Debate in recent months over changes to the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act had us wondering if there was any common sense left in the halls of the state Capitol.

In the wake of last week’s vote to push back some parts of the 2019 law, it’s good to see there’s at least a thimble full of common sense remaining in Albany. State lawmakers approved

Several deadlines and benchmarks included in the 2019 CLCPA are being pushed back, including a 2024 deadline for regulations from the Department of Environmental Conservation that were the subject of a lawsuit by environmental groups. Those 2024 regulations are now due by Dec. 31, 2028, with the extension essentially ending the lawsuit. The budget bill also pushes back the 2030 goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 40% from 1990 levels to a new 2040 goal of a 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that includes the language “to the maximum extent feasible and cost effective. A 2050 deadline to reach an 85% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is left in place.

Electrification of the power grid, in and of itself, isn’t a bad goal. But it had become increasingly clear that the state’s 2030 deadline was impossible to meet, but it took a judge’s decision in a lawsuit by environmental advocates to make clear to enough Democrats in the state Legislature something many of us had seen since roughly a month after the CLCPA was passed back in 2019. The same is true with the state’s electric school bus mandate. The goal may not be bad. The timeline didn’t work.

It would also seem the New York Independent System Operator’s warnings about possible power shortfalls played a role in changing some legislators’ minds regarding CLCPA deadlines. Now is the time for those lawmakers to make sure the state Public Service Commission and the state Climate Action Council are doing their part to ensure a reliable power grid during the longer period of grid transformation the legislature has created.

There is one other piece of unfinished business now that the CLCPA has been delayed. We hope it doesn’t take another seven years of debate to do something about skyrocketing electric bills in New York state. The CLCPA delay bills didn’t do anything with zero energy credits or renewable energy credits nor costs related to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Charges utility ratepayers don’t see on their bills – thanks to state rules – are helping to drive up power and heating bills. The state could provide immediate relief by scaling back those charges. People need relief from the pressures on their budget, and state utility regulators can do more to provide that relief, in our opinion.

The state has dealt with a long-term problem. It has this week to do something about short-term relief.