These are the dates that bills were passed by the House and Senate and approved for delivery to the governor:

0 in January
4 in February
0 in March (you read it right, zero)
48 on April 1
74 on April 2
66 on April 15

In other words the House and Senate agreed on four bills before the last three hectic days of the legislative session when they were also trying to hammer out a budget, pension reform and other prioritized pieces of legislations. The logjam at the end was created by David Williams, Jody Richards and other house and senate leaders refusing to pass any of the opposite chamber's bills until they got assurances that their own members' bills would pass. It's a lack of trust between the two chambers and a cat and mouse game that leaves the majority of your legislators unable to read, analyze and make responsible votes on the deluge of legislation that hits their desks in the last three days.

Williams, Richards and others agree the process didn't work well in '08. They did better in June '08, but that was only one bill (pension) whose outcome was predetermined before lawmakers got to Frankfort. Maybe they'll carry some of that goodwill and common sense forward to the 2009 session. C'mon, let's hear some optimism!!!!!