The Senate may be in turmoil but the Assembly has a good chance to finish some work that has already passed that legislative body—again. Speaker Sheldon Silver has an opportunity to do the right thing before the end of this session by passing a job creation bill important to upstate.

The Senate passed a needed expansion of the state’s Rehabilitation Tax Credit program, as it did last year. The Assembly should do the same. Last year, the governor vetoed the measure—but the declining economy makes it even more important that he sign it now.

The rehabilitation stimulus bill expands the tax credit program, and the Assembly version has been introduced again by Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo. Well before Monday’s political coup the Senate had moved quickly to pass the bill introduced by Sens. Antoine M. Thompson, D-Buffalo, and David J. Valesky, D-Oneida, who have been promoting the bill with video and press releases.

There is no cost to New York State in the 2009-10 budget cycle from this program, which would provide meaningful state-level building rehabilitation tax credits at the beginning of next year. This type of incentive available in 2010 would inspire confidence in developers already in the process of launching new projects based on the program’s financial promise, and that would translate into construction jobs and neighborhood improvements.

Moreover, the bill language this year makes significant changes in response to the state cost issue, limiting the pro-gram to distressed areas for both commercial and residential historic properties and “sunsetting” the law in 2014. The bill still caps per-project funding, as it did in earlier years.

Incentives to spur the rehabilitation and improvement of older housing and commercial building stock are especially important upstate, where rehab tax credits could prove to be a significant bit of economic stimulus.

At the same time, the work encouraged by this program would breathe life into distressed neighborhoods and resuscitate downtowns and historic districts. It would offer homeowners the opportunity to rehabilitate their own blocks and give hope to developers with projects already slated or under consideration. These are opportunities that would produce immediate results, adding to the local property tax base and improving neighborhoods.

The expanded program improves upon the state’s existing, but too narrow, rehabilitation tax credit tool and allows places such as Buffalo to take full advantage of the chance to restore existing buildings. The expanded bill would make New York State more competitive against 30 other states with similar programs, which already have seen significant economic stimulus as a result, leveraging $3 to $5 in improvements for every state dollar invested.

There are a number of historic structures that would benefit from this legislation, which fills a critical gap in funding after years of disinvestment, stagnation and setbacks from the downturn in the credit market. This is a smart-growth program that would direct reinvestment to core business districts in poor, older and historic neighborhoods. It deserves quick Assembly passage, and Gov. David A. Paterson’s signature.