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Hochul Unveils Affordability Agenda in State of the State Focused on Child Care, ICE Limits and Online Safety

The proposals now move into budget negotiations with the Legislature during a reelection year.

Overview

  • She outlined a path toward universal child care by partnering with New York City to offer free care for 2‑year‑olds, expanding pre‑K access, and piloting programs in other communities as she targets statewide availability by 2030.
  • Her plan would require judicial warrants for civil immigration enforcement in sensitive locations like schools, hospitals and houses of worship, and create a state avenue to sue federal agents over alleged rights violations.
  • She proposed new protections for minors online, including restrictions on AI chatbot interactions, stronger age verification and default privacy settings, curbs on political deepfakes, and a new state digital governance office.
  • Public safety and consumer measures include tougher action on 3D‑printed ghost guns, a crackdown on staged car‑accident insurance fraud, a $77 million commitment to maintain overnight subway policing with expanded SCOUT teams, and 25‑foot protest buffer zones at houses of worship and abortion clinics.
  • Affordability and growth items include a renewed SUNY/CUNY tuition freeze, expanded free community college opportunities, a major nuclear power build‑out toward roughly 8.4 gigawatts, faster housing approvals through environmental review changes, autonomous‑vehicle pilots upstate, and eliminating state income tax on tips up to $25,000.