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Assembly Member Grace Lee highlights PFAS limits, rent-freeze expansion and data-center moratorium
Summary
Assembly Member Grace Lee updated the board on state-level work: a bill to set strict PFAS drinking-water limits, a state budget increase raising SCRIE/DRIE eligibility from $50,000 to $75,000 pending local adoption, and a one-year moratorium on data centers to develop regulatory protections.
Assembly Member Grace Lee told Manhattan Community Board 2 she is pressing state legislation and budget measures she helped advance that have immediate local implications.
Lee said the legislature passed a bill to set strict, science-based limits for PFAS chemicals in New York drinking water in response to federal rollbacks. "The first is a bill to limit PFAS contamination in New York's drinking water," she said, adding that the change would protect more than 1,000,000 New Yorkers who face elevated PFAS levels. She said sponsors included Senator Kavanaugh and that advocates in the room had played a role.
Lee also reviewed changes in the state budget that increase eligibility for the SCRIE and DRIE rent-freeze programs from $50,000 to $75,000 in income, but observers must pass a separate local law for New York City to adopt the change. Staff from Senator Kavanaugh's office clarified that a city-level intro (Intro 978) is pending at the City Council and that the state provision was set to be retroactive to July 1 for those who apply.
On a different front, Lee said the governor signed a one-year moratorium on data-center construction to allow time for an environmental and energy usage regulatory framework. She said the executive order does not preclude signing state legislation to strengthen protections.
Board members asked about remediation funding for PFAS contamination; Lee and staff said the state budget includes approximately $1,000,000,000 for environmental initiatives this year, including funds intended to help upgrade treatment facilities that could be used for remediation once rules are finalized.
The updates included constituent-service information: council and assembly staff described a July 28 workshop offering one-on-one application assistance for rent-freeze programs. The assembly member closed by urging community members to stay engaged with city and council hearings related to these measures.
