New York's 2026 legislative session has begun at the state Capitol

And another State of the State proposal from Hochul.

Good afternoon — It’s Wednesday and the first day of the 2026 legislative session.

In today’s CapCon:

• State lawmakers returned to Albany Tuesday for the first day of the 2026 legislative session. Here’s what happened.

• Hochul unveiled another State of the State proposal Wednesday. This one is focused on illegal guns.

• CapCon Q&A: State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins chats about this year’s session, politics in New York, redistricting and more.

• On The Bill: Here’s the newly filed version of the RAISE Act, an AI regulation bill, that Hochul and lawmakers agreed on.

Names in today’s CapCon: Carl Heastie, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Lori Van Buren, Antonio Delgado, Kathy Hochul, James Skoufis, Donald J. Trump, Will Barclay, Rob Ortt, Tim Fanning, Linda B. Rosenthal, Brad Hoylman-Signal, Eric Gonzalez, Zohran Mamdani, Eric Adams, Philip Dulian, Andrew Gounardes, Alex Bores

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(Lori Van Buren/Times Union)

🏛️ What happened on the first day of New York’s 2026 legislative session

The New York Capitol came back to life Wednesday with both chambers of the state Legislature in session and even a rally to kick the day off.

There were two major themes in the remarks delivered by Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins: New York’s cost of living and how the state has been impacted by the federal government.

We have clips and transcripts of their opening remarks, and those of the minority leaders, over on Capitol Confidential Pro, powered by USLege. I’ll link to those at the bottom of this section.

Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado opened session in the state Senate, where his position also doubles as president of the chamber.

He chose not to bring up his primary challenge against Gov. Kathy Hochul during his remarks and didn’t make any news that I heard.

Several lawmakers showed up to a rally in support of universal child care before the session began. It was organized by New Yorkers United For Child Care.

That group is asking Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature to prioritize more funding to ensure universal pre-K is offered at all of the state’s public school districts. That would help parents of 4-year-olds with child care.

(Lori Van Buren/Times Union)

Another policy proposal pitched during the rally came from state Sen. James Skoufis, who said he knows of school districts that have rejected state funding to provide universal pre-K because of the anticipated local cost and impact on private providers.

“Just like we don’t provide the option to public schools to offer an education for first graders or second graders or third graders, we need to require our public schools to educate the 4-year-olds throughout New York state,” Skoufis said.

Child care was mentioned by both Heastie and Stewart-Cousins in their opening remarks as well. But the topic of affordability stretched beyond that as well.