Plugged In @ Hinman Straub

February 6, 2026

What’s Inside

Legislative Session Recap
Joint Budget Hearing Schedule
Special Election Results
Legislative Members Not Seeking Re-Election
Governor Hochul Picks Lieutenant Governor Nominee
Delgado Chooses Running Mate
New York, New Jersey, Sue the Trump Administration Over Funding
In the News
Coming Up

Legislative Session Review

The Legislature convened for session on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday this week, and will reconvene on Monday for a three-day session.

This week, the Senate highlighted legislation that it advanced surrounding Utilities. The legislative package includes the following bills:

Prohibiting Ratepayer Funded Expense Recovery for Political Activities: This bill, S.1012A, sponsored by Senator Brouk, would prevent public utilities from recovering funds from ratepayers to support certain activities such as expenses incurred from lobbying public officials, donations to public charities, travel, entertainment and educational expenditures as well as public relations and advertising campaigns.

Enacting the Rate Hike Notice Act: This bill, S.5553C, sponsored by Senator Comrie, would enact the Rate Hike Notice Act, which directs the PSC to mandate electric and gas utilities to provide notice of a proposed rate hike to a customer via text, email, and to that customer’s monthly utility bill.

Utility Hikes Economic Impact: This bill, S.1847, sponsored by Senator Comrie, would require the PSC to consider the economic impact of utility rates and charges when evaluating utilities’ proposed rate changes.

Regulating Appointments to the PSC: This bill, S.7328A, sponsored by Senator Hinchey, would expand the number of PSC commissioners to eight; codify the PSC’s mission to ensure affordable, reliable, and safe access to utility services for New Yorkers; and prohibit any employee of a utility regulated by the PSC from serving as a commissioner for two years after their employment.

Evaluating Non-Economic Damages for Utilities: This bill, S.7165A, sponsored by Senator Hinchey, would authorize the PSC to consider non-economic damages suffered by customers when determining penalties for utilities, including penalties negotiated in settlements. These non-economic damages may include, for example, any pain and suffering or mental anguish endured by a utility customer during an unplanned power outage.

Establishing a Fair Annual Ratemaking Process: This bill, S.1896, sponsored by Senator Mayer, would direct the PSC to reform the PSC’s evaluation of utilities’ return on equity (ROE) to ensure the ROE that electric, gas, steam, and water utilities receive is reasonable and transparent for ratepayers.

Extending the Suspension Period for Utility Rate Cases: This bill, S.5593, sponsored by Senator Mayer, would (1) permit the PSC to extend the suspension period for gas or electric utility rate cases up to fourteen months in order to mitigate financial strain on ratepayers and allow more time for the PSC and intervenors to scrutinize utility rate filings for potential savings to ratepayers, and (2) limit utilities’ “make whole” ability to retroactively collect rate increase amounts.

Requiring Utilities to Return Excess Revenue to Ratepayers: This bill, S.7693, sponsored by Senator Mayer, would direct the PSC to require gas, electric, or combination gas and electric utilities to return to ratepayers all revenues in excess of their authorized rate of return on equity.

Mandating Minimum Standards for Utility Payment Plans: This bill, S.1327, sponsored by Senator Parker, would direct the PSC to set minimum standards for payment plans established by utility companies for eligible residential customers already enrolled in other assistance programs.

Adjusting Electric Residential Fixed Charges: This bill, S.1329, sponsored by Senator Parker, would direct the Department of Public Service to limit monthly fixed service charges: utility corporations would only be permitted to bill residential customers fixed charges for fixed operation and maintenance costs directly related to metering, billing, service connections, and the provision of customer service.

Joint Budget Hearing Schedule

Joint budget hearings continue to take place until February 26. This week, the Legislature held three budget hearings: Transportation, Mental Hygiene, and Human Services. The schedule moving forward is as follows:

Health/Medicaid: Tuesday, February 10 at 9:30 a.m.
Local Government/General Government: Wednesday, February 11 at 9:30 a.m.
Public Protection: Thursday, February 12 at 9:30 a.m.
Higher Education: Tuesday, February 24 at 9:30 a.m.
Labor/Workforce Development: Wednesday, February 25 at 9:30 a.m.
Housing: Wednesday, February 25 at 2:00 p.m.
Economic Development/Arts: Thursday, February 26 at 9:30 a.m.
Taxes: Thursday, February 26 at 2:00 p.m.

Please note that requests to testify must be submitted using a Hearing Request Form.

Special Election Results

Special Elections were held this week to fill several vacancies in the New York State Legislature. The projected winners are as follows:

36^th Assembly District

Democrat Diana Moreno is the projected winner in the race to replace newly elected NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The Queens district covers much of western and central Astoria, Ditmars, Astoria Heights and northern Long Island City.

74^th Assembly District

Democrat Keith Powers is the projected winner in the race to replace new city council member Harvey Epstein. This Manhattan district includes the Lower East Side, East Village, and Midtown East.

47^th Senate District

Democrat Erik Bottcher is the projected winner in the race to replace the new Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal. The Manhattan District includes the neighborhoods of Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen and the Upper West Side.

61^st Senate District

Democrat Jeremy Zellner is the projected winner in the race to replace the new Mayor of Buffalo Sean Ryan. The 61^st Senate District contains the northern part of the city of Buffalo in and the Town of Tonawanda in Erie county.

Legislative Members Not Seeking Re-Election

This week, the following members of the Legislature announced that they will not be seeking re-election this year:

Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay

On Thursday, Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay issued a statement, not only announcing that he will not seek re-election for the 120th Assembly District this year, but that he also will be stepping down as Minority Leader in the coming days to allow for a smooth transition to new leadership early in this legislative session.

The Minority Leader has served the 120th Assembly District for 23 years, which covers Oswego County and parts of Northern Cayuga and Jefferson counties. The Minority Leaders’ full statement can be found here.

Reports indicate that a vote by Assembly Republicans on a new Minority Leader could take place as early as Monday.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie issued the following statement on the Minority Leader’s decision:

I’m normally happy when a Republican leaves office, but Minority Leader Will Barclay is a distinct exception to that rule. In all seriousness, he has been a good friend and partner in government. Even when we disagreed on policy, I knew we could always work together with respect and collegiality. I wish him all the best.

Senator Brian Kavanagh

On Tuesday, Senator Brian Kavanagh announced that he will not be seeking re-election this year in the 27th Senate District. While the Senator did not announce what his next chapter will be, he assured that he will continue serving the public and that he looks forward to exploring what he might do after he completes the rest of his term.

Senator Kavanagh was first elected to the Senate in December 2017 after representing the 74th District on Manhattan’s East Side in the State Assembly, where he was elected to six terms, beginning in 2006. His current district, the 27th covers several neighborhoods across lower Manhattan.

Assemblymember Vivian Cook

According to City & State NY, Assemblymember Vivian Cook will not seek re-election this year. Assemblymember Cook has represented the 32nd Assembly District for 35 years and was the first Black woman to represent the district, which covers Southeast Queens, including Jamaica, South Jamaica, and Rochdale Village.

The Assemblymember did not provide any explicit reason for her decision.

Governor Hochul Picks Lieutenant Governor Nominee

On Wednesday, Governor Kathy Hochul announced Adrienne Adams as her Lieutenant Governor nominee in her campaign for re-election this year. Adrienne Adams is the former Speaker of the New York City Council and previously ran an unsuccessful campaign for New York City Mayor.

The New York Times initially broke the story, where both Governor Hochul and Adrienne Adams provided the statements below:

Governor Hochul said:

As Donald Trump attacks this state relentlessly and Bruce Blakeman bends the knee before him, I need a fighter in my corner who’ll stand strong for New York families. Adrienne Adams is that fighter. Adrienne and I are no strangers to rolling up our sleeves and getting results for working New Yorkers. Together, we’re going to continue investing in public safety, bringing costs down, and making this state a place where all families can thrive.

Adrienne Adams said:

I spent every day working to find common ground on affordable housing, child care, and lowering costs for New Yorkers struggling to get by. There’s too much on the line for us to let Donald Trump raise costs, rip away child care, and wage war on New York families — and Governor Hochul and I are ready for this fight. Let’s get to work.

While this partnership has been applauded by many Democrats, including State Attorney General Letitia James, it also drew surprising criticism. Specifically, the Executive Committee of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, led by Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, rescinded its endorsement of Governor Hochul following her Lieutenant Governor pick announcement. However, the Brooklyn Democratic Party reversed course shortly after and has re-endorsed Governor Hochul’s re-election campaign after having “really productive” conversations with the Governor and her team.

Delgado Chooses Running Mate

Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, who is challenging Governor Hochul in the race for New York State Governor, has announced India Walton as his running mate. Walton, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), gained national attention in 2021 when she defeated Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown in the Democratic primary but ultimately lost to him in the general election after he launched a successful write-in campaign.

New York, New Jersey, Sue Trump Administration Over Funding

This week, New York and New Jersey announced that both states are suing the Trump Administration for withholding $15 billion in federal funding for the Gateway project to provide new tunnels and rehabilitate the existing vital Hudson River rail crossing between northern New Jersey and New York City.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, seeks emergency relief to stop the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) from continuing to implement its indefinite funding freeze—funds needed to ensure that active construction on the project can continue, that workers do not lose their jobs, and that the States and their residents are not harmed.

The full complaint can be found here.

Governor Hochul said:

Donald Trump’s revenge tour on New York threatens to derail one of the most vital infrastructure projects this nation has built in generations, putting thousands of union jobs and billions of dollars in economic benefits in jeopardy and threatening the commutes of 200,000 riders. New York will fight this illegal effort by the Trump Administration to steal the funding the federal government committed to get the Gateway Tunnel built with everything we’ve got. My message to Donald Trump and Sean Duffy is simple: we’ll see you in court.

Attorney General Letitia James said:

Allowing this project to stop would put one of the country’s most heavily used transit corridors at risk. Our tunnels are already under strain and losing this project could be disastrous for commuters, workers, and our regional economy. We are taking the administration to court to prevent a shutdown that would ripple far beyond New York and New Jersey.