OK, so, legislative leaders haven’t resolved Maine’s problems with taxes, health care, economic development, energy, infrastructure deterioration we’d better just stop there. This space is only so big, you know.

But focusing on negatives is unfair to the sage solutions our solons do make. There are always dark clouds on the horizon, after all. This makes the sunshine all the more sweet.

So, in the interest of equal time, let’s talk about one policy area in which Maine has done a wicked good job:

Gift cards. That’s right, gift cards. How appropriate for the holidays, right?

Gift cards are a good racket for retailers. They’re great presents that require little effort and are available anywhere. (Check out supermarket racks that are full of them.) And unless they’re redeemed, they don’t cost retailers much.

No surprise, then, that they’re amazingly popular. Easy for us, profitable for them.

Yet, like anything that sounds good, there are pitfalls. Gift cards can expire in some states, or be a nuisance when there’s about 13 cents left on them. You want to use it, but it’s not worth the time … wouldn’t it be easier to just cash it in?

Now, you can. That’s one of the slick things this Legislature has done about gift cards.

A bill sponsored last session by then-Rep. Deb Simpson of Auburn has secured the ability for Mainers, with less than $5 on their gift cards, to retrieve cash back for them. The law went into effect Nov. 1.

This follows another blessed decision: eliminating expiration dates on gift cards in Maine. This simple protection ensures, to universal delight, that we consumers get what we pay for. Again, kudos.

Now, not every gift card law is wise.

Last year, State Treasurer David Lemoine tried to enforce a not-so-well-thought-out law that says unclaimed gift card balances, after two years, become unclaimed property, 60 percent of which belongs to the state.

Major retailers and restaurants, however, well, let’s just say they “slightly” disagreed.

Unfortunately, $29 million in revenue was budgeted from this windfall. Oops. What a way to learn to not count gift cards before they’re cashed. The state had to account for this wishful thinking with a budget shortfall.

The attorney general is expected to rule soon whether Maine should still pursue this money, according to Lemoine, but we’re not holding out hope for a Christmas miracle.

Consumers should, though, hold out cash to buy gift cards, because the laws protecting Maine consumers in these transactions are the rarest of combinations: wise and strong.

Now, if only this good thinking on gift cards extended to taxes, health care, energy …

What a wonderful holiday gift that would be.