STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8696
IN SENATE
January 7, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. HARCKHAM -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring the state
university of New York to install solar canopies on its campuses
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 355 of the education law is amended by adding a new
2 subdivision 22 to read as follows:
3 22. a. The state university trustees shall adopt rules requiring each
4 institution of the state university of New York, to calculate, in a
5 manner to be developed by the state university of New York, the total
6 amount of square kilometers occupied by parking facilities suitable for
7 solar canopy development within one year of the effective date of this
8 subdivision.
9 b. The state university trustees shall utilize the data from each
10 institution, calculated pursuant to paragraph a of this subdivision, to
11 create a distributed solar energy goal for each institution to use no
12 less than seventy-five percent of eligible parking facility space for
13 solar canopies by two thousand forty.
14 c. Beginning one year after the effective date of this subdivision,
15 any construction project undertaken by the state university of New York
16 on a campus of an institution where the scope of such project includes a
17 parking garage, open parking lot or other parking facility that offers
18 parking spaces for the purposes of public use, state employee use or
19 pay-per-usage or includes a parking garage, open parking lot or other
20 parking facility constructed by a private entity using state capital
21 funding, shall install solar canopies in such facilities, unless such
22 institution has already reached the seventy-five percent goal estab-
23 lished pursuant to paragraph b of this subdivision.
24 d. As used in this subdivision, the following terms shall have the
25 following meanings:
26 (1) "Parking facility" shall mean a parking garage, open parking lot
27 or other parking facility owned and/or operated by the state university
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14077-01-5
S. 8696 2
1 of New York, that offers parking spaces for the purposes of public use,
2 faculty and staff use, student use, or pay-per-usage.
3 (2) "Solar canopy" shall mean a system designed to capture solar radi-
4 ation for the purpose of producing usable energy.
5 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
