LEGISLATORS NEED to focus their attention and energy this year on reforming the tax system, deciding how to allocate state resources toward education and other priorities and making the government more efficient and accountable to the public — and indications are that they will at least focus on the first two. But there are plenty of other matters that demand their attention, some springing from developments in recent months, some reflecting long-standing needs.

Among the actions we believe lawmakers would do well to take this year are to:

• Protect vulnerable adults in state care by requiring that independent investigators review all allegations of abuse and neglect to determine whether they are serious enough to be reported to police.

• Require regular testing of traveling carnival rides, and repeal the law that lets carnival workers hold misbehaving children in custody for an unlimited period.

• Require political candidates to disclose the occupations of campaign donors — as lawmakers claimed to have done a couple of years ago, but didn’t.

• Close a loophole that will allow special interest groups to hide the source of all funds they spend during the crucial final days of political campaigns.

• Prohibit elected officials from forming (or being associated with) so-called “leadership” PACs, which allow them to circumvent campaign finance laws.

• Clean up vague language to give the Board of Medical Examiners the tools it needs to make its disciplinary actions stick.

• Lift the veil of secrecy that shrouds complaints, and sometimes “disciplinary actions,” against veterinarians and most other licensed professionals, so the public can protect itself from potentially dangerous practitioners.

• Reform annexation laws to allow cities to grow naturally, along with the population.

• Rescind the power to condemn private property from colleges, legislatively selected boards, special purpose districts and all other bodies that are not elected or directly accountable to the governor.

• Require police to investigate all allegations of police misconduct and questions about officers’ character, and to report their findings to the state; toughen the penalties for agencies that violate reporting requirements.

• Close loopholes that allow drunken drivers to convince jurors that it’s OK to drive with a high concentration of alcohol as long as they don’t seem drunk — even though the law clearly says doing so is illegal.

• Close the loophole that allows able-bodied drivers to borrow someone else’s handicapped placard and park in handicapped spaces.

• Make cockfighting a felony, like dogfighting punishable by a $5,000 fine or five years in prison, and conform the definition of the crime to the easier-to-prosecute definition used in dogfighting.

• Make it illegal for minors to purchase, possess or smoke cigarettes.

• Free local governments to impose impact fees on new residents and businesses to help cover the costs of new school buildings and other infrastructure needs.

• Scale back or eliminate the super-sized subsidy the public is forced to give to legislators’ retirement fund.

• Allow the governor to appoint judges; or at least change the makeup of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission to reduce legislative influence.

• Move state primary elections from June to August, to allow potential candidates to emerge based on legislative actions, and to allow greater scrutiny of candidates.

• Open government by requiring closed-door meetings to be taped so a judge can review what happened if questions are raised, and requiring elected officials to sign an affidavit saying they didn’t break the law.

• Repeal the law that allows city governments to call off an election and declare a winner when only one candidate files and no one mounts a write-in campaign.

• Update state election laws by spelling out such things as when recounts will be ordered, what standards will be used for them and what actions will be taken before the ballots are cast to reduce the chance of mistakes.

• Prohibit state agencies from spending public money to lobby the Legislature.

• Require older drivers to pass road tests for license renewal, and restrict or prohibit driving for those who are physically or mentally incapacitated.

• Hold parents criminally responsible if children use their unlocked guns to kill or injure others. This would give adults more incentive to use trigger locks or safe storage.

• Require state officials to review the environmental-law compliance records in other states of companies seeking environmental permits or economic incentives in South Carolina. Restrict or prohibit permits and incentives for those with bad track records.

• Limit the use of state funds for highways, sewer projects and other infrastructure where they will contribute to suburban sprawl.