ALBANY - On their first day in the majority passing bills, Senate Democrats were jubilant.

And the joke that Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told at her first press conference made their mood even clearer.

"I’d like to thank everyone, and certainly I want to thank the members of the press for coming today as we urge our Republican colleagues to take up our bills..." she paused with a smile last Monday.

"I’m just kidding."

The packed conference room in the Capitol filled with advocates, lawmakers and supporters burst into laughter — knowing that they will no longer need Republicans to pass bills.

With Democrats in control of state government for the first time since 2010, legislators and Gov. Andrew Cuomo are moving quickly to enact their shared progressive agenda.

This past week, they passed bills to expand rights for transgender New Yorkers and bolster voting laws.

This coming week, they are planning on Tuesday to pass stronger abortion rights, delay linking student test scores to teacher evaluations and potentially pass the Dream Act, which would provide tuition assistance to undocumented immigrants.

The issues languished in the Senate when Republicans were in the majority.

The Senate also plans on Wednesday to pass a bill to make permanent the property-tax cap, though the Democratic-led Assembly hasn't decided yet if and when it would take up the measure, which is also a priority for Cuomo.

"We could be very busy for months," Stewart-Cousins said Wednesday on WNYC radio, adding, "I think people will be able to see some real results quicker, and I think we've already demonstrated that."

But there are disagreements ahead: Cuomo said Friday, for example, he will not pass a state budget without new ethics reforms.

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A progressive agenda in Albany

Typically, the governor gives his State of the State address and releases his budget proposal in mid-January, and then the Legislature debates his plans in advance of the March 31 budget deadline.

But this year, Democrats are emboldened by their election victories last November, which gave the party 39 seats in the 63-seat Senate — its largest majority in modern times.

They laid out such an aggressive agenda for January that Cuomo moved up his State of the State to last Tuesday to make sure his priorities were clear at the start of the six-month legislative session.

In his speech, he recognized the opportunity of the moment, comparing New York to the gridlock and rancor in Washington.

"My friends, we can make history. I believe that. I believe we can have the most productive first 100 days in state history," said Cuomo, who had a Republican-led Senate for his first eight years in office and was elected in November to a third term.

"I believe we are in a fundamentally different space, and in the old days too many good ideas went to the state Senate to die. Now we're going to have good ideas going to the state Senate to be born," he continued.

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What's on tap

On Tuesday, the Senate and Assembly are expected to pass the Reproductive Health Act, which would remove abortion from the state's penal code and codify it into state law.

The measure had been part of the governor's 10-point Women's Equality Act agenda in 2014, but was blocked by Republicans in the Senate.

Now it will pass on Tuesday: the anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade court case in 1973.

Lawmakers will also pass the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act, which will require insurers to cover contraception for patients.

Another measure set for passage is known as the "boss bill," which would add to New York's anti-discrimination laws by banning employers from discriminating against employees over their reproductive health-care decisions.

"We know that when women are in control of their family planning decisions, outcomes improve for everyone," Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, said in a statement.

That's just Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Assembly plans to pass the Dream Act and likely ensure that test scores don't count toward teacher evaluations -- a move the state Education Department took to delay the implementation. The current ban on linking test scores and evaluations was set to expire this year.

The Senate also anticipates passing the teacher-evaluation bill and may take up the Dream Act, which had been opposed by Republicans and failed on the Senate floor in 2014.

The Senate is also planning to vote to make the tax cap permanent, a measure installed in 2011 and is opposed by the powerful New York State United Teachers union because it limits the amount schools can tax their residents.

But Cuomo said in his speech making the tax cap permanent "will help give people confidence in the system. That property tax cap has saved the typical homeowner $3,200 already, so it's making a difference in people's lives."

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Fights ahead

Just because Democrats run Albany doesn't mean they will be fully aligned on all the issues.

There are plenty of other agenda items on the table, such as stronger gun-control laws; lifting the statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases known as the Child Victims Act; and considering a congesting pricing plan for travel into Manhattan.

Cuomo also wants to cut aid to municipalities and alter the STAR tax-rebate program, something lawmakers are already raising concerns over.

Cuomo said Friday he will not pass a budget without stronger ethics reforms after a series of scandals have rocked the Capitol -- including the convictions of former legislative leaders and his former top aides.

"The toughest issue will be the ethics issue, and I’m not going to pass a budget without ethics reform," Cuomo told reporters Friday. " And I’m not going to allow cherry-picking of the budget where we pass just the easy bills and not the hard bills."

Cuomo proposed Tuesday to install a public-financing system for elections; lower campaign-contribution limits; ban corporate contributions to campaigns; and require the state Legislature to comply with the state's Freedom of Information law.

Lawmakers have supported some, if not all, of the proposals, but they have lingered for years without any resolution.

For his part, Cuomo said Tuesday the state will create a "Database of Deals" so the public can better review state projects -- something good-government groups have been clamoring for.

He also said he will give state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli greater ability to review contracts, which were at the heart of corruption scandals that brought down Cuomo's top aide Joseph Percoco and former SUNY Polytechnic Institute president Alain Kaloyeros.

But lawmakers will also likely look for new ethics laws for the executive branch, such as banning the governor from taking campaign contributions from companies doing business with the state.

Cuomo raised more than $100 million for his three runs for governor, including from businesses with state contracts, a review by the USA Today Network's Albany Bureau found in October.

"God knows the governor has had issues in his office," Heastie said last month on The Capitol Pressroom, a public-radio program.

"But yet, only the Legislature was told, 'You have to reform the way you do business.'"

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