The budget is late. But that just gives us more time to build pressure on the Assembly to make sure that the All-Electric Building Act and Advanced Codes and Standards Act make it into the budget!

If you have time today or tomorrow, please keep calling your Assemblymember and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to let them know that you want to see these bills in the budget! Please encourage your friends and networks to make calls too - together, we can outnumber the fossil fuel industry opposition!

Here’s how to make the calls:

1. Look up your State Assemblymember here.

2. Click on your State Assemblymember to find their phone number.

3. Give them a call. You can use the script below. Feel free to add in at the end why you are passionate about climate change:

“Hello, my name is ____ and I am calling from  ____, NY to express my concern that the New York State Assembly is blocking meaningful climate action in the budget. I ask Assemblymember [insert Assemblymember’s name] please go directly to Speaker Heastie* and ask him to include Part EEE of the Senate’s TED** Budget proposal in the final budget. This section prohibits fossil fuels in new buildings starting in 2024, and updates our building codes and appliance efficiency standards, which would save us billions in energy costs. The Governor and the Senate are ready to pass these policies in the budget and we need the Assembly to join them. The fossil fuel industry is doing everything they can to keep this out of the budget, but we cannot allow them to override the voices of thousands of New Yorkers across the state who are calling for urgent and appropriate climate action without delay. Again, I want Assemblymember [insert Assemblymember’s name] to call Speaker Heastie and ask him to include this in the budget right now. Thank you.”

1. Also please call Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie at 518-455-3791 (Albany office) or 718-654-6539 (district office) using the script below. Feel free to add in at the end why you are passionate about climate change:

“Hello, my name is ____ and I am calling from  ____, NY to ask for meaningful climate action in the budget. I requesting that Speaker Heastie* include Part EEE of the Senate’s TED** Budget proposal in the final budget. This section prohibits fossil fuels in new buildings starting in 2024, and updates our building codes and appliance efficiency standards, which would save us billions in energy costs. The Governor and the Senate are ready to pass these policies in the budget and we need the Assembly to join them. The fossil fuel industry is doing everything they can to keep this out of the budget, but we cannot allow them to override the voices of thousands of New Yorkers across the state who are calling for urgent and appropriate climate action without delay. Again, I want Speaker Heastie to include this in the budget right now. Thank you.”

*His name is pronounced “HAY-stee”
**TED (pronounced like the name “Ted”) stands for Transportation, Economic Development and Environmental Conservation, in case they ask.

Power Hour Rescheduled:

Because the release of the budget has been delayed, we are rescheduling our post-budget Renewable Heat Now Power Hour (originally planned for April 6th) to Wednesday, April 13th from 7pm-8pm. We hope you can still join us at that time to hear how the budget comes out and to strategize for the rest of the legislative session! 

Renewable Heat Now Power Hour
Wednesday, April 13th, 7pm-8pm
RSVP here for the Zoom link | Facebook Event

Join Renewable Heat Now next week for our post-budget virtual power hour! We’ll discuss what made it into the final version of the budget, celebrate the incredible work our lobby teams have done, and talk about what’s next to get the entire Renewable Heat Now legislative package passed this session. All are welcome to attend! Even if you’re new to the movement for renewable heat, we’ll get you plugged in! If you haven’t joined a regional lobby team yet, you can sign up to join one at bit.ly/RHNteams.