Recent evidence notwithstanding, New York still has a State Legislature whose members and staffers are taking home paychecks funded by taxpayers. Regardless of the chaos that has overtaken the Senate, work remains in the final two weeks of the legislative session. In a time of profound financial stress, members need to show that they are earning their salaries, not just collecting them. Here are some of the ways they can do that:

Ethics reform.Gov. David A. Paterson has proposed creation of a single, independent ethics agency to oversee ethics matters for all of state government. In a state government where high-level officials have trouble distinguishing between actions that are ethical and those that are felonious, this is an urgent matter. The state—meaning the residents of New York—needs a single, nonpartisan, non-aligned entity to oversee, investigate and enforce tough, sensible ethics regulations, and it needs one now.

Campaign finance reform. Two Democratic legislators, one from each chamber, have introduced needed legislation to lower the preposterously high limits on donations to officials elected statewide and in each of the legislative chambers. With both legislative leaders and Paterson supporting the change, along with good government groups like Common Cause and the New York Public Interest Research Group supporting the reform, it seemed sure to pass. But with control of the Senate up in the air, the outcome is less certain.

Rehabilitation tax credits. The Senate already has passed this measure, which would provide tax credits to spur the improvement of older housing and commercial buildings, and the Assembly should follow. The law would be a boon to the construction industry and to building owners— including homeowners—who could rehabilitate properties more affordably, and to cities such as Buffalo, which would see strengthened neighborhoods.

UB 2020. The Senate also has passed this bill, which would provide greater autonomy to the University at Buffalo and spur growth that also would benefit the regional economy. The bill would free UB from many state regulations, giving it more flexibility on spending, contracting, leasing and selling university land and developing private partnerships. It would also allow the university to raise its own tuition in capped annual amounts. Assembly leaders are skeptical, but they need to get out of the state’s way, and ours, by approving the measure. Then they should monitor progress and, if it is working, offer similar flexibility to other campuses.

Buffalo schools reconstruction. This critical, quarter-billion- dollar project is threatened because of the chaos in the Senate. So is $30 million in state aid for charter schools. School officials have received informal approval from the State Education Department to reconstruct seven schools, but legislative approval, already uncertain, became more so as the Senate fell into gridlock.

Without legislative approval, the seven city schools will remain distressed and the Charter School for Applied Technologies in the Town of Tonawanda will lose $1.2 million in restored funding. That likely will lead to layoffs and delaying or abandoning construction of four high school classrooms and refurbishing of two science laboratories.

Green jobs/green homes initiative. The proposed pro-gram would leverage federal stimulus funds and private investment into an energy audit and retrofit of up to 1 million New York homes to make them more energy efficient and less polluting, while training an estimated 60,000 workers. The bill is nowhere at this point, but because it is tied to the federal economic stimulus, it needs to pass soon to be of any use.

Rockefeller drug laws. Reforms were passed this year but were lumped in with the state budget with limited scrutiny. As a result, it is possible, although unlikely, that dangerous drug sellers could have their records sealed. Thus, potential employers in sensitive fields such as schools, day care centers and nursing homes could inadvertently hire them. The law needs to be tweaked to avoid that possibility.

Wrongful conviction. Finally, though hardly least important, the state needs to pass a package of laws that would make wrongful convictions—such as those of Anthony Capozzi and Lynn DeJac—less likely.

Little of this can happen while the Senate convulses over power and politics, and ignores the people’s business. End the circus atmosphere. Get back to work.