Governor Hochul Was a Guest on NY1

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on NY1’s “Inside City Hall” with Errol Louis.

AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.

A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:

Errol Louis, NY1:  Good evening and welcome back to the program.

Governor Hochul: Great to see you again, Errol.

Errol Louis, NY1: A lot of news that I want to go through some of this. Let's start with these rebate checks. More than eight million ranging from $100-200 less than 50 days before the election. Critics say that you are trying to buy votes.

Here's a little bit of what your opponent had to say:

[...]

Errol Louis, NY1: That's the harshest way to put it. There's another way to have a conversation about it, but—

Governor Hochul: I don't know what he's talking about. I don't know what he's talking about at all.

Listen, this was negotiated with the Legislature in the spring. The Budget passed in May. This is the first time that the [Department of Taxation and Finance] could go through the rolls, see who was qualified, who paid taxes in 2024 — that was what the law says — and we had to get the STAR rebate checks out first, which have already hit the mail, and this is the first opportunity we have.

So listen, I have to keep governing. Yes, there's an election, but I cannot stop listening to New Yorkers, and if I can give them relief from something that is frustrating them, show that we care, that we're listening.

And this is a continuation of what I've done for years. My first year in office, we cut middle class taxes. We had the largest middle class tax rate cut in 70 years. We also gave inflation rebates. People criticized me wildly for inflation rebates a couple of years ago. Well, when I see an opportunity to put money back in people's pockets, I'm going to take it.

Errol Louis, NY1: Putting the election aside for a minute, indirect and direct straight state taxes, environmental mandates, regulatory fees — my understanding is — make up anywhere between 25-50 percent of overall utility bills. The logic then being maybe we shouldn't charge so much in the first place, right?

Governor Hochul: I'd say a lot of our problem is the fact that we have an aging grid. It is very expensive to bring in energy, and that is compared to a state like Arizona. I mean, their — ours is aging, it's decrepit, it has to be invested, and that comes off of the ratepayers' bills every single month.

So those investments were long overdue, they're being made now. But also, I'm trying so hard to have an all-of-the-above approach because the more power I can generate, the more prices will go down. But here's what I'm dealing with: The Trump administration literally turns off offshore wind. Now, offshore wind was intended to immediately, this fall, start covering the cost — covering homes in Brooklyn.

Half a million homes would be getting clean, renewable power from offshore wind. Donald Trump goes and turns it off. In fact, he pays a company a billion dollars to not build offshore wind. Then they get rid of the wind and solar tax credits. Now they're questioning battery storage. All of my approaches are being thwarted by the Trump administration. I'm leaning hard into nuclear, but I need the approval of the Trump administration.

So we're doing what we can with an all-of-the-above approach, and I'm going to keep doing this. I'm not giving up on my quest to drive down our costs, but also holding utilities accountable. We have a ratepayer protection plan that says you cannot be using ratepayer dollars, which you collected in the monthly bills, on things like paying for your lobbyists, executive compensation, sending out slick mailers. Be more frugal with the dollars that you're collecting. Help me keep the costs here in New York State down.

Errol Louis, NY1: When your opponent says that one of the energy sources, when you say “all-of-the-above,” that gets excluded is hydrofracking, that he thinks has a lot of potential for bringing down rates by tapping into the Marcellus Shale, which is a big formation of natural gas that happens to include the Southern Tier.

Governor Hochul: Right. Right. And I'm looking at all forms of energy. I'm looking at nuclear renewable energy. We had a pipeline that was approved here that was — it met our DEC standards, so that's online now. And I can't offset the fact that we lost 25 percent of New York City's power when Indian Point shut down. That's something that was unforeseen. Nobody had a plan B. What are you supposed to do for power the next day? I cannot have the lights go off in New York City or the State of New York. I have to be vigilant and protected. But hydrofracking is illegal under state law. I plan on following state laws.

Errol Louis, NY1: Okay. Another issue came up. A group of sheriffs is suing in order to get the ability to coordinate with ICE. You have, and the — most of the state does not want to coordinate with ICE, but there are some sheriffs who do. Rob Ortt, who's a legislator who I know you know very well, was complaining about that at a press conference today.

Here's a little of what that sounded like:

[...]

Governor Hochul: No, it's actually false. No, it's actually false. That's ridiculous. I have spent $4 billion in the last four and a half years driving down crime, investing in technology, hiring more police officers, supporting law enforcement in countless ways. So he's full of it.

And I will say this: Those ICE agreements do not keep us safer. It distracts local police from focusing on local crimes and local criminals. That's what we actually call the bill, “Local Cops, Local Crimes.” I don't think an $85 billion agency should be relying on my local law enforcement to do their job. And someone like Bruce Blakeman jumps right in, so proud that he's got his Nassau County Police not working on getting rid of real criminals, but going after teenagers and people going to their job at the Home Depot and trying to harass people on the streets. He's proud of that and said he was going to fight me all the way on not enforcing what we just passed as a law.

I'm standing up for New Yorkers to keep them safe. In a place like New York City, crime is hitting record lows — record lows. Lowest crime rates on the subway, murder rates down to historic lows, shootings down to historic lows, and you know what? We never had an agreement with ICE, and we are safer.

Errol Louis, NY1: And here's another piece of news you made today. Your administration is modifying the moratorium on data centers that was announced earlier this year. You're advising local governments to adopt a “Community Investment Framework” with a lot of recommendations about how much they should ask for from a potential data center and what they might use it for. Was this always part of the plan?

Governor Hochul: Oh, yes. That's not a modification of the moratorium. When I announced the moratorium and executive order a few months ago, I said within that, I'm going to direct Empire State Development — our economic development agency — to come up with a Community Investment Framework for those communities that want to be host communities for a data center, hyperscale data center. Many will not.

Errol Louis, NY1: And this would take effect, just to be clear, after the moratorium? This is what they might do a year or so later?

Governor Hochul: Oh, a year from now.

Errol Louis, NY1: Yeah, okay.

Governor Hochul: Yeah, this is a year from now. If they want to do it. Again, if they don't, I totally understand, but it says that if you come here, you're going to pay the community, and you're going to cover your own cost of power and you're going to give at least a million dollars per megawatt used.

Most are over 50 megawatts — that's $50 million that I want spent in that community any way they want. Do you need more roads done? Do you want to build daycare centers? You want to build parks? You want to help reduce utility bills in an area?

I wanted to give our communities, especially these smaller rural communities, where they don't have big full-time staffs to go negotiate with these mega data center companies. So we gave them what we consider a framework of what they should ask for if they want it. And I think a lot of them will not want this because it does take up enormous space. It makes noise. It consumes water. So, this will be up to the localities, but it's all within the context of the year-long moratorium.

Errol Louis, NY1: And so, yeah, you're implicitly acknowledging that under the right circumstances, data centers actually might benefit a local community?

Governor Hochul: If a community wants it. Again, I spent 14 years in local government. My view is I would not want in my — I would not want one in my community. I would want the energy used for other purposes. They're large. In fact, there's an area called Data Center Alley in Virginia. Many of my siblings live in that area. It was farmland when they moved there, and now they have these massive data centers in their backyards. So it changes the character of a community. You won't see them here in Manhattan, but it is Upstate New York that is vulnerable.

In fact, I have 30 applications for hyperscale data centers — the big guys — on the books right now, so I needed to take a pause and slow it down.

But my job is not just to be first-in-the-nation with a moratorium, but the first-in-the-nation to get it right. And what we're proposing is a step toward getting it right for those communities that want to host.

Errol Louis, NY1: As far as you know, will private industry adapt? Is this — are they going to see this as, "Hey, let's just go to Virginia and build five more," or is this something that they might conceivably want to do? Because you're talking about investments in a wide range of things — schools and education programs; broadband access, which is a great idea; as well as hiring agreements; prevailing wage and other kinds of suggestions.

Governor Hochul: My expectations are if you want to take advantage of our community, the community has to benefit. And so there'll be those who want to come here, still, under those circumstances. If they don't, that's their choice. My job is to look out for the communities, not look out for the interest of the company, and that's what we're doing with this Community Investment Framework.

And also, I have challenged these companies. I said, "You've created this incredible power that is literally changing civilization as we know it — how we live, how we work, how we interact with each other. Why don't you ask AI how you can create the power it needs smaller, quieter, use less power, go vertical, use less space, use less energy? Figure it out. Ask AI how to do it better."

And so I want New York State — one year from now, if companies come — to have a whole different standard and set the bar for the rest of the nation, because these are wildly unpopular in America, and this is a way that, if they want to, they can get it right. But again, I'm saying let's — New York is going to be first in getting it right.

Errol Louis, NY1: Okay, let me switch topics. I assume you're going to the Buffalo Bills home opener on Thursday.

Governor Hochul: Yes, I am.

Errol Louis, NY1: Yes, you are. How does the stadium look? And, since we're talking about affordability, what's a reasonable ticket price, and why can't we get one up there?

Governor Hochul: Well, I know tickets are expensive. Tickets are expensive for every sporting event. I don't know if you tried to get in to see the Knicks this year. It's very expensive.

But this is a stadium that New York State should be proud of — the entire state should be proud of the team that plays here. And it was a 30-year lease agreement. They were ready to leave the state if they didn't get a new deal, and I negotiated a really good deal for the taxpayers of New York. Basically, it'll have paid for itself in the first half of the lease because of the revenue we generate from the taxes we levy on players. When they come here, we tax their income. They make a lot of money.

So I figured out after 15 years, we'll have paid off the state investment, and it's a huge economic benefit to the region. It's part of the identity of Buffalo, and I think people should be proud of this.

What's fascinating to me, though, is this investment is being completed — our first home game is Thursday night. After I leave there, I'll get on a plane early in the morning and go open up Belmont, another world-class facility here in New York City, to show that from Buffalo to Belmont, we are giving New Yorkers world-class sporting venues, and it says New York is a place that is worthy of the best, and we know that about ourselves.

Errol Louis, NY1: Let's talk about politics for a couple of minutes. What House races are you watching here in New York, and how involved are you planning to get in those races?

Governor Hochul: Oh, I have been. As the leader of the Democratic Party, I stepped up a few years ago, and I realized that the state party should not just be a vehicle for getting the Governor reelected like it was for many, many years.

I'm a former member of Congress. I've served at every level of government, town, county, et cetera. I know what it's like when you feel like you're abandoned and nobody's helping you. I've been told that. So what I want to do is have a party that's there for everybody.

I've raised a lot of money into the state party. I've created a coordinated campaign to work with Hakeem Jeffries to identify the targeted races in New York. Two years ago, we invested money, opened up 42 field offices, I hired 100 staffers, and we won five out of seven battleground races. So this year we're going to take the seat that'll soon be formerly held by Mike Lawler. Cait Conley will win that seat, I'm very confident of that. I think Blake Gendebien can win in the North Country. We should be stunning the nation. Elise Stefanik, the darling of the Republican Party, if we take her seat back with a farmer who understands what the Trump administration has done to his district — and I also think we can win in NY-1.

I think we will hold the seats we won last time with Suozzi and Gillen. Riley's going to be fine. Mannion's going to be fine. And, of course Pat Ryan, Mannion, I think we got everybody there.

Errol Louis, NY1: Okay.

Governor Hochul: We're going to be the state that sends Hakeem Jeffries to the Speaker's office. It's going to be great.

Errol Louis, NY1: Okay. Last but not least, when's the last time you spoke with President Trump? This question keeps coming up about turning Penn Station into Trump Station and whether or not if it came with the right kind of money, it would be worth doing.

Governor Hochul: It's not up to me to name it, number one. That's not my — I don't own the building. What I did was I started the conversation. First time I spoke to Donald Trump right after the election, I said, "Let's do Penn Station together," because I need his money — I need the federal government's money.

And so I had spoken to him — it's probably been over a month, though. We talked a little bit about Penn Station. We talked about my nuclear ambition. I asked him at the time if he could leave the Haitians alone. The TPS was expiring. I said, "This is going to cause a real crisis. Many of them are wonderful people — healthcare workers. We need them." And that didn't go very far, but so that — that's been a little bit since I last spoke to him.

Errol Louis, NY1: Okay. That'll do for now. The Supreme Court just ruled that the effort to change mail-in balloting would not be legal. And so, I guess that partly answers the question of whether or not our elections will be secure in New York. What can you tell our viewers?

Governor Hochul: Elections will be secure in New York State no matter what the Trump administration tries, and they failed miserably with the mail-in voting.

Thank God the Supreme Court had the good sense at least one time to overturn Donald Trump's ambitions, but we're going to protect that election here. It is critically important. All of us have a role to play. Everybody must march to those polls with pride in knowing that they're protecting our democracy, and throw the bums out of office.

Errol Louis, NY1: Okay. We'll leave it there for now. Thanks so much for joining us, Governor. Always great talking with you.

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