Albany lawmakers on Monday introduced a bill hiking their pay by $32,000 a year effective Jan. 1. Rather than just sign it, Gov. Kathy Hochul has a duty to the public to demand some real reform for going along: It’s not like they’re giving her anything for free.

Fine, she said last week: “I believe they deserve a pay raise. They work extremely hard. It’s a year-round job,” though all three claims are suspect. More important, she didn’t endorse a specific number, let alone a 30% hike to $143,000.

And the fact that the bill would (two years later) cap legislators’ outside income at $35,000 doesn’t change that, since only a few are over that line. Plus, many would still collect hefty bonuses (“lulus,” they’re tellingly known as) for “work” as leaders and committee chairs.

This will make them easily the nation’s highest-paid state lawmakers, ahead of California ($122,000) and far above the US average. New Jersey pays just $49,000.

To go along with this, Hochul has every right to demand major concessions. We’ve already suggested some: a workable replacement for the city’s 421a tax credit, which boosts housing construction; lifting the charter-school cap to increase educational opportunity; granting judges the discretion to consider a defendant’s “dangerousness” in requiring bail or remand.

She’s reportedly asked for something less on bail reform, and gotten rejected. But why take “no” for an answer?

We get that she refuses to negotiate in public, and prefers to collaborate. But she can still negotiate, rather than collude in this rank self-dealing.

Hochul just won election in her own right. It’s time to act that way.