Members of the state Assembly and Senate have offered an ethics and election law reform package, but it's not as far reaching as the package offered up by Governor Paterson during his State of the State address last week.

The Assembly package mainly stresses enforcement of the rules that are already on the books. It proposes creating an enforcement unit in the state Board of Elections and abolishing the Public Integrity Commission and replacing it with new ethics commissions - one each for lobbyists, the Legislature, and the executive branch. (See the press release here.)

What it doesn't have is any sort of sweeping election finance reform, which Paterson's plan has. It's pretty safe to say that would've made the package harder to pass. Democratic leadership in the Assembly and Senate have indicated their members are on board, and Assembly Republican leader Brian Kolb said he and his members back the proposal - they also worked to help put it together. Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos didn't participate in the press conference, though Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson said Skelos might support the plan.

"It's better to have a good bill than a perfect press release," said Democratic Senator Dan Squadron.

Good government groups echoed that sentiment. It's not perfect, they said, and they'll be back to press lawmakers on things like campaign finance reform, but they support the bill because it is progress.

"It's nice to see action replacing the talk," said Dick Dady of Citizens Union.

Predictably, the governor isn't happy. He issued this statement through his communications director Peter Kaufman:

"The governor is stunned that legislative leaders would be so disrespectful to the public that only one week after he proposed a sweeping and real overhaul of the ethics system in Albany, they would try to pass this off as anything more than election year window dressing. This proposal does nothing to address the underlying issues that have caused the people of New York to lose faith and trust in their government. Governor Paterson will work with members of the Legislature who are ready to pass meaningful ethics reform that changes the culture of Albany - ending pay-to-play; full disclosure; breaking the special interests lock on Albany with strict campaign finance limits; and independent oversight. If we are going to bring fairness and openness to government, we have to put the interests of the people of New York ahead of the lobbyists and special interests. Unfortunately, this proposal falls far short."