ABC Reacts to 2025 State of the State
The Associated Builders and Contractors, Empire State Chapter, acknowledges Governor Hochul’s focus on infrastructure, affordable housing, and green energy in her State of the State address. These are critical issues for New York, but talk is cheap. New Yorkers need results, not empty promises or half-measures that fail to address the state’s affordability crisis.
“Tax rebates and expanded child tax credits are a distraction from the real issue: New York is unaffordable, and it’s getting worse,” said Brian Sampson, President of the Empire State Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors. “Albany has spent decades appeasing special-interest groups and enacting policies that have crippled our economy, and now they want to paper over the problem with temporary fixes. That’s not leadership—it’s avoidance.”
At the center of this affordability crisis are New York’s staggering construction costs, which drive up taxes and make essential projects—like schools, hospitals, housing, and renewable energy systems—prohibitively expensive. Special-interest campaign contributions have bought policies that pad pockets and push costs through the roof.
Failing to address the epidemic of workers' compensation fraud in New York, along with policies like project labor agreements (PLAs), expanded prevailing wage mandates on private construction, and the outrageously outdated Scaffold Law, has made New York the most expensive place to build in the country. These aren’t just bad policies—they’re economic malpractice.
New Yorkers are tired of excuses. They’re tired of paying the price for Albany’s inability—or unwillingness—to stand up to the special interests that have made this state unlivable for too many.