The Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) is a regional “cap-and-invest” program proposed by New York, 11 neighboring states (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Vermont), and the District of Columbia that would limit and reduce transportation pollution, and invest in communities to provide better, cleaner, and safer transportation solutions in urban, rural, and suburban areas of New York.

The TCI program would set the region’s first cap, or limit, on transportation-sector carbon pollution and require oil companies that supply polluting transportation fuels like gasoline and diesel to reduce the pollution they cause over time. The TCI program would also require oil companies to pay for the pollution their products cause, generating billions of dollars for investment in better, cleaner transportation solutions. New York and the other states would each decide how best to use their share of these payments to support in-state and local transportation solutions that benefit residents.

Analysis of the program projects it would generate up to $1.4 billion per year for New York to improve our state’s vital transportation systems. Potential investments include efforts to help build, maintain, and deploy:

• • Complete streets safe for walking, biking, and rolling;
  • Modern and resilient infrastructure;
  • Safe, convenient, reliable, and affordable public transportation, including in rural areas and for people with disabilities;
  • Accessible transportation options that meet or exceed the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act;
  • Affordable, equitable housing near job and transit centers;
  • Clean electric school buses, transit buses, cars, and trucks;
  • Improved access to broadband to enable telecommuting, increase access to services, and help reduce the need to drive; and
  • Other innovative transportation programs across New York State.

To ensure the TCI program provides maximum benefits to communities, New Yorkers for TCI advocates for strong safeguards and standards under the program, including commitments to enhanced, genuine outreach to communities on the design and implementation of the program; dedicated, guaranteed funding for disadvantaged communities in the state; an ambitious carbon pollution cap; sustained tracking to ensure that important local benefits, including pollution reductions, improved air quality, and job creation, are achieved; and continuous reporting, monitoring, transparency, and improvement to ensure the TCI program achieves equitable and sustainable outcomes.

We need Governor Hochul to lead on TCI by working with neighboring states to develop and commit to implement an ambitious, equitable and sustainable regional TCI program by the end of 2020.

Tell Governor Hochul you support an equitable and sustainable TCI program