Our legislative score card

Gazette Editorial Board

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Iowa lawmakers began the 2012 legislative session with big goals and hopes for a swift, efficient session. They departed Des Moines this week 22 days overdue, and with some of their highest priorities scrapped.

We understand the partisan divide, although Iowa has often been governed by a split Statehouse where problems still get solved. There is an election approaching, although politics always looms large at the capitol.

We're left with those excuses, because, on some major issues, lawmakers left without forging compromises that could have made 2012 historic.

That's why we're not able to praise lawmakers today for forging a historic property tax reduction deal, or for enacting major, far-reaching education reform measures. Instead of landmarks, we got gridlock, and promises to do better next time.

Just a week ago, a property tax compromise seemed tantalizingly close, especially between the Democratic Senate and Republican Gov. Terry Branstad. But before a breakthrough could take hold, Republicans who control the House objected, and then some Senate Democrats defected. In the end, hopes for commercial property tax relief and its potential economic impact were scrapped, along with a needed boost in the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income workers.

The education reform bill that passed the House and Senate was a mere shell of the broader package offered by Branstad, and a shadow of the transformative changes advocated at last summer's education summit. And what little was done will not come with much additional funding for cash-strapped schools.

Big disappointments, to be sure, but there were some significant accomplishments.

Lawmakers took a major bipartisan step toward a regionalized mental health care delivery system in this state, laying the groundwork for far-reaching reforms. The House and Senate also approved a Cedar Rapids-inspired bill allowing local governments to keep a share of state sales tax growth to pay for flood mitigation projects.

And after five years of debating, the Legislature created a public information board to assist Iowans with open records and open meetings concerns. It's a big boost for government openness, even if lawmakers did exempt the legislative, executive and judicial branches from the board's jurisdiction.

And, as always, we're relieved by some actions lawmakers failed to take. We appreciate that the Legislature didn't inject itself into what should be a local debate by banning traffic enforcement cameras. We're also glad that lawmakers resisted efforts to amend the Iowa Constitution, from adding broad gun rights to banning red light cameras and same-sex marriages.

Our guiding document emerged unscathed.

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