2022 State of the State Proposals

Wednesday, January 1, 2022

Governor Hochul's State of the State address focused on bringing New York back from the devastating impacts of COVID-19. This ongoing pandemic has not only been a public health crisis, but its effects continue to be a burden on New York's economy and education system. Thus the focus of Governor Hochul's speech was on protecting healthcare workers, continuing to combat the COVID-19 virus effectively, continuing to build both New York's lower and higher education system, and building back New York's economy.

View our initial summaries below, or click here to read the full 2022 State of the State proposal.


Childcare

Staff Contact: Amber Rangel Mooney

  • Increase access to childcare for 100,000 families by increasing the subsidy eligibility from 200% of the federal poverty line to 225%
  • Invest $75 million in wages for childcare workers

Economic Development

Staff Contact: Melvin Norris

  • $1 billion small business support program, including:
    New venture capital and early-stage seed funding
    Reduced rate small business loans
    New Small Business COVID Capital Investment Tax Credit
    State assistance in bidding on federal infrastructure projects
    Permanent legalization of the sale of “drinks to go.” 
  • Improvement and extension of the Brownfield Cleanup Program, to expand its tangible property tax credit renewable energy and other projects and allow funds to be used for more pre-development activities, including demolition, asbestos removal, site preparation, legal and financial services, renewable energy feasibility studies, and impact analyses.
  • Multi-part broadband program including a “build-free” initiative that will eliminate state fees for rural deployments, adoption of standardize right-of-way access for cellular projects, and provide local governments with model siting requirements and master-lease agreements that can be adopted to facilitate cellular infrastructure deployments.
  • Creation of BATTERY-NY, a technology development and manufacturing center hosted by Binghamton University, to position New York as a global leader in energy storage technology.
  • Funding to develop additional “shovel ready” sites that will attract high-tech manufacturing, particularly semiconductor manufacturing, warehousing, distribution and logistics businesses to the state.
  • Expedite MWBE certifications and increase MWBE access to reduced-rate business financing.

Energy

Staff Contact: Ken Pokalsky

  • Provide $500 million in support for the development of offshore wind manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure
  • NYSERDA, the New York Power Authority (NYPA), and Empire State Development will promote creation of a Green Hydrogen Hub to help the state compete for nearly $10 billion in federal funding for green hydrogen research and development under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)
    • Develop a green hydrogen framework to promote the safe, reliable, and equitable development of New York’s green hydrogen economy.
  • Creation of BATTERY-NY, a technology development and manufacturing center hosted by Binghamton University, to position New York as a global leader in energy storage technology.

Financial Services

Staff Contact: Lev Ginsburg

  • Further funding and staffing of the Statewide Office of Financial Inclusion and Empowerment (SOFIE) created in 2021.
    Direct DOL to open a competitive process for a bank to offer multiple banking options for New Yorkers to access their unemployment benefits. Under this proposal, recipients will be able to choose how they receive benefits, including direct deposit to an existing bank account, a new bank account to receive direct deposit, a pre-paid debit card, or digital payment apps.

Healthcare

Staff Contact: Lev Ginsburg

  • $10 billion, multi-year investment in healthcare, including more than $4 billion to support wages and bonuses for healthcare workers. It unclear where funding will come from. Spending includes:
    • $2 billion to support healthcare worker wages
    • $2 billion to support healthcare and mental hygiene worker retention bonuses, with up to $3,000 bonuses going to full-time workers who remain in their positions for one year, and pro-rated bonuses for those working fewer hours
    • $500 million for Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) to help raise wages for human services workers
    • $2 billion for healthcare capital infrastructure and improved lab capacity
  • Increased funding for the Doctors Across New York Program
    • Loan forgiveness up to $120,000 for doctors who work in underserved areas for three years
    • Creation of a Nurses Across NY Program that will place nurses in underserved areas across the state
  • Legislation for New York to join the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact and the Nurse Licensure Compact
    • Will enable doctors and nurses to relocate to New York and use their existing license to more quickly be able to practice in the State
  • Facilitate the creation of a model for training “universal” long-term care workers who want to move across caregiving roles.
  • Make permanent some healthcare provider scope of practice rules:
    • Allowing more professionals to administer vaccines, flu, and COVID-19 testing
    • Supervisory requirements in clinical laboratories will be modernized
    • Requirements will be waived for Nurse Practitioners to have a written practice agreement with a physician
  • Mandate parity for reimbursements for telehealth services across commercial health insurance plans and mandate network requirements for telehealth health care providers
  • “Healthcare equity package” designed to expand affordable coverage for low-income households, families with children, vulnerable seniors, and individuals with disabilities
  • Expanding Essential Plan eligibility:
    • Raising the threshold from 200% of federal poverty line to at least 250% subject to federal approval to reduce the ranks of the uninsured by at least 14,000 and make healthcare more affordable for at least 92,000 New Yorkers. 
    • Eliminate the $9 premium for Child Health Plus for families between 160% and 222% of the federal poverty level ($27,876 and $38,676 for a household of two and between $42,408 and $58,836 for a household of four)
  • Establishment of a Pharmacy Benefits Bureau in the Department of Financial Services (DFS) to implement elements of the PBM registration law signed into law in December of 2021

Human Resources/Labor

Staff Contact: Frank Kerbein

  • Ban agreements that limit workers’ ability to move and work freely
    • Will propose legislation to eliminate non-compete agreements for workers making below the median wage in New York State and to explicitly ban all “no-poach” agreements under State antitrust law.
  • Increase criminal penalties for employers who commit wage theft
    • Will propose legislation to increase criminal penalties for employers who knowingly or intentionally commit wage theft violations to more closely align with penalties for other forms of theft
  • Pass the Clean Slate Act
    • Will provide for certain felony records to be sealed after seven years, and misdemeanor records to be sealed after three years, following the completion of a sentence. To be eligible for records sealing, an individual would have to have completed their prison sentence and community supervision; not have been convicted of a sex crime; and not since have acquired subsequent convictions in New York State or have pending charges during the waiting period. Reasonable exceptions will be made for appropriate categories of employment.
  • Flexibility of unemployment payments
    • Will direct DOL to open a competitive process for a bank to offer multiple banking options for New Yorkers to access their unemployment benefits. Under this proposal, recipients will be able to choose how they receive benefits, including direct deposit to an existing bank account, a new bank account to receive direct deposit, a pre-paid debit card, or digital payment apps.
  • Expand the Human Rights Law to address adding domestic violence victim/survivor status as a protected class in housing cases
  • Adding immigration and citizenship status as a protected class
  • Updating digital systems to allow DHR complaints to be submitted and processed electronically
  • Directing DHR to make virtual hearings available permanently.

Taxation

Staff Contact: Ken Pokalsky

  • $100 million in small business tax relief, achieved by increasing the current 5% small business income exclusion and expanding its eligibility for additional small business owners. 
  • Multiple provisions to support the state’s agriculture industry, including an increased Farm Workforce Retention Tax Credit, a new refundable credit for payment of overtime wages, and an increased investment tax credit to assist farms invest in new equipment and technology.
  • Two year acceleration of the phase in of “middle class” personal income tax rates, first adopted in 2018.
  • Allow the existing NYC section 421-a tax abatement to expire and adopt a new program to incentivize investments in affordable and market-rate rental housing in New York City.

Technology

Staff Contact: Paul Zuber

Governor Hochul’s proposal to bring affordable broadband to New Yorkers and transform the State’s Digital Infrastructure with over $1 Billion in new investment will be the largest-ever investment in New York’s digital infrastructure. The proposal would launch the ConnectAll initiative that would include:

  • Broadband Assessment and Interactive Map 
  • Local Connectivity Planning Grant Program
  • 21st Century Municipal Infrastructure Investment Program
  • Rural Broadband Grant Program
  • Connectivity Innovation Fund Program
  • Affordability Program
  •  Affordable Housing Connectivity Program
  • Digital Equity Program
  • A Build-Free Initiative for Rural Broadband Deployment
  • Streamline Make-Ready Processes
  • Standardize Right-of-Way Access for Cellular and Establish Clear Timelines
  • Leverage Existing State Fiber Assets
  • Implement a Cellular Siting Guide for Local Governments
  • Address Barriers to Serving Multiple-Dwelling Units

Additional technology initiatives include:

  • Create a partnership with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Stony Brook University Partnership to develop the artificial intelligence industry
  • Create a new national semiconductor technology center and additional chip fabrication plants to New York.
  • Strategic investments in shovel-ready High-Growth tech sites

Transportation

Staff Contact: Melvin Norris

  • Introduction of a 5-year capital plan for the New York State Department of Transportation to make communities more resilient to extreme weather events and facilitate economic growth
  • Additional funding for New York state roads and bridges by prioritizing investments and increased funding by $1 billion
  • Increases in the statewide “Bridge NY” program by an additional $1 billion in the next five-year capital plan that will rehabilitate or replace structures
  • Projects that will reconnect neighborhoods displaced by highway expansion in the post-World War II era that prioritize walking, cycling, active streets, and green spaces
  • Additional infrastructure upgrades and streetscape projects for commercial corridors and waterfronts aimed at attracting more businesses
  • Commitment to the LIRR Third Track Project to be on time and under budget for completion by the end of 2022

Workforce Development & Education

Staff Contact: Amber Rangel Mooney

  • $10 billion, multi-year investment in healthcare, including more than $4 billion to support wages and bonuses for healthcare workers
  • Increase the training capacity of medical institutions by covering the costs of new programs
  • Attract students into healthcare by relieving their financial burdens
  • Award prior learning credit across SUNY and CUNY
  • Create an Office of Healthcare Workforce Innovation within the Department of Health (DOH)
  • Create new Office of Workforce and Economic Development to lead workforce development efforts across the state through Empire State Development (ESD) and in conjunction with DOL, SUNY, and CUNY
  • Expand part-time Tuition Assistance Programs, allowing more adult students to attend school
  • Provide financial support for non-degree workforce training at SUNY and CUNY
  • Increase funding for apprenticeship programs at SUNY and CUNY
  • Extend the Empire State Apprenticeship Tax Credit and further incentivize employers to hire disadvantaged youth
  • Support apprentices in high-growth industries, targeting underrepresented groups such as women and people of color
  • “Jails to Jobs” initiative will help incarcerated and formerly incarcerated New Yorkers get critical job skills and find work and will include the following efforts: 
    • Refocus parole officers on career planning and job placement
    • Enable voluntary, private-sector, in-prison employment opportunities that pay a good wage
    • Expand vocational, job readiness, and re-entry programs
    • Restore the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) for incarcerated individuals