Greg Barber in Capitol Confidential reports that two local state legislators, Republican Assemblymen Pete Lopez and Steve McLaughlin are trying to get a tax relief bill for New York’s apple farmers. With fellow Republican Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, the legislators who represent parts of Greene, Albany and Columbia counties are calling for a special session of the legislature to help apple farmers faced with many months of erratic weather. While they are unlikely to get a one-issue special session, other legislators have been pushing for a meeting to increase the mininum wage, rent relief, and other issues. "According to a USDA report released last Friday, the state’s apple production is down 52 percent from last year, yielding the state’s smallest crop since 1948. The reports cites erratic weather conditions — an unusually warm spring, followed by late-season freezes and this summer’s drought — as the primary reason for the $233 million industry’s sharp decline," Barber writes in the Albany Times-Union's political blog. The “Family Farmers and Apple Growers Relief Act” backed by Lopez and McLaughlin, would create a 2012 tax credit for 35 percent of crop losses, costing taxpayers $5 million. Read the full story in Capitol Confidential.