Legislature passed laws to protect the environment, raise the minimum wage and improve health.

As pretty much everyone in Maine has heard by now, the Legislature failed to achieve consensus on a property tax relief package before adjourning April 29.

I regret that. I believe House Democrats put forth a responsible, targeted program for property tax relief that would have greatly eased the crunch for those faced with big tax bills, while not blowing a hole in the budget and forcing a major tax increase. It was not to be, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying on our part.

As I look back on the 121st Legislature, though, I see many achievements that our one big setback should not obscure. This was a Legislature that took on a lengthy agenda in particularly difficult times, and nonetheless succeeded in resolving many knotty issues.

Budget problems dominated the session, as they did in most states over the past two years. We solved these problems without resorting to reckless cutting or equally reckless tax increases. We had five major budget votes and cut a total of $1.5 billion from projected spending, without raising sales or income taxes. That is a remarkable achievement. It’s enabled us to reduce the share of Maine’s personal income going to state and local taxes by more than 6 percent over the last three years. We hear a lot about Maine’s tax burden, but we also need to recognize successful efforts to lower that burden.

On health care, we enacted Gov. Baldacci’s innovative Dirigo Health plan and took several steps to defend and strengthen it. Dirigo will begin offering health insurance to small businesses and self-employed Mainers later this year – the people now most likely to be unfairly priced out of the market.

And by using coordinated health care planning, Dirigo will contain costs and make it more likely we can cover more Mainers through private insurance, while maintaining high quality care.

We also revamped and managed the MaineCare program so that it can deliver needed services to all those who now qualify, but in a more efficient way.

The changes we made in the most recent budget reduce the structural shortfall for the next biennial budget by a full $200 million. And we revived the Maine Rx program, which after years of court challenges from the pharmaceutical industry is beginning to deliver lower cost prescriptions to hundreds of thousands of Mainers.

On education, we reformed Maine’s school funding formula to make it fairer and more understandable, after decades in which school subsidies prompted a major battle in almost every session. The new system, based on Essential Programs and Services, lays out a local share, based on a minimum municipal tax effort, and a state share covering remaining spending to the limits of the EPS formula. School districts could still spend more, but they would have to seek voter authorization to do so. It should take the guesswork out of school funding and increase voter support of public schools.

On higher education, we established the Community College System to broaden offerings and increase the reach of the former technical colleges. In a time of budget shortfalls, we helped build the infrastructure the communities colleges will need by approving their first major bond issue in many years.

This Legislature reclaimed the state’s role as a leader in environmental legislation. We approved rules drafted by the administration that will substantially eliminate the harmful practice of liquidation harvesting – cut-and-run forestry. We enacted innovative programs, among the first in the nation, to recycle defunct computers and television sets, and to limit cruise ship discharges in our coastal waters.

We raised the minimum wage, because once again Congress has refused to act.

Most Mainers work hard for a living, but we must ensure that those who work full-time will be able to put food on the table for their families. A higher minimum wage isn’t enough, but it helps.

Every legislator has their own favorite bills, and their lists would differ from mine. Yet it’s clear we did respond to challenges on the budget, the economy, health care, education and the environment in ways that will help this state for years to come. I’m proud to have served with my colleagues, and proud of what we’ve been able to do for Maine.

Pat Colwell, speaker of the House, represents Gardiner and Randolph in District 91.