Albany business not over

State lawmakers are usually long gone from Albany by now. But their mostly virtual return this week is no midsummer night’s dream. The coronavirus that upended life across America has reordered the state legislative calendar, too, and that’s good. An extension of the 2020 session is badly needed.

Major work on the pandemic-battered budget looms, probably in August, after the federal government decides how much coronavirus-related aid states will receive. That’s when the spending cuts begin. In the meantime, many important issues — apart from the road renamings, constituent citations, and one-house bills destined for oblivion that mark the conclusion of a typical session — await resolution.

Heading the list must be an extension of new absentee voting for the general election. Voting by mail was embraced by the public for the June primaries, and with little reason to expect COVID-19 fears to diminish by November, the option for all must be available then as well. Postage-paid envelopes to return ballots are a must; lawmakers must find a way to certify when they were mailed. Local board of elections resources must be beefed up to make sure ballots are both mailed in time to voters — thousands did not get theirs in time for June’s vote — and counted faster, especially since far more people will cast ballots in a presidential election. Also worth passing: Legislation from Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) that would allow college students to serve as poll workers at sites where they are not registered to vote, to help compensate for the many seniors expected to refrain from working because of virus concerns.

Long Islanders in the Senate and Assembly also are pushing critical legislation on illegal dumping, a longtime scourge for the region. The bills — from Kaminsky and Assemb. Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), the chairs of each chamber’s environmental conservation committee — would create felonies for illegally dumping construction and demolition debris, illegally disposing of acutely hazardous substances, and other acts, and the penalties would be identical. The difference is that Assembly bill would put such crimes in the environmental code while the Senate version puts them in the criminal code. We prefer the latter approach, for giving prosecutors more tools with which to work and sending a stronger message of deterrence to would-be miscreants.

Another never-ending Long Island problem is housing discrimination, which Sen. James Gaughran (D-Northport) has addressed in the wake of Newsday’s Long Island Divided series. His latest proposal would cause the forfeiture of licenses for real estate brokers and agents found to have violated state human rights law. It’s a good complement to other reforms passed and pending. Also worth consideration: a Kaminsky bill that would require that students between sixth and 12th grades be taught the history of the swastika and noose as awful symbols of hate.

So much of what we know as normal has been disrupted by the coronavirus. The State Legislature should seize the opportunity this week to get back to business.

— The editorial board