The Associated Press has a story today foreshadowing the battle over the Bigger Better Bottle Bill in Albany.

In its words: "While Spitzer has made headlines by taking on hospital chiefs and lawmakers, an early test of the new governor's promise to shake up the status quo could come down whether he can push through a deposit law that that has fallen flat in the Legislature in past years."

Judith Enck, Spitzer's deputy secretary for the environment, said, "We are fully committed to getting this through this year."

And there's evidence of this: The bill not only made its way into Spitzer's budget proposal this year, but the governor linked all current and future funding increases to the Environmental Protection Fund to its passage.

In recent years, the assembly has passed versions of the BBBB but the bill hasn't had much success in the senate.

We'll be working hard to ensure that this year's different...