Albany's heavy slate of issues

Buoyed by the delivery of an on-time budget and refreshed from a two-week vacation, state legislators should return to Albany Monday full of the vigor they need to spend six weeks setting the state on the right path. Determined to help them along in that quest is the currently very popular Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who appears ready to ram through some change.

There is an opportunity and a need to make that happen, starting with the most significant civil-rights issue of our time. New York must legalize gay marriage. Cuomo supports it, the Assembly has approved it, and it's time for the Senate to follow. Long Island's nine Republican senators are a key to this but often claim they're hearing from constituents who oppose gay marriage. Polls show anti-gay-marriage voters statewide and on Long Island must be louder than they are numerous, because most favor the change. Our senators should wake up to the real feelings of their constituents, and more important, the rights of all people, and support this law.

Beyond this outstanding social issue, here are the items the legislators and the governor must accomplish over the next six weeks to spring the state from its governmental rut:

Create nonpartisan redistricting. Embraced by nearly every candidate during election season, the proposal became a lot less popular among the Senate Republicans after they regained the majority. Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, spearheading the movement for fair districts, is turning up the fire on politicians who pledged their support while stumping and withdrew it after winning. Again, this includes all nine LI senators, each of whom took Koch's pledge and not one of whom is standing behind it now. Districts gerrymandered to protect incumbents and specific parties don't serve constituents well; even worse would be to allow politicians to hide behind a make-believe constitutional dilemma invented postelection.

Pass a property tax cap. Limiting property tax increases is a last-ditch attempt to rein in local taxing entities and school districts that appear completely incapable of controlling spending. The cap passed by the Senate and languishing in the Assembly would be very hard to comply with if it didn't exclude pension costs from the limits for some period of time, so such an exemption should be considered. That said, a cap is likely the only way to keep taxes under control. It is, at least, the only way we haven't yet tried.

Create a Tier 6 pension plan for future public employees. Workers in the new tier would pay higher pension contributions and retire later, and overtime would be eliminated from pension calculations. This tier, still more generous than what most private-sector employees have, will reduce the cost of government in the long term.

Pass meaningful ethics reform. Taxpayers should know how much outside income state elected officials make, who pays them, and what for. With the exception of rules to keep private the names of clients in family law cases, nobody should be doing business with our legislators without our knowledge.

Allow the state universities to raise tuition. SUNY needs revenue infusions to make up for all the cuts of recent years. That means a tuition increase -- a need so obvious that some student leaders, who'll be paying the increase, are calling for it. Also needed is a firm commitment that SUNY gets to keep the new revenue, instead of watching helplessly as the Division of the Budget diverts it for other purposes.

Empower counties to make decisions about red-light cameras. This is important to Nassau and Suffolk counties, as well as New York City, all of which need the revenue the cameras would provide and are more than capable of deciding how many they should have. Decisions about how to enforce local traffic laws and raise revenue don't need to be made in Albany.

The state is in trouble, but the remedies are clear and the opportunity to institute them has never been more ripe. Get to work, ladies and gentlemen. We'll be watching.