Ethics on table as state lawmakers convene

ALBANY, N.Y. >> New York lawmakers will return to Albany on Tuesday to begin the final weeks of their work for 2016, confronting a to-do list that includes a possible upstate expansion for Uber, a decision on control of public schools in NewYork City and the challenge of addressing Albany’s perennial corruption problem.

Over the course of seven weeks, the Senate and Assembly will take up hundreds of bills with an eye on the fall elections. Here’s a look at the top issues they will face:

Corruption

In the last year, Albany’s two most powerful lawmakers were

convicted on federal corruption charges, joining more than 30 other lawmakers who left office facing criminal or ethical allegations. But even after the downfall of former GOP Senate Leader Dean Skelos and exDemocratic Speaker Sheldon Silver, lawmakers have been slow to respond.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed tighter campaign finance rules and restrictions on howmuch lawmakers canmake fromside jobs. Those ideas face opposition in the Senate, however.

One idea with broader support is a ballot referendum that, if approved by voters, would allow a judge to strip the pensions of convicted lawmakers. A 2011 pension forfeiture law doesn’t apply to lawmakers elected before that bill was passed, meaning that many lawmakers can keep their pensions even if convicted of corruption. So far, the Assembly and Senate cannot agree on wording for the referendum.

“Ethics is going to be the main focus between now and June,” Cuomo told a group of upstate editorial boards in April.

Government watchdog groups hope public outrage over the recent scandalswill push lawmakers to act. Silver, the Manhattan Democrat who led the Assembly for decades, is set to be sentenced on Tuesday, the same day lawmakers reconvene.

“It’s an election year,” said Blair Horner, of the New York Public Interest Research Group. “Lawmakers are going to have to go back to their constituents and say ‘Yes, I voted for those legislative leaders that are now in the slammer.’ And they’re going to have to say what they did about it.”

Newyork city schools

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, must once again persuade lawmakers to extend his control of city schools, a policy which is set to expire June 30 after lawmakers renewed it only a year in 2015.

MIKE GROLL — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, R-Smithtown, left, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, talk with media members after a general conference committee meeting on the budget in Albany, N.Y.