After pledging last year to put New York state “on a pathway” to universal child care, Governor Kathy Hochul used this year’s State of the State address to lay out the roadmap to get there.

“We want New York to be the number one place for anyone about to start a family and build their future,” she said. “When we do that, we all win.”

The governor reiterated the plan she announced last week, alongside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, to fully fund the first two years of free child care for 2-year-olds across New York City. The program would launch with 2,000 seats in high-need areas this fall, and expand to more than 30,000 over the next four years.

“We will not allow the use of state resources to assist in federal immigration raids,” Governor Kathy Hochul declared halfway through her 2026 State of the State address, bringing an auditorium of lawmakers to their feet for two consecutive standing ovations.

Her statement came after she decried an ICE officer’s fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis last week, describing it as an immigration operation “that never should have been there.” Shortly after Hochul’s address, President Donald Trump announced his plans to cut federal funding to what it considers sanctuary jurisdictions, including New York state.

Advocates and some lawmakers welcomed a ban on putting state resources toward federal immigration enforcement, but said that Hochul’s proposal — which places restrictions on the use of state funding, but wouldn’t necessarily restrict local agencies using their own funding to collaborate with federal operations — would barely strengthen existing restrictions.

If 2025 was the year Governor Kathy Hochul embraced “abundance” as the solution to New York’s woes — above all, the rising cost of living — 2026 is her year to show that she was just getting started.

That is, at least, what Hochul vowed in her State of the State address on Tuesday, putting the promise to “build, build, build” at the center of her agenda. And it is increasingly her answer to the conundrum facing New York’s energy system: how to keep the lights on while meeting growing demand for electricity, keeping utility bills in check, and fighting climate change.

Nowhere is this clearer than with nuclear energy, which she’s making her signature energy policy as she seeks reelection. On Tuesday, the governor announced efforts to build four gigawatts’ worth of new reactors in the state. Combined with the one gigawatt she tasked the state power authority with building last year, that would be slightly more than the entire United States has built in the last three decades, and rival the total amount New York has ever built.

“If there’s one thing I believe, it’s this: Go big or go home,” Hochul said of the nuclear plans.

In her annual State of the State address on Tuesday, Governor Kathy Hochul had little to say about what’s in store for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers at risk of losing their public benefits this year.

“While Washington takes a machete to our safety net, I’m doubling down on the fight for a more affordable New York,” Hochul said, without elaborating on how she plans to tackle declining federal support for an array of safety net programs.

The words “afford”, “affordable,” and “affordability” appeared a dozen times during her hourlong speech. Medicaid — the single largest component of the state’s budget — was not mentioned by name once.

After pledging last year to put New York state “on a pathway” to universal child care, Governor Kathy Hochul used this year’s State of the State address to lay out the roadmap to get there.

“We want New York to be the number one place for anyone about to start a family and build their future,” she said. “When we do that, we all win.”

The governor reiterated the plan she announced last week, alongside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, to fully fund the first two years of free child care for 2-year-olds across New York City. The program would launch with 2,000 seats in high-need areas this fall, and expand to more than 30,000 over the next four years.

When it comes to criminal justice, the story of this year’s State of the State address is just as much about what Governor Kathy Hochul didn’t mention as what she did.

While largely ignoring the state’s ongoing prison crisis, Hochul focused much of the public safety portion of the flagship annual speech on policies that would provide additional support to police.

She extolled her prior policing initiatives, calling attention to record-low reported crime rates in areas across the state — including in the New York City subway system, to which the governor has deployed the National Guard and state funding for more police. Despite a 16-year low in reported subway crime last year, the governor recently announced that she’ll be pushing for $77 million in additional funding to add up to 750 New York City Police Department subway patrols.