For those paying attention, our four New York State Surfrider Chapters were supporting three bills during the 2023-2024 NY State Legislature session: Extended Producer Responsibility, Bottle Bill, and Climate Superfund Act. The legislature ended in June, so what happened?
One of the reasons we haven’t updated you until now is that there was a chance for a “Special Session” in the summer, where the legislature comes back to Albany to convene a one day mini session. That is still a possibility in the fall, but the summer session does not seem to be happening.
The good news is that the Climate Superfund Act passed, and now just needs to be signed by Governor Hochul before the end of the calendar year to be enacted into law. Please fill out our action alert to send her a message saying you support this bill! This bill would provide New York with much needed funds to adapt to climate change, paid for by the fossil fuel industry.
The bad news is that the Bottle Bill did not pass. The large coalition of groups supporting this bill have vowed to keep working on it however, with the first step being getting a new bill introduced for the 2025-2026 session.
The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) bill also did not pass, despite having a majority of votes in both the Senate and Assembly. The confusion surrounding Governor Hochul’s killing of NYC congestion pricing was a major reason time ran out to get this bill across the finish line. This bill was as close as it gets to passing without passing, so we are hopeful that it will have an easier path next session.
Thanks so much to all our volunteers who sent in action alerts, called their elected officials, sent in postcards, talked to their friends about these bills, and some who even traveled to Albany to talk to their elected officials in person--you made a difference!
Surfrider staff and volunteers will be back next year to keep up the fight and get these bills over the finish line. It is very common for statewide bills to take years to pass, so don’t be discouraged!