A session that failed to sparkle

So 2015 will go down as a year state lawmakers raised our gas tax and seriously lowered our expectations of their ability to do just about anything else.

If the legislative session, mercifully completed Friday, were a firework, it would be one with a 145-day fuse that sizzled plenty but offered no bang. A disappointing dud. Not that we can be trusted with real firecrackers, anyway.

I'm not saying boosting the gas tax by a dime for the first time in 25 years doesn't count as a major accomplishment. It does count, clearly, in a state with plenty of highways, streets and bridges in need of attention and cash. In any legislative session, it would be a landmark. It took some guts. It took some bipartisan cooperation. It took some remarkable procedural shenanigans. Sausage, don't ask.

We owe lawmakers thanks. I imagine they'd say 'Don't mention it.” And they mean it. Please, don't mention it.

But the gas tax increase happened way, way back in February. So the session unfolded like a big meal where lawmakers filled up on bread before the main budgetary course arrived. Their appetite for further gutsy bipartisan cooperation and hunger to risk more political capital faded. Things got kind of slow and sleepy from there.

And that's too bad, because more accomplishments were possible. Sure, Democrats and Republicans deeply disagree on spending. What's new? But there were other areas where progress was entirely doable.

They could have fixed the lousy medical cannabis bill they passed last year. It does allow the parents of kids with severe epilepsy to possess an oil derived from marijuana. Trouble is, they cannot legally purchase it.

A bill setting the stage for a much better and broader medical marijuana program passed the Senate but died in the House. Democrats and Republicans could have come together to make it happen, but no dice.

Ditto with bringing some common sense to criminal penalties for small-time, first-time marijuana possession charges. A couple of smart bills would have made penalties more reasonable while addressing embarrassing racial disparities. But forget it. Wait till next year. Then wait some more.

Water quality got scant attention, beyond some rural-urban saber rattling over a lawsuit, and inadequate funding. Efforts to address property rights concerns in the face of two big utilities projects crossing the state fell short in the final days.

I don't like the school funding deal. I don't see how lowball funding makes schools better. But what I don't like even more is the fact that lawmakers keep breaking a law requiring them to set K-12 bucks more than a year ahead. It's still a law, even if you don't like it.

It's embarrassing, and it makes the Legislature look like Congress. Nobody wants to look like Congress.

But hey, at least school boards don't have to worry about setting a school start date. The State Fair will do it for them, making the Butter Cow our big education policy winner of 2015. Cyberbullies were a close second.

And on second thought, maybe we aren't smart enough to be trusted with fireworks.

l Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com