Create Green New Deal Task Force

Section 1. Legislative findings and intent. 1. The legislature recognizes the duty of the New York state government to create a Green New Deal for New York. An October 2018 report entitled "Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C" by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the November 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment report found that:

(a) human activity is the dominant cause of observed climate change over the past century;

(b) a changing climate is causing sea levels to rise and an increase in wildfires, severe storms, droughts, and other extreme weather events that threaten human life, healthy communities, and critical infrastructure;

(c) global warming at or above 2 degrees Celsius beyond preindustrialized levels will cause:

(i) mass migration from the regions most affected by climate change;

(ii) more than $500,000,000,000 in lost annual economic output in the United States by the year 2100;

(iii) wildfires that, by 2050, will annually burn at least twice as much forest area in the western United States than was typically burned by wildfires in the years preceding 2019;

(iv) a loss of more than 99 percent of all coral reefs on earth;

(v) more than 350,000,000 more people to be exposed globally to deadly heat stress by 2050; and

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD07108-05-9

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(vi) a risk of damage to $1,000,000,000,000 of public infrastructure and coastal real estate in the United States; and

(d) global temperatures must be kept below 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrialized levels to avoid the most severe impacts of a changing climate, which will require:

(i) global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from human sources of 40 to 60 percent from 2010 levels by 2030; and

(ii) net-zero global emissions by 2050.

2. As the United States, including New York, has historically been responsible for a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gas emissions, having emitted 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions through 2014, and has a high technological capacity, the United States and New York must take a leading role in reducing emissions through economic transformation.

3. The United States is currently experiencing several related crises, with:

(a) life expectancy declining while basic needs, such as clean air, clean water, healthy food, and adequate health care, housing, transportation, and education, are inaccessible to a significant portion of the United States population;

(b) a 4-decade trend of wage stagnation, deindustrialization, and antilabor policies that has led to:

(i) hourly wages overall stagnating since the 1970's despite increased worker productivity;

(ii) the third-worst level of socioeconomic mobility in the developed world before the Great Recession;

(iii) the erosion of the earning and bargaining power of workers in the United States; and

(iv) inadequate resources for public sector workers to confront the challenges of climate change at local, state, and federal levels; and

(c) the greatest income inequality since the 1920's, with:

(i) the top 1 percent of earners accruing 91 percent of gains in the first few years of economic recovery after the Great Recession;

(ii) a large racial wealth divide amounting to a difference of 20 times more wealth between the average white family and the average black family; and

(iii) a gender earnings gap that results in women earning approximately 80 percent as much as men, at the median.

4. Climate change, pollution, and environmental destruction have exacerbated systemic racial, regional, social, environmental, and economic injustices (hereinafter referred to as "systemic injustices") by disproportionately affecting indigenous peoples, communities of color, migrant communities, deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth (hereinafter referred to as "frontline and vulnerable communities").

5. Climate change constitutes a direct threat to the national security of the United States:

(a) by impacting the economic, environmental, and social stability of countries and communities around the world; and

(b) by acting as a threat multiplier.

6. The federal government-led mobilizations during World War II and the New Deal created the greatest middle class that the United States has ever seen, but many members of frontline and vulnerable communities were excluded from many of the economic and societal benefits of those mobilizations.

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7. The New York state government recognizes that a new national, social, industrial, and economic mobilization on a scale not seen since World War II and the New Deal era is a historic opportunity:

(a) to create millions of good, high-wage jobs in New York state;

(b) to provide unprecedented levels of prosperity and economic security for all people of New York state; and

(c) to counteract systemic injustices.

8. Now, therefore, be it resolved that it is the sense of the New York state legislature that:

(a) it is the duty of the New York state government to create a Green New Deal:

(i) to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers;

(ii) to create millions of good, high-wage jobs and ensure prosperity and economic security for all people of New York state;

(iii) to invest in the infrastructure and industry of New York state to sustainably meet the challenges of the twenty-first century;

(iv) to secure for all people of New York state for generations to come:

(A) clean air and water;

(B) climate and community resiliency;

(C) healthy food;

(D) access to nature; and

(E) a sustainable environment; and

(v) to promote justice and equity by stopping current, preventing future, and repairing historic oppression of frontline and vulnerable communities;

(b) the goals described in clauses (A) through (E) of subparagraph (iv) of paragraph (a) of this subdivision (hereinafter referred to as "Green New Deal for New York goals") should be accomplished through a 10-year national mobilization (hereinafter referred to as "Green New Deal mobilization") that will require the following goals and projects:

(i) building resiliency against climate change-related disasters, such as extreme weather, including by leveraging funding and providing investments for community-defined projects and strategies;

(ii) repairing and upgrading the infrastructure in New York state, including:

(A) by eliminating pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as much as technologically feasible;

(B) by guaranteeing universal access to clean water;

(C) by reducing the risks posed by climate impacts; and

(D) by ensuring that any infrastructure bill considered by New York state government addresses climate change;

(iii) meeting 100 percent of the power demand in New York state through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources, including:

(A) by dramatically expanding and upgrading renewable power sources; and

(B) by deploying new capacity;

(iv) building or upgrading to energy-efficient, distributed, and "smart" power grids, and ensuring affordable access to electricity;

(v) upgrading all existing buildings in New York state and building new buildings to achieve maximum energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety, affordability, comfort, and durability, including through electrification;

(vi) spurring massive growth in clean manufacturing in New York state and removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing

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and industry as much as is technologically feasible, including by expanding renewable energy manufacturing and investing in existing manufacturing and industry;

(vii) working collaboratively with farmers and ranchers in New York state to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector as much as is technologically feasible, including:

(A) by supporting family farming;

(B) by investing in sustainable farming and land use practices that increase soil health; and

(C) by building a more sustainable food system that ensures universal access to healthy food;

(viii) overhauling transportation systems in New York state to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in:

(A) zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing;

(B) clean, affordable, and accessible public transit; and

(C) high-speed rail;

(ix) mitigating and managing the long-term adverse health, economic, and other effects of pollution and climate change, including by providing funding for community-defined projects and strategies;

(x) removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and reducing pollution by restoring natural ecosystems through proven low-tech solutions that increase soil carbon storage, such as land preservation and afforestation;

(xi) restoring and protecting threatened, endangered, and fragile ecosystems through locally appropriate and science-based projects that enhance biodiversity and support climate resiliency;

(xii) cleaning up existing hazardous waste and abandoned sites, ensuring economic development and sustainability on those sites;

(xiii) identifying other emission and pollution sources and creating solutions to remove them; and

(xiv) promoting the international exchange of technology, expertise, products, funding, and services, with the aim of making New York state the international leader on climate action, and to help other countries achieve a Green New Deal;

(c) a Green New Deal for New York must be developed through transparent and inclusive consultation, collaboration, and partnership with frontline and vulnerable communities, labor unions, worker cooperatives, civil society groups, academia, and businesses; and

(d) to achieve the Green New Deal for New York goals and mobilization, a Green New Deal for New York will require the following goals and projects:

(i) providing and leveraging, in a way that ensures that the public receives appropriate ownership stakes and returns on investment, adequate capital, including through community grants, public banks, and other public financing, technical expertise, supporting policies, and other forms of assistance to communities, organizations, federal, state, and local government agencies, and businesses working on the Green New Deal for New York mobilization;

(ii) ensuring that New York state government takes into account the complete environmental and social costs and impacts of emissions through:

(A) existing laws;

(B) new policies and programs; and

(C) ensuring that frontline and vulnerable communities shall not be adversely affected;

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(iii) providing resources, training, and high-quality education, including higher education, to all people of New York state, with a focus on frontline and vulnerable communities, so that all people of New York state may be full and equal participants in the Green New Deal for New York mobilization;

(iv) making public investments in the research and development of new clean and renewable energy technologies and industries;

(v) directing investments to spur economic development, deepen and diversify industry and business in local and regional economies, and build wealth and community ownership, while prioritizing high-quality job creation and economic, social, and environmental benefits in frontline and vulnerable communities, and deindustrialized communities, that may otherwise struggle with the transition away from greenhouse gas intensive industries;

(vi) ensuring the use of democratic and participatory processes that are inclusive of and led by frontline and vulnerable communities and workers to plan, implement, and administer the Green New Deal for New York mobilization at the local level;

(vii) ensuring that the Green New Deal for New York mobilization creates high-quality union jobs that pay prevailing wages, hires local workers, offers training and advancement opportunities, and guarantees wage and benefit parity for workers affected by the transition;

(viii) guaranteeing a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of New York state;

(ix) strengthening and protecting the right of all workers to organize, unionize, and collectively bargain free of coercion, intimidation, and harassment;

(x) strengthening and enforcing labor, workplace health and safety, antidiscrimination, and wage and hour standards across all employers, industries, and sectors;

(xi) enacting and enforcing trade rules, procurement standards, and border adjustments with strong labor and environmental protections:

(A) to stop the transfer of jobs and pollution overseas; and

(B) to grow domestic manufacturing in New York state;

(xii) ensuring that public lands, waters, and oceans are protected and that eminent domain is not abused;

(xiii) obtaining the free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous peoples for all decisions that affect indigenous peoples and their traditional territories, honoring all treaties and agreements with indigenous peoples, and protecting and enforcing the sovereignty and land rights of indigenous peoples;

(xiv) ensuring a commercial environment where every businessperson is free from unfair competition and domination by domestic or international monopolies; and

(xv) providing all people of New York state with:

(A) high-quality health care;

(B) affordable, safe, and adequate housing;

(C) economic security; and

(D) clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, and access to nature.

§ 2. Green New Deal for New York task force. 1. There shall be a task force for a Green New Deal for New York which shall consist of the following nineteen voting members: three members appointed by the governor, one of which shall serve as the chair of the task force; president of the New York state energy research and development authority,

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