Lawmakers seek to expand New York Power Authority board

When state legislative leaders and the governor agreed to include a version of the Build Public Renewables Act in the 2023 budget, they negotiated out a key provision to change the New York Power Authority’s Board of Trustees. Now, lawmakers are introducing legislation to enact that missing piece and expand the board by an additional 10 trustees in a bid to democratize the authority.

State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez and Assembly Member Sarahana Shrestha will introduce the Public Power Democracy Act, which would increase the number of NYPA trustees from seven to 17. It would also empower the state Senate majority leader and Assembly speaker to appoint five trustees each. Currently, the governor appoints all seven members with the approval of the state Senate. 

More than that, the bill lays out specific requirements for a majority of the appointees. The governor’s seven picks must include one “bona fide expert” each in the fields of public finance, consumer advocacy and environmental justice. The state Senate majority leader must appoint two union representatives, one from workers engaged in a collective bargaining agreement with NYPA and one from workers engaged in a power purchase agreement with the authority. The Assembly speaker rounds out the trustees with one expert each in renewable energy citing and building electrification. 

The three state leaders can choose their remaining trustees however they like. And should an issue arise with any of the appointees, the governor or a majority vote of the state Legislature can have one removed.

That’s a big change from the current seven-member board. “To truly unleash the power of this publicly owned energy, of public power, we do need our public authorities to also be democratic and accountable and transparent,” said Shrestha, whose bill also aims to restructure the board with the goal of building out renewables in mind. “Right now … (the trustees) don't really reflect the will of the people who passed the bill, who said, ‘ Build 5 gigawatts,’ or the expertise to motivate the authority to proactively take this responsibility seriously,” she said.

Shrestha said she and other lawmakers began watching NYPA meetings more closely following the passage of the Build Public Renewables Act to keep track of the law’s implementation. What they saw led her, Gonzalez and advocates to craft the Public Power Democracy Act with its specific trustee requirements. “It was a result of just, like, watching them trying to implement (the Build Public Renewables Act) and figuring out where the gaps were,” she said. “So the expertise areas that we have, these are the areas that we think are needed to have a solid plan to be a leader in building renewable energy.”

The Public Power Democracy Act’s introduction comes on the heels of NYPA publishing its Renewables Updated Strategic Plan, which cut the authority’s planned renewable production by 1.5 gigawatts. Initially, NYPA committed to building out 7 gigawatts of green power, which was already significantly less than the 15 gigawatts state law requires through the Build Public Renewables Act. NYPA’s updated plan cut that down even further to just 5.5 gigawatts of green power.The Public Power NY coalition is now calling on the board of trustees to reject the proposed cuts, which it has the power to do. Organizers believe passing the new legislation would make the board more likely to take such action like that. “Under the current NYPA leadership appointed by Governor Hochul, the authority is not keeping pace with its increasingly important role in New York’s energy landscape,” the coalition said in a statement. “The Public Power Democracy Act will ensure the NYPA board of trustees is capable of meeting the challenge and leading the nation.”