The New York State Assembly passed a bill yesterday that would strengthen rent regulation, while setting up a possible showdown with the Senate and the real estate industry, according to an article by Charles V. Bagli in today's edition of The New York Times.

State laws that limit the rent that landlords can charge on more than one million apartments in New York City and the suburbs are set to expire on June15. Democratic legislators from the city and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had sought to extend and expand the laws during budget negotiations last month, until the Senate Republican leader, Dean G. Skelos, rejected the idea, threatening to delay the budget. The bill in the Democratic-controlled Assembly would extend rent regulations until 2016. It would do away with vacancy decontrol, which lets landlords deregulate apartments when they become vacant and their rents exceed $2,000. It would alter luxury decontrol, which lets owners deregulate apartments when the tenants' income exceeds $175,000 and the rent is at least $2,0000. Those limits would rise to $300,000 and $3,000. The bill would also limit rent increases for new tenants to 10 percent, down from 20 percent.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said that "every year more than 10,000 rent-regulated apartments are lost because of loopholes in the rent laws, the article said, adding that "Although a similar bill in the Republican-controlled Senate is unlikely to pass, Democratic legislators are pressing on a number of housing issues.

"Other proposals in play," the article said, "include a property tax cap, an extension of tax breaks for new developments and relief for landlords from a 2009 court decision that said they could not regulate apartments while also taking advantage of a certain tax incentive."