The 2022 Legislative Session is Over. Now What?

June 7th, 2022

Last week, members of the New York State Senate and Assembly wrapped up the 2022 legislative session. During the course of the session, both houses of the Legislature passed more than 1,000 bills.

Last month, in partnership with NFIB of NY, we identified a package of bills that we dubbed The Excessive Seven that would be especially harmful to Upstate consumers and employers.

The Excessive Seven included the following bills:

• New York Health Act (S.5474/A.6058)

• All-Electric Building Act (S.6843-C/A.8431-B)

• Extended Producer Responsibility (S.1185-C) (A.10185) 

• Indexing Minimum Wage (S.3062-B/A.7503)

• Anti-Trust Bill (S.933-A/A.1812-A)

• Employee Lien (S.2762/A.766)

• Good Cause Eviction (S.3082/A.5573)

We’re happy to report that none of these costly bills were passed. We have no doubts that many of these bills will be reintroduced in the future and we’ll continue to push back as necessary. We’ll also monitor numerous other bills that didn’t make The Excessive Seven list but could also impact consumers and employers.

One of the few pro-growth bills that passed both houses was S9467/A10507 – better known as the Green CHIPS bill. The measure will provide $10 billion in state tax credits over 20 years to attract new, “green” semiconductor manufacturing projects. Computer chip manufacturing projects, like the Fab8 site run by GlobalFoundries in Saratoga County, have the potential to create high-skill, good-paying jobs and transform surrounding communities. This bill is currently awaiting Governor Hochul’s signature.

Now the big question: What comes next?

There are elections this year for all statewide, Senate and Assembly seats. Let’s take a quick look at some key dates:

June 28: Statewide primaries and Assembly primaries

August 23: Senate primaries, Congressional primaries and Congressional special elections

November 8: Election Day

Mark those dates down and be sure to get out and VOTE!

We’ll also be keeping an eye out for developments on the Farm Labor Wage Board front. There’s a lot of uncertainty about when the Wage Board will issue its report that could eventually lead to a 40-hour overtime threshold on New York’s farms. Needless to say, lowering that threshold would devastate a sector that is so important to the Upstate economy and our communities. To learn more about this issue, read testimony from Upstate United’s executive director Justin Wilcox here.

And last, but definitely not least, the Climate Action Council (CAC) continues its work. The CAC has extended the public comment period on its draft plan to July 1. We strongly encourage you to learn about the CAC’s draft scoping plan submit comments via email to scopingplan@nyserda.ny.gov. You can also read through our take on New York’s green scheme here and here.