For Immediate Release: May 7, 2026
Media Contact: Lisa Thomas, lisa@alignny.org, (347) 415-6431
ALIGN response to the State Budget:
Safety and Stability, Not Scraps
ALBANY, NY – Today, Governor Hochul prematurely announced an agreement on the New York State budget. In response, ALIGN Executive Director Theodore Moore released the following statement:
“During State budget season, the ‘beginning of the end’ feels a lot like the beginning: the Governor gets her way. Throughout March and April, thousands of New Yorkers descended on Albany to demand no changes to our Climate Law and more funding for our communities, including taxing the rich and making polluters pay. Instead, we got familiar stopgap measures like one-time rebates and moved goalposts that cover for Big Oil and billionaires but fail to invest in New Yorkers’ green, affordable future.
“The Governor has taken some positive steps to fund childcare and implement a pied-a-terre tax, but we’re tired of accepting scraps. As talks continue, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie should use their power to protect New Yorkers and make corporate polluters and our State’s most rich and powerful cover the bill. In the final budget, we want to see deep investments in the Department of Labor to protect and empower workers, a permanent funding structure for the climate action our crisis demands, and transformative solutions that make the rich pay their fair share, to ensure every New Yorker has the right to health, safety, and stability.”
About ALIGN
ALIGN (The Alliance for a Greater New York) brings together labor, climate, and community organizations for a more just, sustainable New York. Working at the intersection of economic and climate justice, ALIGN builds coalitions with those most impacted and uplifts worker and community voices to fight for dignity in the workplace and a just path to a renewable energy economy for all.