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Victorious, Now Governor Hochul Needs to Lead on Climate


Gov. Hochul makes a green jobs announcement (photo: Governor's Office)


Governor Kathy Hochul won election in a low turnout race thanks to progressive activists, elected officials, and organizations who showed up to get out the vote. Now it’s time for her to deliver on her campaign’s climate promises and pass the Climate, Jobs and Justice legislative package.

It has been three years since New York passed its landmark climate law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. In that time, the state has failed to live up to its climate commitments, and crucial climate legislation has stalled in the Assembly, year after year. Even now, Governor Hochul still has not signed one of the few climate bills that did pass in the 2022 session, a bill to enact a two-year moratorium on new fossil-fuel-plant cryptocurrency mining in New York.

Meanwhile, the climate crisis has continued to hurt communities across the state through hurricanes, deadly heat waves, and flooding. Just two days before Election Day, temperatures neared 80 degrees in New York City. And this year’s IPCC report sounded the alarm that it is “now or never” for climate action, calling for rapid and immediate cuts to global greenhouse gas emissions to prevent climate catastrophe.

New Yorkers understand how important climate action is, and Governor Hochul has promised she does as well. Ten years after Hurricane Sandy devastated much of the state, the $4.2 billion Environmental Bond Act, which would fund some climate mitigation projects and the governor and Legislature thankfully put on the ballot, earned hundreds of thousands more votes than Hochul herself. Statewide, a sizable 60% of voters voted yes on the proposal, and in New York City, a whopping 81% approved the measure.

But the funding that comes with the passage of the Environmental Bond Act is just a start, and we need Hochul and the State Legislature to take the next step. The Climate, Jobs and Justice Package would fully implement the CLCPA and enact a series of legislative priorities like the Build Public Renewables Act to transition our electrical grid to renewables. The package would also hold corporate polluters accountable by ending fossil fuel subsidies and taxing the wealthy to fund the necessary transitions mandated by the CLCPA.

The election made clear that New Yorkers want climate leadership. The reason I and many other activists joined the Working Families Party to volunteer for Hochul is because we know how urgently New York needs to enact climate justice and she was the better choice to lead on climate. Governor Hochul must ensure the 2023 legislative session fulfills the promises of the CLCPA and puts our state on track for a just, livable future.

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Liat Olenick is an activist and teacher in Brooklyn. On Twitter @Liat_RO.

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With the Environmental Bond Act’s Passage, Let’s Ensure the Green Transition Creates Good Jobs


Green school buses on the way (photo: Caitlin Looby)


This past week New Yorkers went to the polls and voted for justice. With passage of the $4.2 billion Environmental Bond Act we now have the opportunity to move with resources, resolve, relief, and hope in tackling some of the most pressing issues of our time.

We look forward to the swift and diligent implementation of the bond act, including ensuring the electric school bus purchasing process creates high-quality community-sustaining jobs through the usage of incentives that encourage manufacturers to commit to good wages, benefits, and training. Labor, climate, and community groups are enthusiastic about the progress awaiting our state and ready to support the process.

In April, Governor Hochul and the State Legislature advanced the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022 to appear as a ballot initiative. Now passed by voters by a wide margin, this measure will be a significant step in addressing the climate crisis, making our economy more equitable, and advancing New York State’s climate and economic justice priorities.

There are four major focus areas in this legislation, including climate change mitigation. A key component of this is ensuring at least $500 million for zero-emission school bus purchases and conversions and building supporting infrastructure. This will make for cleaner air in our communities and contribute to a reduction in global warming, while creating green jobs.

My organization, Jobs to Move America, has spoken with unionized workers who manufacture school buses that are starting to transition to electric. One told us he is excited about the transition and would love to see all of his company’s school bus models go electric. Another said that he is very happy knowing that the buses he manufactures will benefit his grandkid's generation and generations to come. They're excited because their work will positively impact the future of our communities. They're also excited because their union gives them job security and the training they need to manufacture electric school buses. 

New York is primed to lead in climate and labor justice to remedy the pitfalls we presently face and safeguard the future of our communities. There is no second option. There is no other time. If we didn’t recognize this earlier, the pandemic has blatantly underscored how vulnerable our environment, economy, and health are. With passage of the Environmental Bond Act, we took a milestone leap towards ensuring all workers – manufacturers, mechanics, drivers, and more – benefit from the green transition and that the electric school bus industry is developed equitably to create good green jobs. 

We have known and suffered the adverse effects of greenhouse gas emissions for generations. Diesel emissions have been harming our planet, children, and workers – especially school bus drivers and mechanics – for decades. The long overdue transition to 450,000+ electric school buses will be an essential step towards protecting the health and well-being of our communities, our planet, and our future. With zero tailpipe emissions and 70% less greenhouse gas emissions than diesel buses, they are the cleanest alternative available. 

Committing to an all-electric school bus fleet, as New York has done, creates the opportunity to be a world leader in the transition away from fossil fuels. We can set an example for other states of sustainable development and how it benefits people, particularly children and workers.

Electrification represents a massive shift in the vehicle manufacturing industry, presenting character and future defining choices for our state. The implementation of the Environmental Bond Act in New York is an opportunity for us to end the pattern of job losses during industry transition, and choose to transform in a way that creates high quality community-supporting jobs.

This investment has the capacity to be remedial, protective, and preventive. The past two years have been a bellowing wakeup call for us to recognize how one unexpected calamity can upend our lives and throw everything off center. It is imperative for us to urgently implement an equitable transition into electric school buses to counter the climate and economic crises, and tap into the transformative potential of using government procurement for public good.

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Farah Mehreen Ahmad is the New York Senior Organizer at Jobs to Move America, as well as a writer, translator, and interpreter. On Twitter @JobsMoveAmerica.

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The Affordable Care Act Just Turned 10; It’s Important to Take Stock of Its Positive Impact


Joe Biden talks ACA (photo: Adam Schultz/Biden for President)


Rewind the clock ten years, and you’ll find a much unhealthier America with significantly less access to quality, affordable healthcare. What do pregnancy, seasonal allergies, and diabetes have in common? Besides all being physical traits, up until ten years ago these were grounds for insurers to charge a higher monthly premium or deny coverage altogether. Premiums were high, coverage was paltry, and 60 million Americans were forgoing insurance altogether.

The picture this paints is a bleak one, but in November 2012 the Affordable Care Act – also known as Obamacare – came into effect and proved to be literally life-changing for millions of Americans, from low-income people to those with pre-existing conditions to those under the age of 26.

As we celebrate the ACA turning ten, it’s important to reflect on the sea change this landmark legislation had on how Americans get their healthcare, how frequently they rely on healthcare, and how expensive and how selective health insurers were when it came to who got healthcare and who did not.

Ten years later, there is much to be celebrated. And even as the Biden Administration makes strides in fortifying the ACA, it is apparent that more work is yet to be done.

So how has the ACA benefited the average American? For starters, prior to the enactment of the ACA, some 54 million Americans, or 27% of the U.S. population, had “declinable” pre-existing conditions, meaning they were “uninsurable” (other estimates put this number at 133 million). Virtually any medical condition that was known to the individual prior to applying for healthcare was considered a pre-existing condition, whether it was as benign as acne or as malignant as chronic heart disease. The discrimination health insurers levied against these individuals caused the average premium to skyrocket and left much of the country without any insurance whatsoever.

The ACA didn’t stop with banning such discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. Thanks to the law, all insurance plans have since been required to adequately cover the ten “Essential Benefits.” These benefits range from emergency care to pregnancy to prescription drugs, comprehensively ensuring that no American is forced to go without these services or pay a higher premium for them. The anxiety – now covered under wellness services and behavioral health treatment, both essential benefits – that Americans faced when deciding whether they could afford healthcare has since dissipated significantly.

Affordability is likewise tantamount to a larger share of Americans being enrolled in a healthcare plan. Soaring premiums a decade ago were a barrier for many who simply could not afford to be insured; today, roughly 13 million Americans receive subsidies in the form of tax credits that keep their healthcare within their means. 

President Biden has kept the momentum going. While certain subsidies were set to expire in 2022, a three-year extension was passed earlier this year to the relief of millions of Americans, who are set to continue saving approximately $800 per month in insurance premiums.

The budget for navigators is also getting a boost. Navigators help Americans maneuver through the enrollment process, explaining the differences between plans and finding the right plan for everyone. Funding for navigators was drastically cut under President Trump, but is set to jump 24% this year from last.

And as the momentum to strengthen the ACA persists, the popularity of the landmark legislation continues to underscore the importance of a more affordable, quality healthcare system. Sign-ups last year reached an all-time high of 14.5 million Americans and is on track to meet or even surpass that figure for 2023. If the trends continue, there will be a steady decrease in the number of Americans forgoing health insurance altogether.

This is all good news for the Biden Administration, which has made the ACA a key focus of its agenda, and for the Americans who benefit from it. Yet the dichotomy between the popularity of the ACA and the perception of our healthcare system overall indicates that much is left to be desired and more work must be done. A majority – 55% – approved of the ACA in 2022. This is a stark contrast from the 44% of Americans who gave the overall healthcare system a D or F grade this year; a whopping 75% of Americans also gave healthcare affordability a D or F.

These numbers don’t exist in a vacuum. While the concept of the ACA is highly popular, in reality the approximate $456 average for monthly premiums next year is still enough to turn people away from enrolling in a plan, especially when that’s a slight increase over the average cost last year. The fact that the ACA has drastically cut healthcare costs for Americans gets overlooked when premiums remain a financial obstacle for much of the country. However, if the popularity of the ACA retains a majority of Americans’ votes, it’s clear that many are cognizant of how much worse off they could be without the law.

The momentum can’t stop here. There is no reason a nation with the level of prosperity enjoyed in the U.S. should have a healthcare system that many Americans can’t afford. More must be done to continue to work towards the goal of enrolling every American who lacks a healthcare plan.

But it is undeniable that the Affordable Care Act has left a largely positive, lasting imprint on the country. In the decade since the first enrollment season, America has become more insured, more affordable, and should President Biden and his predecessor have their way, will continue to trend in the right direction. For now, let’s celebrate this milestone and toast to the next ten years.

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Colin Wolfgang is a political and communications consultant. On Twitter @ColinWolfgang.

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