[00:00:18] Speaker B: Welcome to Uptown Chats, a podcast where we share stories about environmental justice by and for everyday people. I'm your co host Lonnie.
[00:00:24] Speaker C: And I'm your other co host, Jaron.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: And and today we're taking a little victory lap to celebrate some of we ACT's major wins this year.
[00:00:30] Speaker C: Yeah, I think we can all agree it's been a difficult year, but that hasn't stopped us from achieving some big wins. And that calls for celebration before we.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: Get too far ahead of ourselves. Jaron, can you share WEAC's mission?
[00:00:42] Speaker C: I sure can. WEAC's mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and or low income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we're going to share a few things that we're grateful for this year.
[00:01:00] Speaker C: And I don't know about you, Lonnie, but nothing makes me more grateful than a good win.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Absolutely. I think anyone at WE ACT will tell you that it takes a team to achieve any of the wins that we've seen this year. And luckily we have a great big team made up of WEACT staff, community members and other organizations that we work with closely.
[00:01:18] Speaker C: Absolutely, Lonnie. And we're lucky enough to have some of our fellow WEAC staff members on this episode today to talk about some of those big wins and help us unpack all the work that community members and other organizations helped us help us to achieve. But just to give you a preview of what we've got in store, we've got some wins related to our beauty justice work, including banning pfas and other toxic chemicals from menstrual products. Also some work around helping enforce the law banning mercury from cosmetics.
We also had some big wins this year related to some really important climate laws, including a legal victory to defend the New York State Climate act and ensuring that that gets carried out as intended.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: We also had some wins with our extreme heat work by codifying New York City's Cooling center program. Also helped getting a Cool Pavement pilot program put into law, as well as keeping our LIHEAP program alive.
[00:02:15] Speaker C: Absolutely. And the last two that we'll highlight are also related to energy, including repealing the 100 foot rule, which we'll talk more about what that means, and securing $2 million of funding for the Pre Electrification Pilot program or the GAP Fund, as you may have heard it called. So lots of things to celebrate and talk more about.
So with that, we'll actually turn it over to Brianna Carbajal, who has been on the podcast before to introduce herself and then we'll have a chance to hear from her about some of the big ones that she's been a part of this year. So BR turn it over to you.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: Thanks, Jaron. Thanks Lonnie for bringing me back on. I'm so excited to be here with our listeners today to talk about our toxic swins at the state level. And for those who have not listened to the podcast before are just tuning in. I'm Brianna. I'm our state legislative manager here at WeAct & Co lead a couple of coalitions at the state level that advocate on getting toxins out of our lived environment, including in consumer products.
So what I really wanted to emphasize today for you all was our big win on getting toxic chemicals out of menstrual products, because why are they in there in the first place? Let's ask ourselves that question.
Toxic chemicals and menstrual products should be a sentence that is unheard of, yet that is the reality of where we are right now.
Currently you can find pfas, formaldehyde, heavy metals like mercury, lead, phthalates, parabens, all having impacts to our reproductive system, hormone disruptors, some of them linked to causing cancer.
And so we want to make sure we are regulating what is going into our menstrual products. And that includes tampons, pads and period underwear, just to name a few product categories of which in fact, thinx, you might have heard of as having a big class action lawsuit taken against them when PFAS was found in the products that they were distributing. And so that's the issue we're talking about today is we want to make sure that what folks are using when they go to the stores and purchase a menstrual product for their teenager, for themselves, of which millions of women use on a monthly basis, are safe to be using and are regulated by our government to test that these are safe products.
And so what the toxics and Menstrual products bill will do in New York State is it will make sure that intentionally added ingredients that are restricted by the bill, some of which are the ones I named earlier, formaldehyde, talc, lead, mercury, phthalates, parabens, PFAS and more can no longer be found in menstrual products. So no menstrual product can be sold in New York State if it contains any of those toxic chemicals by 2029 or sooner, if this bill is signed into law by the governor this year. So it's incredibly important that you all are aware that this is something that the governor can take action on as soon as this for the year ends. And if you want to get your voice heard and raise this issue, I encourage you all to call the governor and make sure that you all are raising that this is an issue you care about and that one that you should weigh in on to protect the women's health.
[00:05:57] Speaker C: Thank you, Brianna. I appreciate that. Not only is this a win that we can celebrate, but there's still a call to action for folks to help, you know, continuing to move it forward and make sure that it makes it past the finish line, making sure that Hochul signs it. So, yeah, cannot reiterate that enough.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: And we'll make sure we have the information on how you can reach Governor Hochul in our show notes.
[00:06:17] Speaker C: Absolutely.
Well, anything else for you to shout out, Brianna?
[00:06:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Do you want me to talk about PH Justice?
[00:06:24] Speaker C: Absolutely. We'd love to hear about it.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: Great. Yeah. So one other big win we had this year, and this is a win that was potentially even longer in the making, regards to toxic chemicals in our cosmetics and personal care products.
So we're talking about your makeup, we're talking about shampoos, lotions, and we're also talking about hair braiding, synthetic hair that's used in creating braids. We're look wanting to make sure that those product categories are also safe for consumers to be using.
And this is a campaign that we act has cared about for a long time. It's one that our members are really passionate about.
We advocated for this bill first and foremost because it will restrict the use of ingredients that are most harmful and most often found in products used by black and brown women primarily.
And so we're talking about a lot of the same chemicals. We're talking about formaldehyde, parabens, pfas, phthalates, we're talking about benzene, coal tar. Why are all these toxic ingredients in our products to begin with? Same question.
And what we were able to do for the first time this year that we hadn't done in previous years was get this bill through the Senate. And so the Senate passed a version of it that we are looking to get passage in the assembly this coming session, and we're grateful to getting it over the finish line in the Senate and the Assembly. The sponsor is assembly member Glick, and we're really excited to continue championing this with her.
She is, unfortunately, though fortunately for her mental state, retiring after 30 long years of excellent run in the Assembly. And she will be making sure that Beauty justice is this legacy bill of hers that she wants to get done before she retires.
It's a priority for her and her team.
And so we're really going to be fighting this year to make sure that we're leaving behind a good legacy for New Yorkers and for our good partner and friend assigned, the Assemblymember Glick.
[00:08:47] Speaker C: Thanks for that, Brianna. That's helpful to have that in the context of, you know, what we're just talking about with the menstrual product to kind of see how it fits into this larger umbrella of chemicals where they don't belong, and products that we really shouldn't be seeing them in. But we appreciate you kind of being here to shed some light on it, of course.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: And the last thing I'll say is, just like with menstrual products as a call to action with Beauty justice, there's also a call to action for our listeners.
If you're wanting to get involved with the campaign, we have a Healthy Homes working group which talks about this issue with our membership and all the ways you could be assisting us and are advocating for it this year. And we're always going to be having our lobby days, which will be announced in January for the new year.
And those are days where you can come with us to Albany and talk to legislators directly about this issue. We would love for any one of our listeners joining to join us for those dates when they are announced, and they're a lot of fun. So there are tons of ways you can get involved in pushing for this this coming year, and I'm really excited to be a part of that as well. Thanks, LJ and Jaron for having me on.
[00:09:53] Speaker B: Thanks, Brianna.
[00:09:54] Speaker C: And we'll actually turn it over to May. Hi, May. To introduce herself and to talk about some other some other important campaigns. Hello.
[00:10:03] Speaker D: Yeah, my name is Mae Kennedy and I'm the Global Advocacy and Environmental Health fellow here at WEAct. Very excited to be on the podcast for the first time. Thank you both for having me.
So I work on beauty justice as well, along with Brianna and some other folks here at We Act. But I mostly work on the environmental health side of things and specifically focus on mercury in skin lightening products.
And so for those who might not be familiar with the issue, skin lightening products are very harmful products that are marketed and sold to especially women of color around the world. They are harmful in that they not only reinforce toxic Eurocentric beauty standards by encouraging people to lighten their skin, but they often contain mercury, which is a neurotoxin and this is because mercury is actually really effective in blocking melanin production in the skin.
So even though mercury added cosmetics have been are now regulated on the international, national, state and local level, here in New York City, we have, you know, still been seeing these products on the shelves and have been working to change that. So we had a big win on the state level this year.
If you've been along for the ride, you might know that three years ago we helped pass a law banning the sale of mercury in cosmetics both in store and online in New York State. But our staff was still spotting these skin lightening products that we've seen a lot and have seen to contain mercury before.
We saw them being sold online in New York State just still a couple years after this law was passed.
So we purchased some of the products, had them tested and confirmed that they did in fact contain Mercury up to 29,000 times more than the legal limit.
So we, what we did is we shared these data with the Attorney General's Office of New York State and worked with them as they did their own investigation and testing of products.
And on October 8, 2025, the New York State Attorney General's office took action against three companies in New York State, sending a strong message to manufacturers and retailers of these harmful products both here and abroad.
So this is a huge step in the right direction to protecting New Yorkers health. And we are continuing to watch this issue because the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is still in the rulemaking process for this 2022 law.
So on many levels we are doing our best to make sure that this law is enforced and that enforcement is proactive and effective.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: That's so good to hear. I think a lot of people forget also about the policy process can sometimes take a long time. The initial win we had, what you said 2022, right May where we actually passed the law itself and it is three years later and we are now getting to the point of rulemaking. And also. But the enforcement is extremely important as you mentioned too, because there's no point in having these laws if they're not enforced. And so we really appreciate the Attorney General's office really taking this serious and going after the folks who are breaking this law. And it shouldn't be our responsibility as consumers to figure out if each product has mercury in it or if it has phthalates or asbestos, which we learned from Brianna just a second ago. Like that's not our responsibility as consumers. We shouldn't have to think about that at all.
[00:13:50] Speaker D: Yeah, especially for these skin Lightening products.
You know, mercury is never listed on the label as an ingredient. So even if you are informed consumer, you know that mercury might be in these products, the only way to know if it actually contains mercury is doing expensive testing.
So, yeah, just seconding the fact that it's really important for organizations and agencies with the resources to test these products and make sure that we are. Yeah. Having these laws enforced and not just assuming that, you know, the law was passed and all the products are gone, because they're not.
[00:14:28] Speaker C: We appreciate you being here to tell us a little bit about that. And I think this is your first appearance on the podcast, so thank you for joining us.
[00:14:34] Speaker D: Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: And hopefully we'll have you again when we can get an update on what's going on with the regulations.
[00:14:39] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:14:39] Speaker D: I hope so.
[00:14:40] Speaker C: All right then. Thank you.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: So next we have someone else who's been on the podcast before. We've got Carla back. So, Carla, if you want to just reintroduce yourself for, for everyone. And then what is the win that you want to talk about today?
[00:14:53] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:14:54] Speaker E: Thank you for bringing me back on the show. I'm so excited.
I know we've gone through some of the things that we're thankful for this year that we were able to achieve at WE Act. So for those that may not have heard the episode where I was part of the podcast, I'm Carla Cordero. I'm the chief of staff at WE act, which means I am a Jane of all trades. So I support all of our program areas and teams on the great work that we do here at WE Act. And one of the things that I want to talk about today is some victory that we had defending the New York State Climate Act.
We were a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for failing to issue the regulations required by the law. That we act was instrumental in pushing and passing in 2019, which is a New York State Climate Change act, also known as the Climate Leadership and Community Protection act, or CLCPA for those that like using acronyms. What this law did was really set aggressive goals for the state to reduce economy wide greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050 from 1990 levels. The Department of Environmental Conservation was required to finalize regulations by January 1st of 2024. And after a year of failing to comply, DEC, which is the acronym for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, announced in January of 2025 that the draft regulations it had been promising would not be released, nor would they specify a date when it would comply.
Without having these comprehensive regulations in place, New York does not currently have a pathway to achieve the steep greenhouse gas reductions that the law requires. So In March of 2025, we act joined the Citizen Action of New York push Buffalo and the Sierra Club, represented by one of our partners, Irv Justice.
The New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, and the PACE Environmental Litigation Clinic filed a lawsuit urging Albany County Supreme Court to order the release of the overdue regulations. And we were very excited that on October 24th of this year, the court ruled in our favor, ordering that DEC issue those regulations no later than February 6th of next year.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: That's definitely beyond a win. And sometimes at we act, we gotta sue people to get some stuff done. It happens like that sometimes in the process.
We have laws, and we need agencies to comply with those laws in order for us to get to a better place when it comes to our greenhouse gas emissions and reducing our fossil fuel usage and all of those things. And it's a climate law that we worked very hard to pass, and so we want to make sure that it's implemented correctly, and we have to continuously watch everyone who's involved to make sure that it's going the way that we need to. So this was a huge win. So I'm glad you were able to share that with us. Karla.
[00:17:59] Speaker E: Yes. Thank you for having me.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:01] Speaker C: And honestly, this was even news to me because I think there's a lot of folks that just assume, oh, like we passed this important law and you know, that, that, that that piece is done, that it's going to work as planned. But, you know, a lot of folks, myself included, sometimes forget that we have to be vigilant and make sure that all parts of the process are being carried out as they are intended to. So, yeah, like Lonnie said, sometimes you got to see sue people to. To make it happen, but exciting that things are moving forward, that we were able to achieve that. So thanks for sharing that, Carla.
[00:18:31] Speaker E: Thank you.
[00:18:32] Speaker C: All right, Lonnie, what else do we have on the docket? What other wins are we celebrating?
[00:18:36] Speaker B: So Caleb can't be with us today. Caleb Smith is our New York City policy manager who worked very hard on these next two, along with our Extreme Heat work that we've been working on.
So as a part of Extreme Heat Coalition and building on years of advocacy with a lot of our members, a lot of you have done a lot of work with cooling centers. We helped pass a bill codifying New York City's cooling center program. So that is Now Local Law 128 of 2025 and it passed the New York City Council on August 14th of this year. And this bill codifies the city's cooling center program, making it a permanent part of its response to extreme heat events. And it requires the city's Office of Emergency Management, also known as nisim, to designate cooling center locations based on factors like heat vulnerability index and population density to ensure equitable access to these cooling centers. It also requires the city to develop and implement a communications plan to ensure New Yorkers are aware of the benefits of these facilities as well as where their locations and hours of operation.
Extreme heat is the deadliest impact of climate change in New York and black New Yorkers are twice as likely to die from heat related illnesses, according to the city's data. So this is a really important bill to give some more of an access or way to find some relief during the summer when you can't afford to maybe run your air conditioning in your home. And so there's, there's places for you to go.
[00:19:54] Speaker C: Yeah. And if folks have not listened to it, we actually did an episode talking all about the cooling center program here in New York City and what benefit that provides to New Yorkers and why it's so important and highlighted some of the work of our members in helping to, you know, make those cooling centers more effective and accessible and all those things. So we'll include some links in the show notes for you to check out that episode if you haven't heard it yet.
[00:20:17] Speaker B: Yeah. And there's one thing that's not quite finished yet. We did pass this bill for codifying the cooling centers. However, the city doesn't actually have a budget for these cooling centers that they currently run now, but then also making sure that the program is improved. So next year we're going to be doing a budget fight and ask for funding to actually fund the cooling center program. So definitely look out for that in we act newsletter and social media when we have ways for you to take action.
[00:20:45] Speaker C: Absolutely. Add that to the list of exciting wins for this year that still have more work to be done. You know, we always have to celebrate the milestones along the way, but keep an eye out for what's next and how do we continue the fight and keep things moving forward. So thank you. Lonnie. What else is on the radar?
[00:20:59] Speaker B: So we also passed the Cool Pavement pilot program and so on October 10th of this year. So not that long ago we had another win in an effort to address extreme heat in our communities. When New York City Council passed its bill, the Cool Pavement Pilot program, and we've been advocating for this common sense step to combat urban heat island effect. So cool pavements can reduce surface temperatures. And the city will be rolling out this pilot program in our most vulnerable communities. And the lessons learned will hopefully lead to broader, fuller, fully funded program across the city. And so maybe we can get some cool pavements across our city.
[00:21:35] Speaker C: Yes, lots of ways that we're trying to address the impacts of extreme heat, thinking about ways to get relief, but also how do we make changes to our infrastructure to make living in New York more comfortable and livable for all of us? Dealing with extreme heat, the reality of extreme heat yeah.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: And thinking about the reality of extreme heat, as I mentioned before, sometimes it's a little difficult to run out of air conditioning in the summertime because we know how much it's going to cost. What's another win that we got this year?
[00:22:02] Speaker C: Jaron well, thank you for asking, Lonnie, because one of the other wins that we wanted to highlight is, was the fact that we act was instrumental in keeping the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP alive with a $20 million increase in funding. So for more context, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, it's a mouthful, but commonly referred to as liheap, is a federally funded and state implemented program with the intention of assisting eligible low income households with their heating and cooling costs, energy crisis assistance, weatherization and energy related home repair. So it's really doing a lot of work and it really does help a lot of New Yorkers dealing with the expenses that come along with running their heating and cooling systems and other things. Despite the Trump administration's attempt to defund the entire program, which has already been chronically underfunded, despite the fact that it can and it does save lives for so many New Yorkers and so many other folks. Our advocacy helped secure a $20 million increase in LIHEAP funding for fiscal year 2026 over what was appropriated for fiscal year 2025. So making more funding available for that really important program that so many people rely on to keep their lights on, keep their bills affordable and, and to really just function in day to day life. So very exciting that we're, that we were able to, to achieve that. And on that same note, keeping with the theme, you know, we went from some of the climate wins, keeping the, the, the theme going with some of our more energy focused wins. One of the other major wins for the year was repealing the 100 foot rule, which is helping save New Yorkers $200 million annually on their energy bills. So on June 18th of this year, as part of the Renewable Heat now coalition, we helped pass legislation that eliminates the hundred foot rule, which is part of the state's public service law that had required utilities to build a gas pipeline to any building or home within 100ft of an existing gas main at an expense of $200 million per year paid for by ratepayers across the state. So that's money that you as a ratepayer are funding for this really archaic and outdated requirement. Under this new legislation, which amends the public service law, a utility will still be obligated to provide gas service to any building within 100ft of an existing gas line, but only if it requests gas service, provided that those requesting the service agree to pay for the material and installation costs of installing that gas line, which is definitely an improvement from the prior requirement and again is saving New Yorkers $200 million as ratepayers. So while we continue to advocate for equitable energy affordability measures, we're urging the governor to sign this bill into law and we'll include a link in the show notes as well for you to take action on that and urge the governor to sign that.
So lots of calls to action today.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: So you guys are gonna do a lot of calling to Hochul.
[00:25:24] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:25:24] Speaker B: After this episode.
[00:25:25] Speaker C: So keep your phones ready.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: Have your phones ready.
[00:25:27] Speaker C: So we got some big wins, but you also got some homework, so thank you. And just one more energy related win that we wanted to highlight was that we act played an important role in securing $2 million for the pre electrification pilot program. So as many of you are probably aware, low income households often face the biggest barriers to energy efficiency, to weatherization and electrification due to living in older housing stock or older buildings with issues like deferred maintenance that prevents basic energy upgrades from being made, which help make homes more affordable, comfortable and healthy. So, for example, homes that have environmental health hazards like lead mold, asbestos or other code violations will have to resolve those issues before they can qualify for energy efficiency or electrification intervention. So thinking about getting insulation or air sealing or new windows or even a heat pump or things like that, all those things have to wait until you make these more basic improvements. And this pre electrification work is usually too costly for homeowners and building owners to take on themselves and is not currently funded by existing state programs. So it really creates a barrier for folks who want to electrify or make energy efficiency improvements to their home.
It's a barrier for them to access those things. So in May of 2025, as part of New York State's final budget, the Green Affordable Pre Electrification Fund, or the GAP Fund, was funded as a as a $2 million pilot. And this falls well short of the funding needed to address barriers to pre electrification across the state. But it's still something we've been advocating for and it's still a big win in our books to secure that funding. We will continue to push to make this pilot permanent and for the funding to receive a substantial and durable investment from the state, prioritizing spending in low income communities and communities of color and making sure that folks have access to those same programs and addressing these barriers to accessing them. Well, with that, Lonnie, do we have anything else that we want to highlight?
It's been a big year.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: I don't know. There's nothing else we need to highlight for now, but it's been a big year. There's a lot that it goes on and we can't do it without our members. So I want to thank our members who supported us in a lot of these campaigns, going to Albany to fight for these bills, making phone calls to city Council members and state legislators. You know, it really comes from all of our members here@we act. So this is a thank you and we're thankful for having our membership to help us create these wins.
[00:28:04] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:28:10] Speaker B: Thanks for listening. If you liked this episode, make sure to rate and review the show on whatever platform you listen on. If you have thoughts about the show or suggestions for topics you would like us to discuss, we encourage you to reach out to
[email protected] and check out.
[00:28:24] Speaker C: React on Facebook at react4ej. That's W E A C T F O R E J on Instagram, Bluesky and YouTube. Act 4 EJ that's W E A C T number 4 EJ and check out our website react.org for more information about environmental justice.
