statutory requirement. The presiding officer sustained the non-germane ruling and the appeal did not succeed (appeal received 21 AYE votes; the ruling of the chair stood).
Sponsor Senator Harckham, who brought Senate Print 3590A forward, pushed back on the figures Walczyk cited and criticized what he described as selective use of a NYSERDA memo. “This is a completely fabricated memo,” Harckham said, characterizing the numbers as cherry-picked extremes and arguing the primary driver of recent high utility bills is the global price of natural gas, not the state’s climate statute. Harckham also defended the bill’s creation of an Office of Resilience and voted in favor.
Senators on both sides explained their votes on the floor. Senator Borrello said he viewed the bill as an additional layer of bureaucracy that would shift costs to ratepayers and voted NO; Senator Krueger urged colleagues to recognize the ongoing climate crisis and recorded an AYE. After closing remarks, the clerk announced the vote tally: AYES 51, NAYs 9, and the bill (Senate Print 3590A) was passed.
The action leaves in place the enacted Office of Resilience created by the bill; the Senate record shows named senators who voted in the negative during the roll call. No amendment to repeal Section 75-0109 was accepted onto the bill during the session. The Senate adjourned and the bill will proceed according to legislative scheduling.
(Reporting note: quotes and explanations of vote come from senators’ floor remarks during the March 3, 2026 Senate session.)
