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From: Anthony Kownack, Corning Place Communications

Subject: Weekly Articles of Interest (New York Propane Gas Association)

Date: July 28, 2023

Bill,

Below, please find a compilation of articles, issued this week, that may be of interest to you. Articles
are also hyperlinked within each headline.

Thank you,

Anthony

Weekly Articles of Interest Include:

 Hochul appoints new budget director
o Release: Governor Hochul Appoints Blake G. Washington as Budget Director
 Sen. Liz Krueger urges Assembly to pass climate bill as NYC set to bake
 Stalled coastal wind power projects imperil Biden’s climate agenda
 PSC reviews utility rates & renewable energy progress
 Climate change fighters hope this summer's extreme weather is a wake-up call to
state lawmakers
 Pilot program aims to bring NYCHA residents new energy-efficient stoves
 Proposed bill seeks to separate political giving, contract awards
 Who’s who in Kathy Hochul’s administration?
 State's power grid is holding up through recent heat waves, but there are concerns
for the future

Hochul appoints new budget director

Bill Mahoney
Politico
July 27, 2023

ALBANY, N.Y. – Gov. Kathy Hochul has picked the Assembly’s top staffer on the budget as her new
budget director.

Blake Washington will replace Bob Megna “this summer,” Hochul announced on Thursday.

“With years of public service and a deep knowledge of the budget process, Blake is the perfect
leader to take the helm at the Division of the Budget,” Hochul said in a statement.
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Washington has been a staffer on the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee since 2002.

Speaker Carl Heastie appointed him to the top post, which leads the chamber’s budget negotiations,
a week into his tenure as speaker in 2015. That same day, he picked Philip Fields as director of
budget studies.

Heastie announced soon after Hochul’s announcement that Fields will fill Washington’s role. Fields’
former deputy Matthew Golden will join him in leading the Assembly’s budget team.

“Between the two of these dedicated public servants is nearly five decades of experience in the
People’s House, working to craft legislation and budgets that help families and move our state
forward,” Heastie said.

Background: Hochul has spent her tenure without stability in one of the most important jobs in
state government.

Former Budget Director Robert Mujica, who took the role in 2015 after previously leading budget
negotiations for the state Senate GOP, was the highest-ranking holdover she kept from predecessor
Andrew Cuomo’s administration. But there was a widespread opinion that he wouldn’t stick around
indefinitely. He left after a little over a year to take a job in Puerto Rico.

Acting Budget Director Sandra Beattie was picked in Nov. 2022. But she was sacked after just a few
months after being probed on procurement questions.

Hochul replaced her with Megna, who had previously had the role under ex-Govs. David Paterson
and Cuomo.

It was acknowledged at the time that Megna’s appointment was temporary and that he would
eventually return his full-time focus to his job as the Rockefeller Institute of Government’s
president. Hochul’s release confirmed that he will return to that role.

Sen. Liz Krueger urges Assembly to pass climate bill as NYC set to bake
Tim Balk
New York Daily News
July 24, 2023

Pointing to challenging, sizzling weather conditions this summer ahead of the season’s first heat
wave, state Sen. Liz Krueger on Monday put a little out-of-season heat on her Assembly colleagues
to pass a climate sustainability bill that passed in the Senate.

The legislation, which would put caps on energy fees for low- and middle- income New Yorkers and
discourage the construction of new natural gas lines by forcing utilities to use their own money to
build them, passed the Senate in the spring before hitting a wall in the Assembly.

Krueger’s calls came with the Assembly in recess after the legislative session ended last month. But
the Manhattan Democrat suggested this summer’s extreme weather underscored the urgency of
climate action.

The so-called HEAT Act, sponsored by Krueger, passed 39 to 23 in the Senate in June.

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State lawmakers are not due to return to Albany until next winter. Krueger said the bill could be
considered earlier in an emergency session, or alternatively folded into Gov. Hochul’s next budget.
“We are living in the beginning of a crisis that will only get worse unless we act immediately,”
Krueger, who represents the Upper East Side, said in a virtual news conference. “We are so far
behind. We are literally in a race for our own lives and the planet’s life.”

In recent weeks, New York has pushed through steady heat, a torrential Hudson Valley downpour
that turned deadly and an awful yellow-hued sky tainted by Canadian wildfires burning some 500
miles away.

The planet is coming off its hottest June on record. New York City is forecast to have its first heat
wave of the season from Thursday to Saturday, said Matthew Wunsch, a meteorologist in the
National Weather Service’s field office in Upton, N.Y. A heat wave is defined as three straight days
with temperatures of 90 degrees or higher.

It is difficult to link individual weather events to climate change, but global warming has been
shown to drive an increase in extreme weather, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency.

On Monday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said the White House had authorized
a disaster declaration unlocking funding for New York regions still recovering from the rainstorm
that blew through the state two weeks ago, turning roads into rivers and killing one person.
Krueger’s renewed push also comes with New Yorkers jittery about rising energy costs. Electric
bills from Con Edison, New York City’s largest utility supplier, are forecast to jump 9% next
month under a plan approved by the state Public Service Commission.

The HEAT Act directs the Public Service Commission to prevent low-to-middle income residential
customers from having to pay more than 6% of their incomes on electric bills.

The 6% cap was a sticking point in the Assembly, and drew concerns that the bill might discourage
the conservation of energy, said Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, who sponsored the bill in her
chamber.

Assembly lawmakers’ limited bandwidth posed a broader challenge, Fahy added.

Protracted negotiations over the state budget delayed the passage of legislation, and forced the
Assembly to come back for a lightning two-day legislative session in June after the Senate finished
its work.

“The bottom line is we are very, very committed to this bill,” Fahy, an Albany Democrat, said by
phone Monday. “I really do feel confident we’re going to get there.”

Hochul’s office said in a statement that the governor is “committed to reducing emissions and
fighting climate change, and will review all budget requests.”

The office of Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Assembly did pass one significant and contentious climate bill before adjourning last month:
the Planned Offshore Wind Transmission Act, a measure that would help clear the way for an
offshore wind power development 14 miles off Jones Beach.
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But the HEAT Act chilled in the Assembly.

“This has been a hot, expensive, climate crisis summer,” Liz Moran, an advocate with the legal
group Earthjustice, said in the news conference with Krueger. “It’s time for lawmakers to step up.”

Stalled coastal wind power projects imperil Biden’s climate agenda

Ry Rivard and Marie J. French
Politico
July 26, 2023

A grim financial outlook for the country’s offshore wind power industry is threatening President Joe
Biden’s most important energy plans.

The administration is counting on offshore wind farms to produce at least enough power for 10
million American homes by the end of the decade.

Up and down the Northeast — the center of the burgeoning industry — however, energy companies
have struggled to finance their projects, going hat in hand to governors and utility regulators asking
for more money so they can start building the turbines they have already promised to deliver.

The energy developers’ requests have caused unrest in statehouses and among a public wary of
already-rising power bills. But without a dramatic increase in offshore wind capacity, there is no
way Biden or two of the nation’s greenest Democratic governors — New York’s Kathy Hochul and
New Jersey’s Phil Murphy — can hope to meet their climate change goals.

“This is a pretty fragile time in the offshore wind industry,” said Molly Morris, president of Equinor
Wind US, which is developing three projects to serve New York.

Many industry officials and green energy supporters describe 2023 as a crossroads. With the 2024
election bearing down on them, offshore wind advocates are trying to shore up as many projects as
they can, in case Republicans hostile to the industry — like Donald Trump — retake Washington.

“We cannot meet our goals without offshore wind advancing,” said Julie Tighe, president of the New
York League of Conservation Voters. “Given the length of time it takes to do permitting we certainly
cannot step backwards and lose these wind farms.”

Offshore wind takes a combination of state and federal green lights to work, plus an immense
amount of capital — billions of dollars. Companies lease swaths of the ocean from the federal
government and finance their projects by getting states to agree to buy the power from the projects,
which are built in part with generous federal tax subsidies. Federal, state and local permits all have
to be secured to make the projects a reality, which gives opponents numerous chances to stall or
kill projects.

Democrats, in particular, see a virtuous cycle developing: Clean energy, union jobs and American
manufacturing as massive construction projects drum up domestic manufacturing orders.
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But to see the virtuous cycle, the industry needs to get the first wave of offshore wind projects over
the finish line.

“If you don’t get your first project done, it’s hard to imagine getting your second, third, ninth, 15th
project done,” said Tim Sullivan, the CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

So far, federal regulators have only approved three utility-scale projects nationwide. Only seven
offshore wind turbines are producing power and just two of the larger projects are truly under
construction.

Offshore wind companies, state policymakers and boosters herald the start of work on those large-
scale projects — South Fork northeast of the tip of Long Island and Vineyard Wind south of
Martha’s Vineyard — as a key turning point for the industry.

“There are tangible things happening right now. You see physical steel in the water,” said Damian
Bednarz, managing director at Attentive Energy, a subsidiary of French energy giant TotalEnergies,
which holds a lease for a tract of the Atlantic Ocean but hasn’t secured a contract to build a project.

Northeast pioneers

States in the Northeast moved early to set clean energy targets. Companies leased swaths of the
ocean floor to help meet those goals. New Jersey aims to get 100 percent of its power from clean
energy sources by 2035 — the most aggressive goal of any large state.

Murphy recently signed legislation to save what would be New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm
from financial uncertainty. The 1.1 gigawatt Ocean Wind 1 project includes 98 offshore wind
turbines about 15 miles off the southern coast of New Jersey. The company has committed to invest
$695 million in New Jersey as part of the project. The law allows Orsted, the project’s developer, to
take advantage of new federal tax incentives.

Without the deal to help Orsted in New Jersey, the company and Murphy administration officials
said, the wind farm would not be built and that would kneecap the state’s efforts to jumpstart a
major new domestic industry. But the law passed, thanks to an odd coalition that at one point
included the leader of the state Senate’s Republicans.

However, a second major project is still facing significant financial uncertainty. The new law doesn’t
help Atlantic Shores, which is a joint venture of Shell and French energy company EDF. The
company will need to decide next year if it proceeds with the project, but without more money from
the state it won’t happen, according to the company’s CEO Joris Veldhoven.

“We simply don’t have an investable project,” Veldhoven said in an interview earlier this month.

Atlantic Shores says its costs have gone up 30 percent since the project was approved by the state
in 2021. It faces the same rising costs that other offshore wind projects do. Inflation is up — the
cost of steel has soared since the pandemic — interest rates are higher and the labor market is
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tighter. Paradoxically, the war in Ukraine made clear how important domestic energy is while at the
same time driving up the costs to produce it.

New Jersey’s projects are not outliers.

Companies with contracts to supply Massachusetts are scrapping their plans, paying penalties to
terminate agreements that are no longer profitable. Rhode Island’s utility isn’t moving forward with
a potential second offshore wind project after costs were higher than expected.

“I feel like we have these moments of near death and resuscitation every week,” said Kris Ohleth, a
close industry observer who leads the University of Delaware’s Special Initiative on Offshore Wind.

In New York, Equinor and Orsted petitioned the state for bigger payments for their projects in June.
The subsidies will ultimately be paid by ratepayers through their electricity bills once the projects
begin producing energy.

Orsted, building in New York with an assist from Eversource, requested an inflation adjustment and
other concessions for its project there. Equinor — the Norwegian energy giant — is also seeking a
higher price for its three New York projects, which BP is a partner on.

Equinor’s three projects represent more than a third of New York’s 2035 target for 9 gigawatts of
offshore wind. If completed by 2030, they’ll provide about 12 percent of the energy needed to
achieve New York’s goal of having 70 percent of the state’s electricity come from renewables by
that year.

Developers have a lot on the line as they seek to lock in higher payments from states.

Equinor’s Morris said that each of these projects are an investment of $4 billion to $5 billion, and
while not all that capital is committed, there is a significant amount that’s already been contracted
out to suppliers.

“For the closer projects a lot of that money has been put out already,” Morris said. “The risk is
sitting very much with the developers at this point.”

Energy companies that have been awarded contracts by states have significant leverage as they
plead for more funding.

But states also recognize they have leverage. Even as some projects stall, there’s still plenty of ocean
and appetite for clean energy.

Doreen Harris, the president and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development
Authority, said the state still has time to pivot to other projects if needed and that some project
attrition has been accounted for.

“We have sufficient lease areas available to our state, and we have time to procure alternatives if
they would be needed,” Harris said.
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The state closed updated bids for its third offshore wind solicitation last month, and that’s linked to
millions in funding for supply chain investments. But Harris said the contracted projects are linked
to goals beyond New York’s, like Biden’s.

“They represent, I’d say, a critical part of the industry building that we are obviously leading here in
the state,” Harris said. “Collectively we as states recognize that we are the major reason that
specifically this administration could achieve their goals for 2030.”

NYSERDA is expected to weigh in on the request by companies for higher payments by the
comment deadline of Aug. 28.

State competition

Federal help for the struggling offshore wind power industry could be on the horizon.

Biden’s flagship legislative achievement, the Inflation Reduction Act, includes tax credits aimed at
boosting clean energy. Those credits are largely aimed at projects with established manufacturing
in the U.S. For the offshore wind industry, a domestic pipeline is still in the works.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland was in Albany earlier this month to highlight Biden’s
commitment to offshore wind and the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act and other federal
investments.

“We’re starting this transition. We know it hasn’t always been easy but that doesn’t mean that
anyone gives up,” she said. “The Inflation Reduction Act is a downpayment and we know we need to
do more to move forward.”

Industry boosters hope offshore wind will spur a nationwide supply chain, though there is still
competition for manufacturing sites and port activity. And that competition is perhaps no clearer
than in New Jersey and New York, neighbors that say they are working together but are also vying
to be the first, fastest and largest.

Part of Equinor’s New York plans include buying towers from what could be the nation’s first
offshore wind turbine manufacturing plant at the Port of Albany. But that project faced permitting
delays and inflation challenges as well and likely won’t be ready in time to supply the company’s
first project and port officials say it faces a $350 million funding shortfall.

But they’re moving ahead preparing the site for construction.

At the site, excavators are leveling out piles of gravel that have sat atop where the tower
manufacturing buildings are planned. The stone sat in place for months to prepare the ground for
the factories to make the heavy tower pieces. Port of Albany CEO Rich Hendrick said it’s still “very
positive” about the project.

“There’s bumps in the road,” Hendrick said, “but we have pavement for it, to smooth them out.”
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In New Jersey, the state has put $600 million into a port facility in South Jersey meant to help the
offshore wind industry. A second facility a county over is also hoping to grow from one where wind
turbines are assembled out of foreign steel into ones where they are manufactured using American
steel. But, Atlantic Shores argues, for that to happen, there needs to be a stream of projects —
including its own — not just one.

“We know some of the other states are moving forward with offshore wind,” Veldhoven said. “We
also know that many people in New Jersey want to move forward with offshore wind, but it’s a very
binary thing in the sense that you have a few large projects in offshore wind, and it matters a lot
whether they go ahead or not.

PSC reviews utility rates & renewable energy progress

Amal Tlaige
ABC News 10
July 26, 2023

ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN) — The Public Service Commission is trying to balance the need for
affordable energy with the goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. The
CLCPA was signed into law in 2019. Their goals include shifting New York to 70% renewable
energy by 2030 and 100% zero emission electricity by 2040. Another goal is to electrify 200,000
buildings annually. 

“As our state is transitioning off of fossil fuels onto electrification, the commission is extremely
concerned about affordability, accessibility, and also reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, while
also providing a safe and reliable service from New Yorkers,” said Meagan Burton, Senior Attorney
at Earth Justice. Burton said there are 20,000 customers receiving incentives for transitioning to
fossil fuels but that number needs to increase to 200,000. According to Burton and Commissioner
Diane Burman, the problem is, costs are too high. 

“In fact, we’ve spent a lot of dollars that were not helpful, that’s why we’ve had so many different
refinements. And that’s why it’s important for us to shake off the desire to continue to pat ourselves
on the back. I get it we’re doing great work, but we’ve got to also address the challenges. There’s no
slide that says ‘challenges ahead,'” said Burman.

And when it comes to emission rates, Burton said studies show they’re still high, “We need to be
aggressively cutting our emissions, we need to be reducing the build out of fossil fuels, and we need
to make energy more affordable for New Yorkers.” Burton said the New York Heat Act could be a
good solution, capping utility costs for low and  moderate income New Yorkers to 6% of their
income. However, that did not pass this session.

Climate change fighters hope this summer's extreme weather is a wake-up call to state
lawmakers
Karen DeWitt
WXXI News
July 24, 2023
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Groups combating climate change are pressing Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York State Assembly
to adopt two measures that they say would help ease extreme weather — like what we’re
experiencing this summer — in the future.

In addition to the record-breaking heat waves across much of the world, here in the Northeast,
excessive rainfall and the resultant flooding killed one New Yorker. Then there have been days of
unhealthy air warnings due to toxic smoke from Canadian wildfires.

All the bad weather follows a recently concluded legislative session that saw little action in its final
weeks on combating climate change.

The Senate sponsor of one of the bills, Sen. Liz Krueger, said the state and the world can’t wait any
longer to make changes.

“We're still dominantly dependent on oil and gas. And we have to get off it as fast as possible,”
Krueger said. “So when people say there's not a rush, look out your window, read the weather
reports coming in from around the world.”

Krueger’s bill, known as the New York Home Energy Affordable Transitions Act, or NY HEAT, would
end the policy of ratepayers subsidizing the cost of expanding and maintaining existing gas lines.

The senator said it would also ease rapidly rising gas bills by capping rates for middle- and low-
income customers at 6% of a household’s total income.

“This bill also will save low- and middle-income New York families up to $75 every month on their
energy bills,” Krueger said. “And that's more money that they need for food and rent and medicine.”

The measure passed in the Senate in June but stalled in the state Assembly, which adjourned for the
year without voting on the measure.

The 2023 state budget already includes a ban on gas hookups in new buildings starting in 2026, and
a ban on new gas appliances in the next decade.

Liz Moran with Earth Justice said without the NY HEAT Act, utility ratepayers will have to shoulder
too much of the cost of that transition.

“Inaction on the climate crisis is unacceptable and is disrupting the everyday lives of New Yorkers,”
Moran said. “The question really should be how can we afford to stay on this system?”

Opponents, which include many of the major companies in the fossil fuel industry, say the bill
would prevent gas companies from repairing or modernizing existing gas lines, and
would effectively ban natural gas service for entire neighborhoods.

Another bill that passed in the Senate but not in the Assembly is known as the Climate Change
Superfund Act. It would require fossil fuel companies to collectively pay $3 billion a year for the
next 25 years to help fund the infrastructure projects needed to alleviate climate change effects,
including an estimated $52 billion to shore up New York Harbor alone.
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The money could also be used to make needed upgrades to the power grid to connect homes and
businesses with green energy sources.

Blair Horner with the New York Public Interest Research Group said Hochul has announced in
recent days that the state will finance $500 million for community projects to lessen the impacts of
flooding. And the governor said the damage from the most recent floods in parts of the state will
cost $50 million to repair.

“The state has to pay those bills. The question is, who is going to be picking up the tab on the other
end?” Horner said. “Right now, it's the average taxpayer. If the legislation passes, it will be the oil
companies.”

Horner likened the actions of the oil companies in past decades to those of big tobacco companies.
In both cases, he said, their scientists knew that their policies could cause future harm, but
company executives did nothing to stop it.

“They decided to bamboozle the public with phony baloney, public relations campaigns, hire
consultants, law firms, lobbyists, accountants to protect them,” Horner said. “And then shower
campaign contributions on political toadies that they were trying to get elected to office.”

Horner said the Climate Change Superfund measure would be the first of its kind in the nation, and
some lawmakers have been initially resistant. He said supporters expect that attitude to change,
though, as climate change effects, and costs, continue to grow.

Pilot program aims to bring NYCHA residents new energy-efficient stoves

Catalina Gonella
Gothamist
July 25, 2023

A new pilot launching this fall will aim to replace gas stoves in New York City Housing Authority
apartments with induction stoves.

The program will take the form of a contest that participating agencies are calling the “Induction
Stove Challenge,” which aims to find which manufacturer can make energy efficient electric stoves
that would replace the current fossil fuel-burning ones in NYCHA apartments — all while avoiding
costly electrical upgrades in the buildings.

NYCHA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the New York Power
Authority will run the competition.

As part of the initial pilot, the NYPA will request proposals from manufacturers and select one or
more. Then, NYSERDA will purchase, install and test stoves for 100 NYCHA households. After the
testing phase, NYCHA plans on buying 10,000 induction stoves through the contest, with the
eventual goal of replacing all the gas stoves in its 177,000 apartments.

The program follows an earlier partnership between NYCHA and the nonprofit WE ACT for
Environmental Justice, which replaced gas stoves with induction stoves at 10 households in a
NYCHA development in the Bronx last year.
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Andreas Tyre, the president of the Gowanus Houses’ tenant association, said he saw the benefits of
switching to induction stoves after he experienced two gas outages last year that left him without a
usable stove.

“Overall I think it’d be a good change especially in the path of upgrading and modernizing NYCHA,”
Tyre said. “I definitely see the benefits of this, especially when it comes to health concerns, but I
know the majority of residents will push back.”

Tyre said the Gowanus Houses have recently been undergoing renovations, and he’s already heard
some senior residents express concerns about getting their gas stoves taken away in the process.
“People have been told [gas stoves] cook way better than electrical stoves,” Tyre said. “It also ties
back to that, you know, broken trust between residents and NYCHA and that's happened over the
last few decades. So just keep showing the residents benefits, but at the same time, listen, if they
don't want it, they don't want it.”

Mayor Eric Adams, who has previously questioned the efficacy of electric stoves in comparison to
gas stoves, is a supporter of the program.

“As our administration uses every tool at our disposal to give NYCHA residents the safe, high-
quality, affordable homes they deserve, adapting to tackle climate change is a critical piece of our
work,” Adams said in a statement.

“From affordable housing to climate change, we are tackling the greatest challenges facing New
Yorkers, and this groundbreaking agreement with NYCHA and our state partners puts that into
action by providing modern, electric stoves for 100 households,” he continued. “Our city’s most
pressing crises are interconnected, and so are the solutions we’re delivering.”

Earlier this year, New York became the first state to ban fossil-fuel hookups in newly constructed
homes and buildings starting in 2025. New York City’s own ban takes effect next year.

Proposed bill seeks to separate political giving, contract awards

Joshua Solomon
Times Union
July 25, 2023

ALBANY — One week before state officials awarded a migrant sheltering contract worth up to $800
million to two companies, one of the companies sent a $5,000 check to the campaign of Gov. Kathy
Hochul. 

The contribution — the most a company can give to a candidate in a calendar year, according to
new limits — is completely legal. The Hochul administration and the campaign insist the donation
is unrelated to the contract.

Proposed legislation that would restrict campaign contributions from those seeking to do business
with the state represents an attempt to remove the potential reality or wrongdoing as well as its
appearance. The measure, however, has wallowed in the Assembly for years — but could see a
renewed push next year under sponsor Assemblyman John McDonald, D-Cohoes. 

"There needs to be a cooling-off period to prohibit the appearance of an impropriety," McDonald

said. "This is a very good check and balance."
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McDonald has been in favor of the legislation since well before Hochul took office. That support
stems from his 13 years as mayor of Cohoes, where he instituted ethics guidelines. 

"It just helps everybody understand what the rules are and how to follow them," McDonald said. 
Through the Assembly's technical process of reassigning bills held by departed members of the
chamber, McDonald didn't have the opportunity to introduce the legislation until May. At that point
in the session, he said, it was too late to usher it to passage.

The legislation has never moved out of committee since its first introduction in the Assembly in
2017.

It was first introduced by Assemblyman David Buchwald and then by Assemblywoman Sandy Galef,
both of Westchester County. 

The legislation passed in the state Senate this year, as it did in 2019, 2021 and 2022.

"When we're talking about such large contracts, even the appearance of impropriety is a problem,"
said Sen. Zellnor Myrie, D-Brooklyn, the bill's sponsor in that chamber. 

The legislation was previously carried by Sen. Thomas D. Croci, a Long Island Republican, and co-
sponsored by Sen. Luis R. Sepulveda, D-Bronx. 

"Right now, there's nothing stopping the state from awarding contracts in return for campaign
contributions — we just need to take everyone's word for it that it's not happening," Myrie said.
"Blocking those kinds of contributions would go a long way toward restoring everyone's confidence
after many years and examples of improper influence." 

In the latest example, as reported by the Times Union, Garner Environmental Services contributed
$5,000 to Hochul's campaign on June 19. The contribution appears to the be the first time Garner
contributed to a political campaign under its company name in New York. It has completed tens of
millions of dollars of work in New York over the past decade.  

One week after its contribution, Garner was one of two Texas-based companies to win a contract,
valued up to $800 million, to build temporary migrant shelters in the state if needed.

The company has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Hochul spokesman Avi Small said that the Executive Chamber "was not involved in the details of the
procurement process." Hochul campaign spokesman Brian Lenzmeier said that "consistent with
Gov. Hochul's commitment to maintain high ethical standards, campaign contributions have no
influence on government decisions."

Hochul's 2022 campaign previously faced criticism after the Times Union reported that a generous
donor's company had been award a COVID test contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Under the proposed legislation, companies seeking to bid on a state contract with a minimum value
of  $100,000 — $500,000 for construction jobs — would fall under the scope of the restrictions.

Firms or their principals would be prohibited from contributing to the governor's campaign during
the period from when a "request for proposal" is issued to when the contract is awarded. The
 P a g e | 13

company that is awarded the contract would have to cease political contributions to the governor
for an additional six months.

A similar process would play out for contracts — such as the one awarded to Garner — that are not
awarded through the conventional bidding solicitation. Businesses that seek state grants could also
be prohibited from certain political contributions. 

The legislation would apply to any candidate with power over the agency that is selecting contract
winners — meaning that mayors or county executives could be covered as well. McDonald said he
plans to discuss the issue with the groups that represents local executive leaders throughout New
York.

Violations could be punished by the state Board of Elections through fines up to $10,000 or two
times the amount of the contribution. The campaign would be required to refund the contribution
to the donor in the event of a violation. 

The state comptroller's office would be required to create and maintain a searchable database of
the names of those who have business dealings or submit bids or proposals with the state. 

The justification for the legislation sites concerns with bid-rigging through the contracting process,
and points to indictments and trials of company executives in New York. 

At least 19 states as well as municipalities including New York City have laws restricting campaign
contributions from those seeking government contracts, according to the proposed legislation. 

Who’s who in Kathy Hochul’s administration?

Amanda Salazar
City & State
July 25, 2023

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is a household name in the state – but there are many influential and
experienced people working in her administration who aren’t quite as recognizable. The Executive
Chamber has an $18 million budget and hundreds of staff working from Albany, New York City and
Washington, D.C. Gubernatorial cabinet members advise the governor, politically and legally, on
everything from public health to transportation. They oversee her office’s daily operations, such as
her schedule and what she says to press. Others supervise statewide agencies like the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority and the Health Department. And they manage the state’s finances. Many
staff and cabinet members work behind the scenes to keep the executive branch working, though
some are better known due to their extensive resumes or public-facing roles. Here’s an introduction
to some of the top ranking officials Hochul’s administration. 

This post was updated on July 25. 

Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado

Usually, the LG runs for the role and is elected independent of the governor. In Antonio Delgado’s
case, though, Hochul appointed him to replace former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin and got the
Legislature to change the law to put Delgado on the ballot, replacing Benjamin weeks before the
primary election. Benjamin resigned in April 2022 after being arrested on campaign finance fraud
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charges. He maintains his innocence. The lieutenant governor has two concrete jobs: to preside as
the president of the state Senate (a largely ceremonial role) and to take over the governorship if the
current governor resigns or is impeached. Often, they act as a spokesperson and cheerleader for the
governor, promoting the executive and their policies at press conferences, community meetings,
summits, events and to politicians, organizations and the public. However, if the governor does not
decide to make much use of the LG, they can end up without many tasks to do. The Times Union
reported on the distance between Hochul and Delgado, who has been relatively quiet since getting
elected. Hochul served as lieutenant governor to Andrew Cuomo, and was reportedly sidelined in
the role as well. Prior to becoming LG, Delgado was the first person of color to represent upstate
New York in Congress as the representative for the competitive 19th district, which encompassed
the Catskills, Hudson Valley, Southern Tier and Finger Lakes. His other hats include being a litigator
and a rapper, AD the Voice.

Director of state operations and infrastructure: Kathryn Garcia

Kathryn Garcia was appointed the state operations director shortly after Hochul was sworn in in
September 2021, following Garcia’s narrow loss to Eric Adams in the June primary for New York
City mayor. The state operations director oversees more than 70 state agencies, authorities and
commissions, such as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state Health Department and
Port Authority. These agencies report to the state operations director through deputy secretaries
for final approval. Garcia has a resume of government service, working as the New York Sanitation
Department commissioner from 2014 until 2020, during which she led the department through
cleaning up after snowstorms and expanding curbside composting. She has also acted as the city’s
lead czar, COVID-19 food czar, interim chair of the New York City Housing Authority and the chief
operating officer at the city’s Department of Environmental Protection. 

Chief of staff: Stacy Lynch

First entering the state’s Executive Chamber as the chief of staff to former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin
before becoming a senior adviser to Hochul, Stacy Lynch is now the highest ranking staff member of
the governor’s office. She entered the role in July 2022, replacing Jeff Lewis, who’s been working for
Hochul on-and-off since 2009, after he left the role to become a senior adviser to Hochul’s campaign
and the state Democratic Party. Lewis was partially blamed for Hochul selecting Benjamin to be her
initial LG, as the chief of staff was in charge of the vetting process for the people joining the
administration. The governor’s chief of staff manages their office, staff, schedule and relationships
on a day-to-day basis, handles crises, communicates policy agenda to other elected officials and acts
as a bridge between the governor and her staff. Lynch has a lot of
governmental experience predating her time in the Executive Chamber, including former Mayor Bill
de Blasio’s deputy director of intergovernmental affairs, which also put her in charge of public
affairs for then-first lady Chirlane McCray. Her father, Bill Lynch, was an influential Democratic
strategist and an adviser to former New York City Mayor David Dinkins. 

Secretary to the governor: Karen Persichilli Keogh

Replacing Melissa DeRosa from former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration, Karen Persichilli
Keogh was appointed to be secretary to the governor in August 2021. The secretary acts as the top
surrogate for the governor to legislators and political staff. Known in Albany circles as KPK,
Persichilli Keogh’s most recent job prior to secretary was as head of global philanthropy for
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and before that, she was the managing director of the company’s state
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government relations. She was also Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager and statewide director
while Clinton was a senator, and worked on Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Health commissioner: Dr. James McDonald

After Dr. Mary Bassett stepped down after just a year in the role, Dr. James McDonald was
nominated to be the state’s acting health commissioner in January 2023 and confirmed in June.
Rising to extreme prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, the health commissioner supervises
local health boards, reporting and vital records and surveillance of hospitals. They also promote
disease control and prevention, healthy lifestyles and emergency preparedness. McDonald is
pediatrics and preventive medicine board certified and has experience working in rural and
indigenous communities where health care was not very accessible. He worked at the Rhode Island
Department of Health for years in various capacities, including as the interim director of health,
chief administrative officer of the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline and medical director
for the COVID-19 unit. He has also been a faculty member at the Brown School of Public Health and
the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Since joining the New York health
department, McDonald has helped create a food allergy initiative mandating that all food
establishments in the state must display an allergy notice for employees and worked to increase
access for New Yorkers to the Medicaid Essential Plan.

Budget director: Robert Megna

Robert Megna took over the role of budget director from Acting Budget Director Sandra Beattie
after she abruptly stepped down amid a state inspector general probe in February, but doesn’t plan
to stay long. He will be assisting in the search for a permanent budget director. The budget director
oversees the development and management of the state budget and fiscal policies. They make
recommendations for agency and department budgets, create tax policy and manage the state’s
debt portfolio. Megna was already the budget director from 2009 until 2015, making him uniquely
qualified for the role, no matter how long it’s his. Back when he was the budget director for the first
time, Megna passed four on-time budgets for the first time since the ‘70s and was able to get the
state to receive its highest financial rating from three major credit rating agencies in 40 years. He is
the president of the SUNY Rockefeller Institute of Government and senior adviser to the chancellor
and once was the SUNY senior vice chancellor and chief operating officer.

Counsel to the governor: Elizabeth Fine

Elizabeth Fine has been working as the counsel to the governor since she was sworn in.
Counsel advises the governor on constitutionality, consistency and legal implications of legislation
presented for her approval. Hochul can also request counsel’s advice about legal matters such as
executive clemency. Fine has been counsel to former Attorney General Janet Reno, former President
Bill Clinton, the Clinton-Gore presidential campaign and the City Council under Speaker Christine
Quinn. Most recently she was general counsel and executive vice president at Empire State
Development.

Director of policy: Micah Lasher

Micah Lasher was appointed to be the director of policy in November 2021. The director of policy
works on policy development that aligns with the governor’s stances and goals and supervises
other policy advisers. Lasher was the campaign manager for Scott Stringer’s campaign to be New
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York City mayor, was the head of policy and communications for Google’s Sidewalk Labs, was the
chief of staff to the then-state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman from 2013 until 2016 and was
the director of the mayor’s Office of State Legislative Affairs under then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

Communications director: Anthony Hogrebe

In charge of public communications for the governor is Anthony Hogrebe, who started in the role
on July 21, 2023. As the name implies, the director presents the public image of the governor and
her administration, such as through coordinating with the press. In June, Politico reported Julie
Wood, Hogrebe’s predecessor, would be stepping down after almost two years. Before
being appointed, Hogrebe was New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ first deputy communications
director and senior adviser for strategic communications since March 2022. Previously, he was the
head of public affairs at the New York City Economic Development Corp., a senior adviser to former
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and a senior vice president at public relations firm
Marathon Strategies.

Press secretary: Avi Small

Taking over the role on July 1, 2023, Avi Small was promoted from first deputy press secretary to
replace Hazel Crampton-Hays, who was the press secretary since September 2021, after
her resignation. In this role, he communicates directly with journalists who reach out to schedule
interviews, receive written statements and get background information for their stories. News
articles will often quote him as a spokesperson for the governor when they’re unable to quote the
governor herself. Small has a history of communications work. He’s been with the state executive
chamber since October 2021. Before that, he was a press secretary for the state Senate, and on
Corey Johnson’s 2021 comptroller campaign and President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign in
Nebraska. He has also done communications for NextGen Climate, Rachel Harrison Communications
and more.

Deputy chief of staff: Melissa Bochenski

Melissa Bochenski served as deputy chief of staff for Hochul when she was lieutenant governor.
Before that, she was an executive assistant and an office manager for Hochul while she was a
Congress member. The deputy chief of staff is a senior staff member who helps manage the day-to-
day operations of the administration and works under the direction of the chief of staff. Bochenski
was appointed to her current role in September 2021. Her resume also includes being a strategic
relations analyst at M&T Bank.

State's power grid is holding up through recent heat waves, but there are concerns for the
future
Karen DeWitt
WXXI News
July 26, 2023

While the state's power grid operator says there's enough juice to fuel demand right now, a recent
report warns that supply might run short in the New York City area in two years.
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The New York Independent System Operator, or NYISO, has been issuing quarterly assessments of
the state’s power reliability since 2019. That’s when New York enacted the Climate Leadership and
Community Protection Act, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change.

Kevin Lanahan, who runs NYISO’s government relations, said the most recent report, issued in July,
finds that without a faster build-out of the power grid, New York City will have a deficit as large as
446 megawatts in two years. That’s the amount of power needed to run about a half-million homes.
“The system has become strained in the sense of being able to deliver the megawatts across that
part of the service territory under certain conditions,” Lanahan said.

The warnings are limited to New York City right now, but Lanahan said upstate is also at risk in the
near future. Several major manufacturing projects have been announced recently, including Micron
in central New York, and they will require large amounts of electricity.

He said the models that the independent system operators have been running are for normal
summers and have not taken into account extreme heat waves or prolonged periods of smoky air
from wildfires.

The unhealthy air from Canadian wildfires has driven more people indoors this summer, making
increased use of electric appliances, computers, televisions, and air conditioning more likely. That
puts a greater drain on the grid. In addition, solar panels used to generate green-sourced energy
work less efficiently in the hazy air.

“The solar gets interrupted with smoke,” he said. “And we rely on that solar to shape peaks.”
He said a “confluence” of factors are causing the shortage, including decisions to shut down older,
dirtier power plants that were used to boost energy output during peak demand periods. There are
also changing consumer habits. A growing number of people are switching to electric or hybrid
cars, which need charging, and more people are buying all-electric heating and cooling systems, like
heat pumps. Also, more people are returning to cities to work, post-pandemic.

But Lanahan said alternative sources of energy to replace fossil fuels are not coming online quickly
enough to meet demand. Offshore wind projects in Long Island Sound will not be completed until
2028 at the earliest and could take until 2030 to be fully operational.

He said that’s not enough if the state wants to reach the goals stated in its climate action plan of net
zero emissions by 2050.

“We need to develop more renewable resources. And we need to keep a careful, watchful eye on
this balance between demand and supply through the transition,” he said. “If we create this
imbalance, then we're going to risk outages.”

He said there are some hopeful developments. The Champlain Hudson Power Express pipeline is
scheduled to bring hydropower from Hydro Quebec to downstate by mid-2026.

Lanahan said New Yorkers can do their part, too. He said even raising the temperature of the air
conditioning by one or two degrees can make a difference.