Making Life More Affordable for New Yorkers

Tightening the Serious Injury Threshold

New York’s no-fault insurance law allows for individuals seriously injured in an auto accident to make claims for compensation that stretch beyond reimbursement for the medical expenses or lost wages associated with an injury. This additional compensation is intended to offer support for non-economic damages, like the pain and suffering of victims with serious injuries. New York’s legal definition of serious injury is currently vague and applied inconsistently.

Cutting Red Tape To Spur Housing and Critical Infrastructure Growth

Governor Hochul’s “Let Them Build” agenda includes a series of landmark reforms to speed up housing and infrastructure development and lower costs as part of her 2026 State of the State. This initiative will spur a series of common sense reforms to New York’s State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) and executive actions to expedite critical categories of projects that have been consistently found to not have significant environmental impacts, but for too long have been caught up in red tape and subject to lengthy delays.

Fighting Back Against the Trump Administration’s Unlawful Tariffs

Lumber yards and other businesses have also suffered as a result of senseless and illegal tariffs imposed on New Yorkers by the Trump Administration. For over a year, Governor Hochul has been meeting with New Yorkers to discuss the impact of Trump’s tariffs on their lives and businesses. In February, the Governor visited Victor Schwartz, the owner of VOS Selections and a plaintiff in the lawsuit that recently led to a Supreme Court decision on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs. The same day, the Governor sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling on him to immediately work with federal agencies to refund all tariff payments to New Yorkers.

Based on estimates by the Budget Lab at Yale, the average New York household has faced an estimated $1,751 in added costs due to tariffs since they were enacted last year, for a total estimated $13.5 billion statewide impact.

Last week, the Trump Administration announced they will begin paying back the $13.5 billion that was imposed on businesses due to tariffs. Businesses will be able to submit documentation proving that they were negatively impacted by these tariffs that were deemed illegal by the Supreme Court.