New York’s future depends on “the ability of every family to afford the essentials of life,” Governor Kathy Hochul proclaimed in her State of the State speech Tuesday.

The governor unveiled her agenda at a moment when she faces low approval ratings and likely challengers ahead of the 2026 statewide election. Polls show that cost of living is a top issue for New York voters and that negative perceptions of the economy hurt Democrats in the presidential election last fall.

Hochul proposed a slew of policies to transfer cash to New Yorkers, including an “inflation refund” of up to $300 for individuals and $500 for couples, as well as tax cuts for more than three-quarters of taxpayers.

Families are at the center of her affordability agenda this year. Parents have moved out of New York at a faster rate than people without children in recent years, a big reason why New York is losing population more rapidly than any other state.

If all you heard was her State of the State address, Kathy Hochul would sound like a governor ready to make bold moves on climate.

“We need look no further than the deadly fires in Los Angeles for a reminder of how fragile our world is and what the future will hold if we sacrifice mother nature on the altar of profit,” she said. “We are truly the first generation to experience the effects of climate change and we are the last generation who can do anything about it.”

It was a departure from last year, when she barely mentioned climate at all. She promised on Tuesday to back up the talk with “an historic $1 billion investment to further the transition to a zero emission economy.”

But the bigger news was what Hochul didn’t include: a plan to move ahead this year with cap and invest, the flagship climate funding program she has promised for the last two years. Instead, in the briefing book accompanying her speech, Hochul appeared to further delay the program, once again calling into question New York’s ability to deliver on its climate law.

In her annual State of the State address Tuesday, Governor Kathy Hochul proposed for the third time altering New York’s 2019 criminal justice reforms.

This year, the changes revolve around discovery, a process in criminal trials that requires prosecutors to share evidence with the defense. Her proposals so far are vague, and the legal mechanics at play are complex.

Before the 2019 reforms, under a statute pejoratively known as the “blindfold law,” prosecutors could leave defendants in the dark by waiting until right before trial to hand over evidence. Now, they must do so on a deadline, giving the defense an opportunity to use the materials to build their case; if they don’t, judges can dismiss the charges.

Among other provisions, Hochul wants to make it harder for judges to dismiss cases when prosecutors fail to share materials. Her State of the State policy book released Tuesday describes the proposal as a minor change that would close a “loophole” that prompts judges to dismiss otherwise strong cases.

Abortion rights were a major focus of New York Democrats’ 2024 campaigns. But in the wake of victories by President-elect Donald Trump and other Republicans, Hochul focused Tuesday’s speech on pocket book issues — and did not mention reproductive rights.

In the 140-page briefing document accompanying her State of the State address, however, Hochul did lay out several new abortion policies. Those include expanding funding for abortion providers’ capital investments and a new “flexible” funding stream to allow providers to better adapt to the “possible impact of the incoming federal administration.” She also is proposing codifying abortion as “protected emergency medical care” under New York law.

Hochul also proposed protecting medical providers who prescribe medication abortion to patients in anti-abortion states. Under this proposal, such prescription labels would not need to display the provider’s name, protecting them from potential harassment.

New York state’s 2.7 million students may soon have access to free school breakfast and lunch if a proposal by Governor Kathy Hochul makes it through this session’s budget negotiations.

Nearly one in five children in New York were food insecure in 2022 — up significantly from the previous year — and research shows that students underperform when they are hungry, the governor said during her State of the State speech on Tuesday.

“It pains me as a mom to think of little kids’ stomachs growling while they’re in school while they’re supposed to be learning,” Hochul said. “In the wealthiest country in the world, this can no longer be tolerated.”

Senator Michelle Hinchey and Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas have been pushing for a universal school meal program for the last three years, but the full proposal never made it through budget negotiations. The legislature did, however, provide funding to cover up to 90 percent of students, according to a representative from González-Rojas’s office.

When it comes to housing, Governor Kathy Hochul has been banging on the same drum for years: New York isn’t building enough. In public appearances and interviews, she has repeatedly emphasized that New York’s housing shortage is driving up costs and pushing people out of the state.

Her State of the State speech Tuesday continued this theme. “We need to build, and build, and build some more,” she said, to a smattering of applause from the crowd of legislators and politicos gathered for her speech in Albany.

Hochul has made strides toward this goal within New York City. Last year, she passed a legislative package designed to boost housing growth in the five boroughs and pledged $1 billion in state funds towards Mayor Eric Adams’s signature “City of Yes” zoning changes, which are projected to add around 80,000 new homes.

But building housing in the rest of the state has proved an elusive goal. Many areas, particularly in New York City’s suburbs, have sought to curb new housing for decades by passing laws and zoning codes that sharply limit what kinds of housing can be built, or even banning it entirely.