Albany has tall agenda as session ends

ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and lawmakers return to the State Capitol Monday -- the final day of the legislative session -- with a tall agenda to complete.

Property-tax cap, rent-control laws, gay marriage and public-university tuition are on the docket, not to mention hundreds of local bills. Some of those regional measures are crucial to local finances, such as the renewal of the Nassau County sales tax and the expansion of red-light cameras at intersections in Nassau and Suffolk.

Lawmakers have less than 24 hours to finish it all.

Or maybe not. State Assembly leaders have already hinted they might spill over into Tuesday to complete all the local measures.

Cuomo, in his first year in office, says that despite roller coaster negotiations over the last week, his high-priority proposals are still on track.

"Right now, I don't see anything in trouble. I don't see any of the critical initiatives in jeopardy," the Democrat said last week.

The highest-profile item -- the one that attracted national media to the Capitol Friday -- is same-sex marriage. The Democrat-led Assembly passed the bill Wednesday. In the Republican-controlled Senate, 31 of 62 members have said they favor it; that includes 29 of the 30 Democrats and two of the 32 Republicans.

Several Republicans are openly undecided. Cuomo has engaged in a personal effort to woo fence-sitters, meeting with them in his offices to work on language in the bill that GOP senators say is necessary to protect church-based agencies from discrimination claims.

"We are making progress with the issue of religious exemptions," Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) said.

Before they tackle that issue, lawmakers probably will have to settle the politically interrelated issues of rent control and property taxes.

Cuomo announced a tentative deal on May 23, although it's now clear that pact was far from nailed down. The deal calls for enacting a cap that limits municipalities and school districts from increasing their tax levies more than 2 percent annually -- a key Republican item. In exchange, lawmakers would renew rent control for millions of New York City tenants -- key for the Democrats.

There are a few major hang-ups. Democrats want to expand the number of tenants covered but Republicans don't. Republicans want to add in expansion of a tax-break program, known as 421a, that is popular with real-estate developers. And the two sides must agree on an expiration date for both the tax cap and the rent laws.

Meanwhile, Cuomo and State University of New York leaders have made a late push for a "SUNY 2020" plan. It would raise tuition steadily over a five-year period (8 percent per year for research institutions such as Stony Brook University, 5 percent per year for others such as Farmingdale State), allowing campuses to expand faculty and class offerings, and jump-start initiatives that help local economic development.

Increasingly, officials and lobbyists have said that the SUNY plan probably has to be part of a big bill trade-off in the final hours to gain approval.

Approved so far

As state lawmakers approach the end of the 2011 legislative session, they are passing hundreds of bills. Here are some highlights of what both houses have approved so far: (Note: Gov. Cuomo would have to sign the bills to make them law)

• Tightening ethics laws by compelling lawmakers, who are all considered part-time, to disclose far more information about their outside incomes and business interests.

• Making texting while driving a primary offense, which means police no longer have to notice another violation first, such as speeding, before pulling a driver over.

• Requiring insurers to provide more coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of autism.

• Banning smoking from railway platforms such as those used by the LIRR.

• Tripling the buffer zone at military funerals to keep protesters away.

• Increasing protections for student athletes who suffer concussions, including a mandatory 24-hour waiting period before returning to play.

• Adding 1,100 acres to the protected Carmans River watershed in the Central Pine Barrens.