Hochul emphasizes plans to boost affordability and counter Trump in State of the State address

ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul, eyeing a reelection campaign later this year, used her annual State of the State address Tuesday to take aim at two targets: affordability and the Trump administration.

Hochul, a Democrat, proposed an array of initiatives she said could reduce everyday costs for New Yorkers: increasing aid for child care, speeding up housing development, lowering automobile and homeowner's insurance costs, reining in utility bills by increasing oversight and boosting aid to food pantries.

The governor also outlined measures to counter the Trump administration on several fronts: child care aid, vaccine standards, tax deductions and energy development. She proposed a new law related to federal immigration/deportation initiatives — it would create a right to sue federal officers for constitutional violations.

Hochul touted an improving New York economy and declining crime rates. But she also emphasized immediate challenges in making the state more affordable and "defending fundamental rights."

"Today, New York faces serious headwinds. Reckless federal actions are pushing up costs, threatening jobs and putting critical investments at risk," Hochul wrote in a booklet accompanying her speech. "Efforts to divide, exclude, and roll back hard-won rights are testing the values that have long defined our state. And too many families are still asking the same fundamental question: Can we afford to build our future here?"

The governor asserted that her agenda for the year will help.

"The 2026 State of the State agenda is grounded in a simple belief: Government should make life more affordable, keep people safe and expand opportunity — not shrink it," Hochul wrote. 

Hochul will have to back up her proposals with a funding plan — which she is slated to present to the State Legislature next Tuesday. Her State of the State address set her thematic and aspirational goals for the legislative session, which runs until the beginning of June.

Amid the budget and lawmaking, Hochul also is trying to set a reelection course against the presumptive Republican nominee, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. Meanwhile, she is looking to help newly elected New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, without going so far to the left as to provide her opponent some election fodder.

For now, Republicans in the State Legislature bashed her speech as a wish list lacking in concrete solutions to making the state more affordable. 

"Today’s State of the State address was all talk and oblivious to the reality that many New Yorkers are living," Assemb. Joe DeStefano (R-Medford) said. "Long Island families are struggling with rising property taxes, higher energy bills and a cost of living that keeps climbing, yet the governor offered more election-year promises instead of accountability for the policies that caused this affordability crisis in the first place."

Countering Trump

Among her initiatives, Hochul proposed expanding funding and access to prekindergarten and child care, and increasing tax credits for child care and dependent care. This comes as President Donald Trump is attempting to freeze child care aid to New York and four other Democrat-led states, asserting concerns about fraud in the programs — which Hochul and others have denied.

Her child care promise drew a standing ovation from legislators and guests, led by Mamdani.

The governor said she wants to "accelerate" the building of housing, especially affordable housing. Her measures include expanding a program that encourages prefabricated housing manufacturing for low- and moderate-income buyers and expanding "land banks" that help municipalities shift abandoned properties back to productive use.

But Hochul received the strongest audience response when she took aim at Trump, whether it was on vaccines, tariffs or the increasingly volatile issue of interactions between federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and residents.

"My message to the wannabe king remains the same: We will not bow," Hochul said.

"Over the past year, communities across New York from farms in Sackets Harbor to factories in Cayuga County to high schools on Long Island have been shaken by aggressive federal immigration actions that go too far," Hochul said. "People of all political beliefs are saying the same thing about what we’ve seen lately: we have gone too far and enough is enough."

Among her promises, the governor said she will propose legislation authorizing individuals to sue "federal officers who violate New Yorkers' U.S. constitutional rights." She also said New York wouldn't allow "masked federal ICE agents to storm into our schools," houses of worship or hospitals without a warrant signed by a judge.

Vaccine standards

Regarding the federal rollback on vaccine mandates, Hochul said she would advance legislation for New York to set its own immunization standards based on accepted medical science.

"Last year, when pharmacies began turning people away, I declared an emergency and expanded who can prescribe and administer vaccines so no New Yorker is left unprotected," the governor said. "This year, I’ll go further, ensuring New York’s immunization standards are set by trusted medical experts, not conspiracy theorists."

Hochul said she would continue to fight to advance wind power development, speed up energy transmission projects and increase access to electric vehicle charging stations.

She referred to the Trump administration’s threat to revoke the ability of colleges and organizations that incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion principles, or DEI, to receive tax-exempt donations. Hochul wants the State Legislature to pass a law to ensure such donations don’t lose state tax-exempt status.

The governor said the state would commemorate 250 years since the nation's founding in 1776, and referred to the timeline in a closing jab.

"I believe 250 years from now people will look back on this moment and ask: Did we fight for and uphold our most fundamental values?" Hochul said. "Did we properly invest in education, knowing that an educated populace may be our best defense against tyranny? And when long cherished rights were stripped away and our very democracy was threatened, did we stand up and protect them?

"To each of these questions, I know that New Yorkers will accept no answer other than a resounding yes."

Newsday’s Keshia Clukey and Steve Hughes contributed to this story.

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy