Albany Watch

   The state Senate tomorrow plans to pass a bill to temporarily suspend the 32-cents-per-gallon state tax on gasoline. But don’t count on the money in your pocket just yet.

The Assembly is opposed to the idea, and Gov. David Paterson has said he favors if only if there is a guarantee that the oil companies would pass along all of the savings to consumers – and there appears to be no way to do that.

In the state version of the Clinton-Obama debate about a national gas-tax holiday, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno is New York’s version of Hillary Clinton, saying that drivers deserve a break.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, (who actually supports Clinton), is the Barack Obama of this debate, saying drivers are unlikely to see the money, the state can’t afford it and a more fundamental shift in energy policy is the only way to bring down prices.

So there will be plenty of sound and fury about gas taxes at the Capitol this week, but probably no meaningful action.