•  Summary 
  •  
  •  Actions 
  •  
  •  Committee Votes 
  •  
  •  Floor Votes 
  •  
  •  Memo 
  •  
  •  Text 

A10342 Summary:

BILL NOA10342
 
SAME ASSAME AS S08005
 
SPONSOREnglebright
 
COSPNSRPeoples-Stokes, Paulin, Titus, Colton, Cahill, Lifton, Thiele, Rodriguez, Otis, Skoufis, Jean-Pierre, Ortiz, Lupardo, Rosenthal, Jaffee, Abinanti, Kavanagh, Simon, Gottfried, Skartados, Sepulveda, Steck
 
MLTSPNSRFahy, Farrell, Galef
 
Add Art 75 §§75-0101 - 75-0115, amd §54-1523, En Con L; add §66-o, Pub Serv L; amd §1005, ren §§1020-ii, 1020-jj & 1020-kk to be 1020-jj, 1020-kk & 1020-ll, add §1020-ii, Pub Auth L; add Art 8-B §228, Lab L; add §§17-a & 17-b, Chap 355 of 2014
 
Enacts the New York state climate and community protection act; relates to climate change; renewable energy program; labor and job standards and worker protection.
Go to top

A10342 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A10342
 
SPONSOR: Englebright (MS)
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the environmental conservation law, the public service law, the public authorities law, the labor law and the community risk and resiliency act, in relation to establishing the New York state climate and community protection act   PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: The purpose of this bill is to enact the "New York State Climate and Community Protection Act" to address and mitigate the impacts of climate change in New York.   SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: This bill would: *define relevant terms; *establish the 'New York State Climate Action Council" (the Council) consisting of 23 members including state agencies and individuals with expertise in environmental issues, environmental justice, labor, and regulated industries; *require the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to estab- lish: *greenhouse gas reporting requirements; *statewide greenhouse gas emissions limits; *a scoping plan, developed in consultation with the Council, the Envi- ronmental Justice Advisory Group (established in A.3063, sponsored by M. of A. Peoples-Stokes), the Disadvantaged Communities Working Group and other stakeholders, outlining DEC's recommendations for attaining the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limits; *regulations to achieve statewide greenhouse gas emissions reductions; *a report, not less than every four years, including recommendations regarding the implementation of greenhouse gas reduction measures; *a report on barriers to, and opportunities for, community ownership of services and commodities in disadvantaged communities, including distributed renewable energy generation; energy efficiency and weatheri- zation investments; and, zero emission and low-emission transportation options; and, *take actions to promote adaptation and resilience; *establish a Disadvantaged Communities Working Group consisting of representatives from environmental justice communities, DEC, and the Departments of Health and Labor to:' *identify disadvantaged communities for the purposes of co-pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions reductions and the allocation of certain investments; and, *advise. DEC on the promulgation of certain reports and regulations; *require state agencies to assess and implement strategies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and, when issuing permits, licenses or other administrative approvals and decisions, to consider whether such decisions would be inconsistent with the attainment of the statewide greenhouse gas emission limits; *authorize monies from the Environmental Protection Fund to be used to establish and implement easily-replicated renewable energy projects, including solar arrays, heat pumps and wind turbines in public low-in- come housing in suburban, urban and rural areas; *provide a definition of "renewable energy systems" to mean systems that generate electricity or thermal energy through the use of the following technologies: solar thermal, photovoltaics, wind, hydroelectric, geoth- ermal electric, geothermal ground source heat, tidal energy, wave ener- gy, ocean thermal, offshore wind and fuel cells which do not utilize a fossil fuel resource in the process of generating electricity; *require that fifty percent of the electric capacity served by electric distribution companies regulated by the Public Service Commission (PSC); the Power Authority of the State of New York (PASNY); and the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) be produced by renewable energy systems by 2030; *establish the following incremental capacity levels: twenty-seven, percent by 2017; thirty percent by 2020; forty percent by 2025 and fifty percent by 2030; *provide a framework and guidelines for electric distribution companies, PASNY and LIPA to follow in order to achieve their required capacity levels, including periodic reviews of such levels; *require that all projects contracted pursuant to this act that either receive financial assistance of more than $100,000 or have a total value of more than $10 million pay to building service workers and construction workers the prevailing wage rate of the locality in which the project is located. These projects must also include in their contracts with contractors language requiring labor harmony policies, dispute resolution mechanisms, prevailing wage compliance, safety poli- cies, workers' compensation insurance, and apprenticeship program utili- zation; and, *provide that contracts by recipients of financial assistance pertaining to prevailing wage are to be considered for the benefit of the applica- ble workers, and these workers have a right to maintain an action in court if they are paid less than prevailing wage.   JUSTIFICATION: Climate change is adversely affecting economic well-being, public health, natural resources, and the environment of New York. Climate change especially heightens the vulnerability of disadvantaged communi- ties, which 'bear environmental and socioeconomic burdens. The severity of current climate change and the threat of additional and more severe change will be affected by the actions undertaken by New York and other jurisdictions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will be required by mid-century in order to limit global warming. Action undertaken by New York to reduce greenhouse emissions will have an impact on global greenhouse gas emissions and the rate of climate, change. In addition, such action will encourage other jurisdictions to implement complementary greenhouse gas reduction strategies and provide an example. of how such strategies can be implemented. It will also advance the development of green technologies and sustainable practices within the private sector, which can have far-reaching impacts such as a reduction in the cost of renewable energy components, and the creation of jobs and tax revenues in New York. This bill will: *help put New York on track to minimize the adverse impacts of climate change through a combination of measures to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions and improve the resiliency of the state with respect to the impacts and risks of climate change that cannot be avoided; *shape the ongoing transition in the State's energy sector to ensure that it creates good jobs and protects 'workers and communities that may lose employment in the current transition. Setting clear standards for job quality and training standards encourages not only high-quality work but positive economic impacts; *prioritize the safety and health of disadvantaged communities, control potential regressive impacts of future climate change mitigation and adaptation policies on these communities; and, *review and prioritize the allocation of certain public investments.   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: This is new legislation.   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: To be determined.   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as a chapter of the laws of 2016, in relation to establishing a permanent environmental justice advisory group as proposed in legislative bills numbers A.3063 and S.1525, provided further that the provisions of section seven shall take effect on the 180th day after it shall have become law and shall apply to any grants, loans, and contracts and financial assistance awarded or renewed on or after such effective date.
Go to top