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You can call it the legislative session of unfulfilled expectations!
A billion-dollar surplus will do that sort of thing: offer hope that pet programs and projects will receive a boost. Yet, a lot of people, organizations and special interest groups left disappointed.
As expected, transportation funding came out a winner. Similarly, education received a generous boost, although more is always needed. Passage of the USTAR initiative will pay dividends down the road. And it was good to see penalties enhanced for street racing, more restrictions implemented on smoking and reason prevail on GRAMA.
On the other side of the ledger, it's unfortunate the budget figures couldn't have been tweaked to fund full-day kindergarten, reduce the size of the embarrassingly long Disabled Waiting List, and more generously support the LeRoy J. McAllister Fund for preserving open space.
Then there was the failure to enact meaningful, comprehensive tax reform. It's true, lawmakers reduced the sales tax on food, although they should have eliminated it altogether; and they gave business some tax breaks. But they couldn't reach accord on lowering the personal income tax rate, let alone make the tough decisions needed to overhaul and simplify the state's tax structure. Political reality says that is an expectation that likely will continue to be unfulfilled.
