Cuomo watch: An early state budget?

If Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo agrees to a package of redistricting bills the State Legislature expects to approve this week, it will accomplish two important political goals.

Lawmakers will have succeeded, again, in drawing their own election district maps.

And Cuomo should have smooth sailing toward achieving an early state budget -- maybe the earliest in history.

Many legislators have felt all through the months of the redistricting process that Cuomo wouldn't veto the election maps they produce. If the new maps are combined with a promise to change the process next decade, everyone gets a chance to claim a small victory.

The state budget deadline is April 1. But lawmakers are following a work schedule that would have them finish a week early.-- Yancey Roy