By Hank Russell
Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her State of the State address on January 13 at The Egg in Albany, where she laid out more than 200 initiatives covering everything from affordability to housing to education and healthcare. While many applauded her proposed initiatives, others said the speech was full of “empty promises” and “rhetoric.”
“I’ve said from the beginning: Your family is my fight. And in this moment, when the future feels full of promise, but under real threat: your future is my fight as well,” Hochul said. “I fight every day to make life more affordable, keep people safe, and expand opportunity — not shrink it. My 2026 State of the State lays out a clear, actionable plan to meet the challenges families face today, while preparing New York for the road ahead.”
In making affordability her top priority, Hochul said she will eliminate a tax on tips up to $25,000 a year, in line with federal guidelines; provide automatic discounts for commercial multifamily properties, as well as for homeowners who make safety and weatherproofing upgrades; and protect renters from having their utilities shut off when the landlord fails to pay their debts.
In addition, Hochul called for creating a first-in-the-nation check on home insurer profitability that will require carriers with more than two consecutive years of outsized profit margins to either lower their rates or submit a justification of why their rates should continue, subject to review by the DFS.
She also charged the Departments of Financial Services, Motor Vehicles and Criminal Justice, along with state police, with cracking down on auto insurance fraud. Hochul said that auto insurance rates are “just too damn high,” adding, “High car insurance rates don’t just impact drivers, they impact all New Yorkers when businesses pass on increased costs to customers. These reforms will crack down on fraud, help drive costs down and put money back in the pockets of hardworking New Yorkers.”
Tom Stebbins, the executive director of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York said, “We’re grateful to Governor Hochul for her leadership in fixing New York’s civil justice system and ensuring our liability laws are not exploited by bad actors. By tackling rampant fraud and reining in the perverse incentives built into New York’s existing laws, her proposals will help make insurance more affordable and our roads safer. They’ll also ensure the sophisticated actors who orchestrate these schemes are brought to justice and not merely the vulnerable people drawn into them.”
Stebbins noted that immigrants and homeless people are recruited by these fraud rings to stage these motor vehicle accidents. Hochul said, In 2023, there were 1,729 staged crashes in New York State, which ranks second-highest in the nation for incidents of staged fraud. In total, insurance carriers reported 38,270 incidents of suspected motor vehicle insurance fraud to the DFS Insurance Frauds Bureau in 2023 — a record high. According to the Insurance Information Institute, staged crashes and associated insurance fraud inflate everyone’s premiums by as much as $300 per year on average.
“Unnecessary medical procedures and surgeries meant to increase the value of the claim follow. Fraud and lawsuit abuse are not victimless crimes,” Stebbins said. “As other states like Florida and Georgia implement civil liability reforms, consumers are seeing real savings. We applaud Governor Hochul for putting New Yorkers first and taking meaningful steps to crack down on fraud.”
Housing was another topic she addressed. She said more housing needs to be built, but, because of burdensome regulations, these projects don’t see the light of day. To speed up the development of housing to create a more affordable and sustainable New York, Hochul proposed amending the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) to exempt certain types of housing projects that have no significant impacts on the environment, which are still subject to local zoning, from additional SEQRA review.
Projects will still be required to comply with crucial State regulatory and permit requirements governing water use, air quality, environmental justice, and protection of natural resources, as well as local zoning and other permitting requirements. Projects must also be located outside of flood risk areas in order to qualify.
The type of housing project that can be reclassified under SEQRA will differ according to the housing needs and contexts of different parts of the state. To avoid additional SEQRA review, housing projects must be on previously disturbed land, connected to existing water and sewer systems, and subject to additional unit caps.
“New York has always been a place of boundless ambitions: from the Erie Canal to the Empire State Building. But for too long, unnecessary red tape has stood in the way of new housing and critical infrastructure.” Hochul said. “If local leaders want to deliver new investments for their communities, I say ‘Let Them Build.’”
The proposal received support from Ron Garafalo, 2026 president of the New York State Board of REALTORSⓇ. “Changing the culture that currently impedes home building is one key to solving the housing shortage crisis,” he said. “Too many New Yorkers have lost the opportunity for generational wealth accruing from homeownership, but we hope Governor Hochul and state lawmakers can act now before another generation loses out.”
Cam McDonald, an adjunct fellow with The Empire Center, said Hochul “hit a couple of right notes” on this issue, adding that these fixes “could make New York a better place to live and work, but both will require a sustained effort from the Governor. So we will wait and see.”
Hochul also pushed for improvements in the state’s education system. This included Back to Basics programs for math and literacy and targeting areas in the state where students are lagging in math and reading scores. She also proposed an accelerated teaching pipeline in which it would take less time for teachers to be accredited as an educator.
“As New York’s first mom Governor, I understand how important the quality and outcomes of schools can be in deciding where to raise a family,” Hochul said. “My hope is for New York students to be the most academically-prepared in the country — that’s why we’re implementing back-to-basics evidence based learning models to get our kids up to speed in math and literacy and investing in pipeline programs to support and retain quality teachers. With these proposals, New York parents can rest assured that there is no better place for their children to learn and thrive than here in our state.”
In response to this proposal, Zilvinas Silenas, president and CEO of The Empire Center, said, “The uncomfortable truth is that New York lags behind Mississippi and Alabama in achievement while leading the world in spending. Yes to better teaching and better teachers, but without addressing the root causes of New York’s underperformance, things will not improve.”
Other proposals from Hochul included more support for those with addictions and mental and emotional health issues, enhancing services for veterans, greater investments in suicide prevention and wellbeing programs and launching a first-in-the-nation Center of Excellence for Medical Cannabis and Health Equity.
In addition to her supporters, there were also many detractors.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is running against Hochul for governor, said Hochul needs to put those words into action. “Last year, the Governor made affordability the centerpiece of her State of the State,” he said. “One year later, New York is even less affordable, less safe, and deeper in debt.”
Blakeman said Hochul has had ample time to deliver results on affordability, energy costs, health care, child care, and public safety — and has fallen short on every front.
“She’s had years, multiple budgets, and full control of Albany,” Blakeman said. “If speeches fixed problems, New York would be thriving. Instead, families are struggling and businesses are leaving.”
Suffolk GOP Chairman compared Hochul to Lucy Van Pelt from the comic strip Peanuts. “Just like Lucy in the Peanuts cartoon, when it comes time to deliver, Governor Hochul will pull the football away — leaving New Yorkers with empty promises, empty pockets, and unsafe streets,” Garcia said. “Enough is enough. New Yorkers are tired of Kathy Hochul pulling the football away when it comes to public safety, affordability, and quality of life.”
“After nearly five years under Kathy Hochul’s leadership, New York is less safe and far less affordable,” Garcia continued. “Our neighborhoods have deteriorated, crime has surged, and hardworking families are being crushed by higher taxes and rising costs. Governor Hochul remains firmly aligned with the same radical, soft-on-crime ideology pushed by far-left Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who seeks to weaken law enforcement and put our police officers in harm’s way.”
Although he applauded Hochul for addressing such issues as protecting New Yorkers from the dangers of artificial intelligence and the importance of helping those with co-occurring disorders, Assemblyman Keith Brown (R,C-Northport) said the speech “still fell short of grappling with the real, day-to-day pressures Long Islanders are facing.” He also said he was “disappointed” that the governor failed to “include the kind of clear crackdown on drugged driving” by closing the loopholes in the law.
“What we heard today was more political speech than a governing plan,” Brown said. “Long Islanders need results, not rhetoric … Families can’t live on headlines. We need a state government that understands how Albany’s decisions hit household budgets, local businesses and seniors on fixed incomes while focusing on practical solutions that make life more affordable while keeping our communities safe.”
The address was “yet another disappointing display of empty promises, bowing to radical voices in her party that too often flirt with antisemitic tropes and fail to confront hate head-on,” Assemblyman Daniel Norber (R.C-Great Neck) added. “Long Islanders in my district are being crushed by skyrocketing housing, energy and everyday costs. We need real relief through tax cuts, spending restraint and the elimination of burdensome mandates, not more government overreach or pandering to extremes that divide us.”
“Once again, the governor’s State of the State was heavy on promises and light on fiscal reality,” added Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square), the Ranking Republican on the Assembly Ways & Means Committee. “We heard a lot of big ideas but very few answers about how Albany plans to pay for them.”