News & Insights

As New York City considers scaling back a key tax credit for high-income taxpayers, details matter. Hodgson Russ Partner Tim Noonan was quoted in Tax Notes on the New York City Council's proposal to reduce the unincorporated business tax (UBT) credit for taxpayers with city taxable income of $1.25 million or more.

New York’s latest appellate court decision on the state’s controversial remote work tax rule may appear to be a setback for taxpayers, but the debate is far from settled.

As New York communities, municipalities, and energy developers navigate the evolving regulatory framework surrounding battery energy storage systems, Hodgson Russ Partner Dan Spitzer provided key insights during the New York State Bar Association’s Land Use 2026 Continuing Legal Education program.https://nysba.org/land-use-law-understanding-battery-energy-storage-systems/

New York courts have long recognized that public utility infrastructure must be considered under different variance standards given that regional and state needs for such infrastructure outweigh purely local considerations.  Under the Public Utility Variance (“PUV”) standard that the New York Court of Appeals established in Matter of Consolidated Edison Co. of N.Y. v. Hoffman, 43 N.Y.2d 598 (1978), where a proposed facility demonstrates that it is a public necessity required to render safe and adequate service, that there are compelling reasons, economic or otherwise, which make it more feasible to construct the project where proposed than an alternative, and where the intrusion or burden on the community is minimal, the required showing is correspondingly reduced.  See generally Hoffman.  See also our earlier alert on the PUV standard.

In a move with significant implications for data center developers and potential host communities throughout New York, Governor Kathy Hochul has signed Executive Order No. 62, temporarily pausing certain state environmental approvals for large-scale data center projects while state agencies evaluate the industry's environmental, energy, and infrastructure impacts. This makes New York the first state in the country with a statewide data center permitting moratorium. The Order applies to data centers that consume 50 megawatts (“MW”) of energy or more and comes just one month after a similar moratorium was passed by the State Legislature.

New York’s proposed Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (“MWBE”) amendments affect certification requirements, expand “commercially useful function” (“CUF”), and impact utilization credits. This alert summarizes the MWBE amendments’ practical implications.

Senator Baskin, the primary sponsor, shared with Hodgson Russ that the amendments will ensure “no more pausing people's MWBE status while they are under review for recertification compliance.”