Top NYC business group opposes Gov. Hochul’s – Business News
New York City’s high business advocacy group slammed Gov. Kathy Hochul’s one-year ban on new construction of high-powered knowledge facilities within the state, calling it counterproductive and anti-commerce.
Hochul signed an government order final week enacting a one-year statewide moratorium on new “hyperscale” knowledge facilities that need no less than 50 megawatts of energy to run on, arguing the delay was needed for the state to introduce the facilities with care.
But Steve Fulop, CEO of the Partnership for the City of New York — which represents the biggest 300 companies within the metropolis, together with these from Wall Street and the broader financial providers industry — stated the transfer would depart New York behind different states within the AI increase.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signing an government order creating a one-year ban on knowledge middle construction in New York state on July 14, 2026. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post
“Ultimately, the solution is going to be whether data centers get built or they don’t get built,” Fulop stated Sunday on 77 WABC’s “Cats Roundtable” program.
“The signal when you put a moratorium on this sort of stuff … is that it becomes a riskier proposition to put your money into New York versus maybe another state,” he advised host John Catsimatidis.
He continued, “It sends a signal about our competitiveness to the private sector. Other states like Pennsylvania … continue to grow, and they haven’t put a moratorium on [data centers]. They work with the communities to find solutions. But they recognize that data centers are important.”
Data facilities home hundreds of servers, storage drives, and networking tools used to store, course of, and distribute digital info.
Fulop famous that whenever you search info on a cell phone or stream a show, you might be interacting with a knowledge middle.
“We need more access to data,” he stated.
Critics declare Hochul’s government order will put New York at a drawback within the AI race. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post
“A one-year moratorium accomplishes nothing. A one-year procrastination or delay doesn’t solve anything.”
New York City additionally needs to be a chief in rising artificial intelligence, and supporters say knowledge facilities are needed to perform that.
The governor defended her one-year freeze — which instantly drew a rebuke from President Trump — on Sunday as the correct strategy.
She claimed native governments aren’t geared up to barter with the Big tech corporations on an advert hoc foundation.
“The state has to take the lead. We have to get it right,” Hochul stated on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” program.
There are 30 pending purposes to construct knowledge facilities within the state, which she known as “flooding the zone.”
“There is a huge tax on our [energy] grid. I want to make sure the power is there for the large companies creating jobs,” Hochul stated.
“New Yorkers want protection; there’s a lot of anxiety. Companies want certainty. We’ll give them both.”
The governor insisted her moratorium is just not anti-business or anti-union, defending her document in bringing in jobs and building tasks.
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But the construction trades oppose the one-year ban, and critics have argued Hochul caved to the political left — together with lawmakers with ties to the Democratic Socialists of America — who’ve pushed towards knowledge facilities serving Big Tech.
“Technology should make our lives better, not pollute our water, strain our energy grid, or drive up our utility bills,” state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, a DSA member who reps elements of Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn, stated final week.
New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman — who helps data-center industry growth — accused Hochul of backing the moratorium as a result of she thinks it’ll rating her political capital with the far left.
“Kathy Hochul will always put the interests of [New York City Mayor] Zohran Mamdani and big-government socialists ahead of New Yorkers, even if it means blocking economic opportunity while families struggle under the nation’s highest taxes and utility bills,” he stated.
Hochul’s staff insisted her resolution was not tied to politics or her re-election marketing campaign.
