As promised, here’s the program bill Gov. David Paterson pledged he would send to the Legislature that would sweep cash from the Environmental Protection Fund to keep the parks and historic sites open.

The outlook for this measure is not good at the moment. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver signaled his opposition earlier today, calling the bill “inappropriate” and misleading because it raids the EFP of a total of $110 million under the guise of keeping parks open, which, according to the accompanying bill memo, only requires $6 million.

Actually, the bill calls for reducing the amount of the Real Estate Transfer Tax deposited into the EPF by $67 million and also remove references to RETT deposits related to prior fiscal years. There’s some concern this would forgive debt wracked up from prior EFP sweeps and obligations that has already been earmarked for projects but not paid out.

In an e-mail to me earlier today, the NYLCV’s Dan Hendrick called the governor’s effort a “shell game,” noting he’s “attempting to rob Peter to pay Paul by asking the Environmental Protection Fund to foot the bill for parks!”

And, once again, the governor’s timing is, well, crummy.

Tomorrow just so happens to be EFP lobby day, so advocates are prepared for a full-court-press to try to stop this.

Their effort might come too late, however, as word around the Capitol is the Senate Finance Committee might ask for a message of necessity to pass this today – that’s fueled by REALLY angry constituents who want their parks open for Memorial Day.

Gpb_ 263 Epf Transfer – Bill

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