For the second year in a row, Gov. Kathy Hochul is sending checks directly to New York residents ahead of November elections. This time, it’s her own reelection. But rest assured, the direct-mail checks from the state are nothing like the checks President Donald Trump recently promised to voters and that Hochul criticized.
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Hochul announced Monday that, starting next week, the state will begin mailing out utility rebate checks – dubbed Protecting Our Wallets Energy Rebate, or POWER, checks – to 8.2 million New Yorkers making $300,000 or less annually. Those checks, which will be between $100 and $200, will total about $1 billion, as was included in this year’s state budget.
“As Washington Republicans continue to send the cost of everything from utility bills to gas and groceries soaring, I’ll never stop working to address the rising cost of living for New Yorkers,” Hochul said in a statement ahead of an event in Rochester Monday to announce the checks.
But just last week, Hochul criticized Trump for promising to send a $5,000 check to every adult American if Republicans maintain control of the House, calling the promise “a trillion-dollar campaign bribe” in a post on X.
Hochul’s office insisted that there is no comparison to be made between Trump’s admittedly more overt voting incentive checks and the governor’s conveniently timed rebate checks.
“New Yorkers are facing rising utility costs and sky-high gas bills because of Washington Republicans’ failed policies and endless war in Iran,” Hochul spokesperson Jen Goodman said in a statement. “Instead of bribing the American people for votes, Trump should follow the Governor’s lead and deliver immediate relief from the energy affordability crisis he’s created.”
The approximate timing of the checks for September and October – hitting mailboxes before Election Day – was first reported by Gothamist in late July. When lawmakers passed the budget in late May, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said the checks would be sent out “from September to December.” But the exact dates were not disclosed until now.
If checks mailed in early autumn from New York sound familiar, it’s because Hochul mailed so-called “inflation refund” checks to the same group of 8.2 million people at this time last year. The governor used surplus tax revenue the state brought in, in order to send checks of up to $400 to New Yorkers last fall.
“I know $200 isn’t going to magically change your lives, but I know this: When we did the inflation rebates a year ago … when people got $150 back in those rebates, people came up to (me) and said, ‘You know what, this helped a little bit at the end of the month,’” Hochul said at a press conference in Rochester. She spoke in front of a sign that read “More Money →Your Pockets.”
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According to Hochul’s office, the timing of the checks both this year and last year have to do with the capacity of the state Department of Financial Services rather than their proximity to elections. During the months of October and November, the agency takes a pause from the time-intensive School Tax Relief, or STAR, program, enabling the mailing of direct rebate checks for other programs. The STAR Program also provides eligible New Yorkers with checks or direct deposits to help with local school taxes.
Last year’s inflation refund checks drew scrutiny from members of the state Legislature and fiscal watchdogs, many of whom said the money could be better spent than on relatively small checks sent to a large number of people. During budget negotiations, members of the state Senate attempted to narrow the pool of recipients to seniors in order to send larger checks to fewer people, but Hochul’s initial proposal prevailed.
State Sen. James Skoufis, a frequent critic of Hochul’s, even introduced legislation last year meant to prevent the governor from putting her name or image on the checks. “No Governor should have the opportunity for this kind of self-promotion, and this Governor would be well-served by paying less attention to her gimmicky checks and more attention to the deep-seated challenges facing New Yorkers such as crippling property taxes,” he said in a statement at the time.
The legislation never advanced. Still, Hochul’s signature was not on last year’s checks, nor will it be on this year’s checks, per her office.
Last year’s inflation refund checks were a key part of Hochul’s affordability agenda last year, a proposal she included in her executive budget and one she touted repeatedly any time she spoke about putting “money in your pockets.”
This year’s utility rebate checks are a little different, having originated as an Assembly proposal. The lower chamber initially proposed higher check amounts – up to $500 per household – at a $2.6 billion price tag and only for 5.4 million New Yorkers. But it’s not stopping Hochul from taking credit for the checks now that they’re about to be sent out. What’s more, Hochul now gets to tout the checks going to nearly 3 million more people – and with a lower price tag to the state too.
Trump seems to think that promised money will move votes. Hochul prefers to give the cash in advance.