It was a stadium session, and not a lot more. That's how Minnesota historians are likely to judge the 2012 Legislature, which adjourned for the year and the two-year political cycle on Thursday after sending a bill for a new Vikings stadium to Gov. Mark Dayton.

Also on the year's tally sheet: A fairly ordinary bonding bill; a constitutional amendment restricting the voting franchise to holders of government-issued photo ID cards, something this newspaper finds problematic; a speedup of environmental permitting processes; correction of flaws in human-services funding measures enacted less than a year ago; improved management of state school trust lands, and a boost in hunting and fishing license fees.

The list gets skimpy after that.

Springing more quickly to mind are opportunities lost in 2012. A teacher tenure reform measure that would have helped protect educational quality when schools downsize was felled by Dayton's veto. Much-needed renovation of the State Capitol building will be barely begun in the next year; it requires a much larger commitment by lawmakers. The modest state share of funding for Southwest Corridor light-rail transit, needed to leverage a much larger federal share, was not authorized. The chance to create an online exchange for the purchase of health insurance was spurned because of its association with "Obamacare."

Squandered, too, was the chance to begin easing the fiscal problems that have plagued the state since before the Great Recession. Too many temporary fixes were employed between 2008 and 2011.

The 2012 session was blessedly spared the need to close another budget gap. But the red ink is forecast to return next year and persist thereafter unless and until lawmakers balance the budget in a way that lasts. Recognition of the need to do so evidently eludes the Legislature's GOP majorities. They sent Dayton an otherwise worthy tax bill that risks a veto because it would make the state's money trouble worse in 2014-15.

Ah, but the 2012 Legislature passed a stadium bill and a bonding bill, thereby escaping a "do-nothing" tag and putting a positive exclamation point on the session. Those bills passed because Republican majorities were willing to allow minority DFLers into the act of governing. DFL legislators cast a majority of yes votes after being allowed to fully participate in drafting the bills. To their credit, the leaders of fractious Republican majority caucuses allowed that to happen.

That was selfless statesmanship. That's what was lacking in 2011 when a budget dispute drove state government into a disruptive, 20-day shutdown. It's what Minnesota needs much more of in 2013 and beyond, if state government is to be a functional tool for building a better state.

That's the quality Minnesota voters ought to seek as they get to know legislative candidates between now and November. The last election sent to St. Paul a large number of conservatives hellbent on downsizing government. Some of them never fully embraced the duty of a legislative majority to keep government functional and effective, even when that means compromising with a governor of the opposite party. They bear considerable responsibility for what went wrong in the 2011 session and can claim little credit for the relatively modest achievements of 2012.

If those first-term Republicans are back in 2013, we hope they return wiser about what governance requires.

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