Heading into the final stretch of this year’s legislative session, Governor Spitzer and state lawmakers are girding for a frenzy of negotiations on a broad range of criminal justice, economic, and social issues.

In the next three weeks, lawmakers are likely to settle questions that have been simmering for months: What kind of energy will New York produce over the next 10 years? How will hundreds of millions of dollars in capital money be spent? Will the Assembly back a same-sex marriage bill and give the gay marriage movement a historic boost? Will the Legislature fast-track Mayor Bloomberg’s contentious plan to impose a new road-use tax on motorists entering much of Manhattan?

If the agenda seems overloaded, that’s the point. Mr. Spitzer, eager to differentiate himself from his predecessor, has pressed lawmakers to take up an increasing number of issues, trying to show voters that he has lit a fire under state government.

Mr. Spitzer has dedicated his attention to items that had bipartisan interest and a good chance of gaining passage. He has played the role of mediator between the Assembly and Senate to encourage them to find areas of compromise and has convened a series of public meetings with legislative leaders to spur conversation on issues that might have stalled.

Among the bills likely to be approved by lawmakers is legislation that would expand the state’s criminal DNA database to include samples of every person convicted of a crime. The state currently does not collect samples in many misdemeanor cases. While gaining passage in the Senate, the governor’s bill has stalled in the Assembly, which is seeking to remove language that extends the statute of limitations to cases involving DNA evidence.

Lawmakers are also nearing a deal on a bill that would allow New York to increase the electric power it generates by speeding the approval process for certain new plants. The state had a law establishing an expedited siting process, but it expired in 2003. In the meantime, New Yorkers have seen a surge in energy prices, while the state’s production of new energy has slowed to a trickle. The Senate, which is backed by the energy industry, would force power producers to submit to fewer environmental restrictions than the Assembly’s version of the bill.

Mr. Spitzer and lawmakers are also poised to approve $600 million in new capital spending, including a $300 million package to lure International Sematech to New York from Texas. Much of the other $300 million will be sprinkled to lawmakers as pork spending. Lawmakers, who would like to control as large a share as possible, want the projects earmarked in the bill, while Mr. Spitzer wants the list sorted out later in a review led by the Empire State Development Corporation, which he controls.

Before breaking for the summer, lawmakers also will likely create the state’s first paid family leave program, which would provide a small financial cushion to employees who go on leave to care for a newborn child or a seriously ill family member. Legislation backed by Mr. Spitzer would allow employees to take off 12 weeks a year and receive up to $170 a week in disability benefits. Employers would be permitted to slightly increase insurance deductions from employee paychecks to pay for the program.

Albany is also set to overhaul the state’s Wicks Law, a construction mandate dating to 1912 that requires state and local governments to award multiple construction contracts for virtually every public construction project. The law is thought to increase construction costs by as much as 30%. Mr. Spitzer wants to raise the project threshold to $3 million in New York City, $1.5 million in Long Island and Westchester, and $500,000 elsewhere in the state. The threshold has stood at $50,000 since the 1960s.

The Legislature will probably pass a bill that requires people formally charged with rape or sexual assault to undergo HIV testing, although the bill has met opposition from Assembly members and civil liberties activists who say the testing would stigmatize people who have not been convicted of a crime.

The fate of a number of other bills is less certain.

The Assembly is deciding whether to vote on a bill legalizing gay marriage. Although there is almost no chance of the bill passing the entire Legislature, passage in the Assembly would be an important victory for gay rights advocates, making it more likely that New York will become the first state to legalize same-sex marriage through a legislative process.

Despite an aggressive lobbying effort by Mayor Bloomberg, lawmakers say it’s unlikely that they will vote on his plan to establish a “congestion pricing” program in Manhattan to help raise money for major transit projects. Mr. Spitzer is said to be warming up to the plan, but the general feeling among lawmakers is that they would rather wait beyond June to make a decision. Still, it’s hard to gauge the influence that New York’s billionaire mayor has in a Legislature known for its unpredictable nature.

While considering legislation allowing gays to marry, lawmakers are also deciding whether to make it easier for heterosexual couples to divorce. Both houses are debating no-fault divorce legislation.

Mr. Spitzer’s conciliatory approach has not always produced the most substantive legislation.

Albany is likely to pass a bill targeting violent video games that many lawmakers acknowledged will have little to no impact on the industry. Lawmakers concluded they couldn’t prohibit the sale of violent video games to minors without stepping on First Amendment rights, so they are now seeking to restrict the sale of games that combine extreme violence and sexually explicit images. Few video games sold at major retail outlets contain both explicit violent and sexual content, according to lawmakers.