The people of Maine should take great pride in what their state Legislature accomplished during the past session.

With the first Republican majority in power in nearly four decades, we tackled many of the problems that had been ignored for years by previous Democrat-controlled Legislatures. The end result will be lower taxes, more competition and lower rates in the health care market, less wasteful spending in state government and a reduction in red tape for struggling Maine businesses.

The changes won’t be immediate, but these reforms will lay the necessary groundwork to improve Maine’s economy and create jobs.

Despite dire predictions about partisan gridlock, we passed a biennial budget with a two-thirds majority. Some past Legislatures pushed through majority budgets with little input from the minority party.

The budget includes a $150 million tax cut package — the largest in state history. It brings much-needed relief to small businesses and struggling middle-class families.

The state’s top income tax rate will drop from 8.5 percent to 7.95 percent. Approximately 70,000 lower-income Mainers will no longer have any tax obligation.

There are increases to K-12 education, and no cuts to social service programs that protect our most vulnerable citizens. It’s also free of gimmicks, such as state shutdown days, to balance the books.

We also made much-needed changes to the state’s welfare system. They strike a balance between maintaining a hand up for those who truly need it and, at the same time, demanding accountability.

Among the changes is a five-year limit for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. As the name implies, the program was never intended to be a permanent way of life. It will require drug testing for those who have been convicted of drug-related crimes and end Medicaid benefits for legal noncitizens unless they meet strict hardship criteria.

Regulatory reform was another significant achievement.

LD 1, which passed with overwhelming support in the House and Senate, is a first step in removing the many government roadblocks and red tape that hold Maine businesses back and have contributed to our state’s unfriendly business environment.

The law was written with the input of large and small business owners across the state who told us that government needs to work with them, not against them.

Among the highlights are a new liaison between business owners and government regulatory officials. It also creates an environmental self-audit program for businesses and reduces the size and scope of the Bureau of Environmental Protection.

Lawmakers this session also passed health care reform that will extend affordable coverage to more Maine residents and make the system more competitive by giving us the ability to, for the first time, purchase health care across state lines. This will result in substantial savings for individuals and companies that offer health insurance coverage.

It will allow businesses to band together to obtain better rates for their employees. And it will eventually phase out the failed Dirigo Health program and the taxes needed to fund it.

We confronted a looming crisis in the state pension system that was often referred to as a “ticking time bomb.” The program that pays benefits to about 75,000 of our retired state employees, including former teachers, was on the brink of busting the budget.

A substantial part of the state budget is already set aside to pay off the long-term debt to the program and, left unchecked, the payment to retire that debt likely would have skyrocketed to $700 million a year in less than a decade. That’s money from the budget that would have had to be set aside before there could be any talk about funding other vital state programs, such as public safety, education and highway maintenance.

In all, the state faced more than $4 billion in unfunded liability that would have had to have been paid off by 2028. Following a series of difficult but necessary reforms, that liability was reduced by $1.7 billion. These changes will save taxpayers an estimated $338 million in the current two-year budget and more than $3 billion between now and 2028.

We finally exposed the abuse of power that went to the very top at the Maine Turnpike Authority. The alleged reckless behavior included tollpayer funds being used for gift card purchases and junkets at expensive hotels. A legislative investigation led to the resignation of the authority’s director and a criminal investigation. The Legislature adopted structural changes to the organization that will now make it accountable to those who use the turnpike.

We didn’t accomplish everything we wanted in this past session. There is still much more to be done to improve our state’s finances and business climate. But thanks to new leadership in Augusta, we’re now heading in the right direction.

Robert Nutting, R-Oakland, is speaker of the Maine House of Representatives.