New York Assembly Passes Comprehensive Energy Strategy Bill
Aimed at Giving New Yorkers Real Reform
A recent press release from the NY State Assembly provides information regarding the Comprehensive Energy Strategy which was announced by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Energy Committee Chairman Kevin Cahill.
The passage of a series of comprehensive, innovative initiatives aimed at implementing meaningful, long-term solutions to New York’s rising energy costs includes measures to:
- Recapture lost tax revenue currently withheld by big oil companies and redirect it toward the low-and-moderate-income Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP)
- Implement consumer protections by improving the accuracy and efficiency of pumps that dispense ful and labeling the energy efficiency of tires
- Increase the competition among service station dealers by allowing the sale of unbranded motor fuel and making information about prices readily available to consumers
The Assembly package also includes legislation instituting a recapture and windfall profit tax provision on big oil companies with a prohibition on passing the tax on to consumers. The revenues resulting from this will to go a fund that supports energy savings measures for consumers as well as helping pay home heating bills this winter through the Home Energy Assistance Program.
"The measures the Assembly is acting on this week continue the Assembly Majority’s long-standing commitment to working families. The Assembly Majority is putting forth comprehensive, effective energy legislation aimed not only at providing more relief, but at ensuring that the steps taken translate into direct savings for consumers and are not simply yet another windfall to fatten already bloated oil company profit margins"
Sheldon Silver
On a national level, Silver and Cahill emphasized that only a comprehensive national strategy would be enough to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, investments in alternative fuels, and a renewed emphasis on energy efficiency; providing meaningful long-term relief for consumers.
