Statewide NYS Assembly · PRRIA Dead for 2026 · High
PRRIA dies in Assembly for third year running, session ends without floor vote
For the third consecutive year, the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act has died in the New York State Assembly without a floor vote. Speaker Carl Heastie did not schedule the bill during the final session days, ending PRRIAs 2026 prospects. The Senate, holding to its Assembly-first condition, did not vote either. A subsequent New York Focus investigation published this week documented that several lobbyists opposing the bill have close ties to Speaker Heastie personally.
The bill had 78 Assembly co-sponsors, more than enough to pass if all voted yes. Speaker Heastie and other Assembly members publicly said the actual vote counts were softer than the co-sponsor list suggested. Some co-sponsors privately signaled they would not support the amended version. The bill never appeared on Heasties negotiated end-of-session slates despite two-year sustained public advocacy.
The New York Focus investigation, published this week, reported that Rebecca Lamorte, a lobbyist who has been romantically involved with Heastie, spoke at a late-May rally opposing PRRIA. Her firm, Brown and Weinraub, represents multiple chemical industry clients that lobbied against the bill this session. Another lobbyist opposing the bill received payments from Heasties campaign as recently as May. Heasties office declined to comment on whether recusal policies applied to either individual.
The delayed state budget was cited by Heastie and allies as the operational reason PRRIA and other non-budget bills did not reach floor votes. Reporting suggests the delay gave leadership procedural cover to argue time constraints rather than political calculation drove the outcome. Critics point out that other end-of-session bills were scheduled during the same compressed window.
For the packaging EPR conversation, the 2026 result functionally resets the clock to 2027. Any future PRRIA reintroduction will likely require further amendments. The competing Martinez bill (Affordable Waste Reduction Act, S5062) remains in committee and could return as an alternative framework. Industry coalitions have signaled they would engage constructively with a re-scoped bill. Environmental advocates have signaled they will not accept a bill without source-reduction targets and toxic chemical phase-outs.
For businesses with private-label packaging
Producer registration requirements are now off the table for 2026 and functionally off the table for early 2027 as well. If your business exceeded (or was close to) the $5M revenue + 2-ton packaging waste threshold, the pressure to restructure packaging supply chains ahead of a 2026 deadline has now released. Continue monitoring the reintroduced version in the 2027 session, but Q3 and Q4 2026 packaging procurement can proceed on existing terms without producer-fee planning.
Citywide DOB · Local Law 97 · High
LL97 grace window at 16 days, extension request deadline running parallel
The LL97 grace filing window is down to 16 days before the June 30 close. The extension request deadline is the same date: buildings that need more time to file a compliance report must submit the extension request through the BEAM portal by June 30 for a $60 fee, which moves the final deadline to August 29. Extensions require an RDP contract executed no later than February 1, 2026.
The compressed dual-deadline structure means owners have three practical paths from here. Path one: file the compliance report through BEAM by June 30, avoiding both the late-filing penalty and the extension fee. Path two: submit the extension request by June 30 (with the required RDP contract documentation), moving the final deadline to August 29. Path three: miss both June 30 deadlines and accept the accruing late-filing penalty of $0.50 per square foot per month.
The penalty math is escalating. Every additional month past June 30 without a filing adds a monthly non-filing penalty that compounds by building size: $12,500 per month for a 25,000 square foot building, $50,000 for a 100,000 square foot building, higher for larger portfolios. These non-filing penalties are separate from and additional to any per-ton emissions overage penalty ($268 per metric ton) that applies once the filing shows the building exceeds its cap.
DOB has now begun processing the intake volume from the May 1 and grace-window filings. Aggregate first-year compliance data will begin to surface through late June and July as DOB publishes summary statistics. Urban Green Council pre-filing estimates suggested approximately 11 percent of covered buildings exceed the 2024 to 2029 cap; the actual filed data will confirm or revise that projection.
The Good Faith Effort pathway continues to require verified retrofit progress, not just decarbonization plans. Buildings on the GFE pathway that filed 2024 or 2025 plans and have not moved to substantive implementation face enhanced scrutiny in 2026. GFE mitigation of penalties requires documentation of measurable retrofit completion, equipment certifications, and re-commissioning reports. Plans alone no longer qualify.
For tenants in large commercial buildings
This is the last full week to confirm your buildings filing status. Ask your landlord in writing whether the LL97 report was filed by May 1 or filed during the grace window, or whether the building is planning to submit an extension by June 30. If the building missed all three windows, late-filing penalties will accrue and may show up in future CAM. If the building filed and is over cap, the per-ton exposure is what matters for future lease negotiations. Either way, the BEAM submission receipt and the RDP-stamped report are the two documents to request.
Sources:
DOB LL97 Reporting ·
NYC Accelerator · Local Law 97 of 2019, NYC Admin Code Article 320.
Manhattan / Staten Island DSNY · CWZ Midtown South / Staten Island · Standard
Midtown South and Staten Island CWZ sign-up window opens July 1, 17 days out
The next CWZ Phase 6 sign-up window opens July 1, covering Midtown South and Staten Island. 17 days remain before the two-month enrollment window begins, with full implementation and auto-assignment scheduled for August 31. Businesses in the two zones should now be executing the pre-window preparation: contract review, volume baseline, quote solicitation prep.
Midtown South CWZ covers roughly 34th Street to 59th Street between the East River and the Hudson River, including much of the Garment District, Herald Square, Bryant Park, Grand Central, and Midtown East and West. Staten Island CWZ covers the entire borough as a single zone. Combined, the two zones contain roughly 12,000 to 15,000 commercial establishments, comparable to the Lower Manhattan volume in Phase 4.
The three carters authorized for each zone are published on the DSNY portal. Waste Connections of New York holds the Staten Island Council award; the Midtown South awardees include Action Environmental (which holds 14 zones citywide, the most of any awardee). The full list of Midtown South awardees also reflects the recent Action-Filco acquisition, which created vacancies in adjacent Manhattan zones that are being filled by DSNY re-award procedures.
The two-month enrollment window (July 1 to August 31) follows the same structure as Lower Manhattan. Businesses that sign a written service agreement with any of the three authorized carters by August 31 are in compliance. Businesses without a contract by end-of-day August 31 are auto-assigned at the maximum allowable rate, binding for the full contract term. The final-week rush pattern documented in Phase 1 through Phase 4 is likely to repeat.
For Midtown South operators specifically, the compressed geography and high commercial density means the carter capacity constraint is real. Establishing quote conversations with all three authorized carters in the first two weeks of July gives you meaningfully better response times than waiting into August. Staten Islands lower commercial density means capacity is less of a bottleneck, but the same principle applies: earlier engagement gets better terms.
Preparation checklist for Midtown South and Staten Island
Between now and June 30: pull your last 12 months of waste invoices, calculate weekly volume by stream (refuse, recycling, organics), review your existing carter contract for early-termination clauses and notice periods. Between July 1 and July 14: request written quotes from all three authorized carters in your zone. Between July 15 and August 20: negotiate terms and sign. Do not wait into the final week of August.
Sources:
DSNY CWZ Rollout Schedule ·
Waste Dive, zone schedule · Local Law 199 of 2019, NYC Admin Code §16-1002(e)(3).
Citywide DSNY · New Commissioner Anderson · Standard
New DSNY Commissioner Greg Anderson signals end-of-2027 completion for all 20 CWZ zones
DSNY Commissioner Greg Anderson, appointed by Mayor Mamdani earlier this year, reiterated at recent City Council testimony that all 20 Commercial Waste Zones will be fully implemented by end of 2027. Anderson previously served as a key architect of the initial 2019 Local Law 199 implementation before leaving the agency; his return signals administrative continuity on the CWZ rollout even under the new administration.
The end-of-2027 timeline requires an average pace of one Phase (two zones) per quarter over the next six quarters, faster than the pace of the first two years of rollout but consistent with the compressed schedule DSNY has been executing since late 2025. Environmental advocates and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest have pushed for faster completion; industry consolidation and awardee vacancy issues have been the primary drag on the schedule.
Two structural issues remain to be resolved. First: the Waste Connections acquisition of Royal Waste Services in 2025, and the Action Environmental acquisition of Filco Carting in late 2025, both created vacancies in awarded zones that require DSNY re-award procedures. The re-award process for Queens West was completed earlier this year. Similar processes for the recently shifted Manhattan Southwest and Midtown North zones are pending.
Second: two lawsuits remain pending. The National Waste and Recycling Association suit challenging a DSNY waste survey rule is still active, though Cogent Waste Solutions recently moved to exit the case. Century Waste Services suit against DSNY for not receiving a Staten Island award is also still pending. Neither is expected to materially delay the rollout, but both add procedural risk.
The published Phase 7 dates (Brooklyn North and Upper Manhattan opening October 1) hold. Phase 8 through Phase 10 dates have not yet been formally proposed. Based on the end-of-2027 target, DSNY is likely to file the next batch of implementation rules in July or August, covering the remaining 11 zones on a phased schedule.
For businesses in unreleased zones
If you are in a CWZ zone with no announced date (most of Brooklyn, all remaining Manhattan zones except Lower Manhattan / Upper Manhattan / Midtown South, remaining Queens zones), your transition will happen between Q4 2026 and Q4 2027. Watch the DSNY rules portal for announcements of the next implementation batch. When your zone appears on the rulemaking docket, the two-month sign-up window opens approximately 60 days after adoption. Q3 and Q4 planning for waste service contracts should account for this uncertainty.