NYSEIA provided testimony regarding Governor Hochul's FY 2026 Executive Budget at the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Energy and Environmental Conservation.

Unfortunately, Governor Hochul's budget proposal does not include any of the distributed solar + storage industry's priorities. NYSEIA's testimony provides an overview of the distributed solar + storage industry, highlights the many environmental and economic benefits of scaling up distributed solar + storage deployment, and encourages the legislature to include NYSEIA's legislative priorities in their pending budget proposals and to advocate for their inclusion in the final budget including the following:

• Advancing siting reform to address permitting barriers to community solar

• Directing the NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to allow solar on state-regulated private property

• Better regulating New York utilities and requiring them to use smart grid technologies to lower the cost to interconnect new solar and energy storage projects.

• Directing the Public Service Commission to authorize a long-term extension to NY-Sun

• Making rooftop solar more affordable for homeowners by modernizing the residential solar tax credit

Click "READ MORE" to read NYSEIA's full testimony.