With a budget deal reached, Legislature finally does its duty

On Wednesday, Nov. 12, the state Legislature finally did what it should have done 134 days previously — passed a budget for the current fiscal year.

We’ve written extensively about the impact the budget impasse has had on local governments, from municipalities to school boards, as well as on nonprofits. And we are grateful that a budget has finally passed and that lawmakers also passed bills to make sure money starts flowing again as soon as possible.

But that sense of relief should not be mistaken for a feeling that our legislature did its job well. It very much did not, and it was only the pressure of more than four full months of inaction and public outcry that finally got things finished.

This is the second time in three years that a budget failed to pass by the constitutionally man