The ink was barely dry on revised legislation covering the year-old historic tax credit program when the local impact became evident.

After months of threats, lobbying, cajoling, begging, pleading and some behind-the-scenes horse trading, state lawmakers and Gov. David Paterson agreed to a series of amendments to the bill. Among other things, it allowed developers to sell historic tax credits for their respective projects to such likely buyers as banks and other financial institutions, as well as insurance companies.

Selling the credits may have seemed like a minor, technical point - but it turned into a major lobbying effort.

Giving credit where credit is due, Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, the Buffalo Democrat, used a lot of political capital to bring about the changes.

"In a year when no one could get an agreement on anything in Albany, we were able to get this," said developer Rocco Termini. "If this were a New York City issue, and not a Buffalo and Upstate issue, the problem probably would have been solved in about 30 seconds. Anything in Upstate always seems to take two or three times the energy to get done because we are not New York City."

The revision makes it easier for developers such as Termini to find buyers for their state-issued tax credits, which should kick-start a number of high-profile projects including his $35 million rebirth of Hotel Lafayette. He said he will start work on the project next month and expects it to be completed by October 2011.

"Banks and insurance companies are among the most experienced users of the federal rehabilitation tax credit programs," said Jay DiLorenzo, president, Preservation League of New York State. "Higher levels of private investment will finally begin to flow to redevelopment and revitalization projects across the state."

Besides the Hotel Lafayette project, Hoyt estimates more than $100 million of historic restoration projects may move forward because of the revised legislation. The list includes architect Clinton Brown's $6.6 million Cooperage project in the city's Old First Ward; Termini's $70 million face-lift of the former AM&A's flagship department store; and the $27 million Gardens Project housing development on Buffalo's East Side.

Even though Paterson signed the historic tax credit program into law last summer, it took Hoyt more than a year to get it even that far.

"Many key rehabilitation projects locally and statewide have been on hold, waiting for this amendment to become law," he said.

The revisions wasn't the only good news to come out of Albany in recent days - and how strange is that?

Local leaders are applauding the decision by Paterson to sign into law a bill that should give a bost to regional economic development efforts.

He signed a decree that mandates the New York Power Authority use proceeds from the sale of unallocated megawatts of low-cost hydropower to help finance the Western New York Economic Development Fund. NYPA annually allocates 695 megawatts of low-cost hydropower to local businesses. Any unsold power, through its Replacement Power and Expansion Power programs, can be sold. Before, the money went to NYPA's general fund; now those funds must be allocated to aid local development projects.

Early estimates peg the annual funds in the $10 million range.

The state law was championed by Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak, D-Cheektowaga, and was considered an economic development priority by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

"This is a huge victory," said Andrew Rudnick, the Partnership's president and CEO. "This is a new incentive for economic development that we didn't have 24 hours ago."

Rep. Brian Higgins agreed, saying, "The Niagara Power Project was intended to provide a direct benefit to this community."

The Replacement and Expansion Power programs require low-cost hydropower be distributed to companies within a 30-mile radius of the Niagara Power Project in Lewiston. That covers an area stretching from Niagara County to southern Erie County and into Genesee County.

In 2008, NYPA had $309 million with more than 75 percent directly attributable to the power project. Yet only 14 percent of the economic benefit remained in the region, Higgins said.

Rudnick, meanwhile, said the funds will be distributed by a review committee of members of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, Empire State Development, Erie County Industrial Development Agency and Niagara County IDA.

"This (new money) becomes larger than life, especially in the absence of other (economic development) tools," Rudnick said. "We don't have very many other tools these days. This may have been the only economic development help we get out of Albany during this legislative session."