State lawmakers return to work this afternoon, and they have plenty to do. They promised that this was a Legislature reborn after the pay-raise debacle of 2005 and the resulting voter backlash last year. It's time to prove it.

Gov. Ed Rendell threw down the gauntlet Tuesday when he said he wants a lot more than a budget to be adopted by Sunday night. Some legislative leaders complained that not all of his agenda is budget-related -- so they want to put certain things off. They wouldn't have to if they didn't start moving on legislation till mid-June.

We say get it done now. Here's what the Post-Gazette wants:

A statewide indoor smoking ban. Smoking kills. It's indisputable. The House should wake up the sleeping Senate to the dangers by passing a tough measure and not the same watered-down language in Senate Bill 246. There's no reason to wait until fall on this; it will only strengthen the hand of the tobacco lobby.

Adequate funding for roads and transit. The House has approved and sent to the Senate a broad transportation measure that calls for at least $700 million a year in additional funds for roads, bridges and transit. It would rely on tolling Interstate 80, using the tolls to repay bonds issued and raising any number of local sales, use, hotel or car-rental taxes to leverage more state transit dollars for regional systems.

A smart energy plan. Gov. Rendell's "energy independence plan" calls for a surcharge on electric bills that would cost average residential customers a paltry $5.40 a year. That tiny sum would fund an ambitious $850 million bond issue for investments in conservation education, energy efficiency and renewable power.

Arena funding. House Bill 1631 calls for a gaming, tourism and economic development fund, including $7.5 million a year for 30 years toward construction of a Pittsburgh arena that will play host to the Penguins and other entertainment. Failure to act could jeopardize the project, or at least slow it down unnecessarily.

A plan for Duquesne's high school students. Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak wants to reassign the 200 students to the West Mifflin Area and East Allegheny school districts. It's too late to consider other proposals and time to prepare for fall classes.

The Jonas Salk Legacy Fund. This would divert $35 million a year from state's $400 million tobacco settlement to sell $500 million in bonds for bricks and mortar construction of biotech and biomedical facilities in the state. It would create 13,000 high-paying jobs, many of them in the Pittsburgh region.

Oh, and a balanced budget. Without a budget, more than 25,000 state workers could be temporarily laid off, including those in the state's casino control system, parks and forests, state museums, historical sites, drivers license centers and others.

Get busy.