The only substantial environmental policy to pass both houses of the state Legislature in 2025 is on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk.

It’s a repeal of a state law that forces utility companies to provide natural gas hookups to customers who want one if they are within 100 feet of an existing line. Those in favor of the bill argue that the cost of free hookups end up falling on ratepayers, driving up utility costs.

State Sen. Liz Krueger, who sponsors the bill in the upper chamber, told Spectrum News 1 that she is expecting the repeal will get the governor’s approval.

“I am very optimistic that the governor will be signing this bill,” she said Wednesday.

The 100 foot rule was a sizable chunk of what was once the NY HEAT Act which aimed to engineer state policy in support of New York’s transition away from natural gas. While the state Senate had no trouble passing the NY HEAT Act multiple times, the Assembly struggled to get the bill to the floor, and late last legislative session, the Senate passed both a modified version of NY HEAT and a straight repeal of the 100 foot rule and left the rest up to the Assembly who ultimately chose the more conservative option.

“I think this is probably the most important part of the HEAT Act — although I’m not giving up on the other parts,” Krueger said. “We can help ratepayers by making it quite obvious that they aren’t the ones who should pay these costs for other people.”

Krueger said Hochul’s signature is likely to hinge on some minor modifications relating to timeline, but she anticipates that it will be signed with its policy provisions otherwise intact.

“I think it is quite possible that there will be additional time before the bill goes into law to give businesses involved in this work an adjustment period,” she said. “From a substantiative policy perspective, I think the bill that is going to be signed is very much the bill that was passed in both houses.”

Krueger added that she doesn’t see the rest of the HEAT Act’s provisions as dead, but you may not see them return next session as one bill.

“There is a possibility that it gets shifted around so that pieces of the HEAT Act that still didn’t pass become incorporated or combined with other bills instead of there being something called ‘the HEAT Act minus the 100 foot rule.’”

Despite Krueger’s optimism, the bill’s opponents are still hoping Gov. Hochul will ultimately give a thumbs down. State Assemblymember Phil Palmesano has long opposed repealing the statute and the HEAT Act overall, arguing that talk of decreasing costs by repealing the 100 foot rule is bluster compared to the cost to ratepayers if there are fewer customers using natural gas, and the state continues to stay the course on other energy mandates.

“They just want to make the natural gas system so expensive so that you have fewer people on it and it’s going to cost those who remain on it more and more money,” he said.

Hochul in recent months has embraced an “all of the above” approach to energy, which includes a continued reliance on natural gas at least in the short term, but Palmesano questioned the governor’s credentials on the subject.

“If the governor is serious about an all of the above approach, if the governor is serious about affordable energy, she will veto this legislation,” he said.

Political analysts have speculated in recent weeks that Hochul is in a somewhat precarious position when it comes to climate issues as she prepares for her 2026 reelection bid amid sustained attacks over the state’s climate goals from leading Republican candidate Rep. Elise Stefanik. Some have argued that Hochul could look to deflect agitation coming from progressives by selectively approving climate legislation coming out of the state Legislature that she feels won’t elicit significant backlash.

Whether Hochul takes that route and if the 100 footrule fits the bill remains unclear.

The legislation was called to the governor’s desk earlier this week which means she will have to make a decision by late next week. Hochul’s office only told told Spectrum News 1 that she “continues to review the legislation.”