Seasoned observers pretty much agree: The 82nd Texas Legislature, wrapping up a special 30-day session after its regular 140-day session, will go down as one of the most mean-spirited, rhetoric-prone, solution-ducking bodies in Texas annals. And that’s saying a lot.

In its quest to lambaste and vilify everything our tragically divided federal government has become, the 82nd Legislature in the end managed only to become more like it.

The sessions weren’t a total loss. Texans can revel in passage of “loser pays” tort reform, mandating that in certain cases the party pressing the suit pays legal costs if it loses rather than leaving a victorious defendant saddled with debt and a hollow victory. The law will also allow judges to more readily dismiss obviously frivolous lawsuits if there’s no basis in law or fact for them. In short, this law is a victory for small business.

Although we understand school teachers’ strong resistance to the so-called “teacher furlough bill” that passed during the special session, this will at least allow school boards and administrators greater latitude in the managing of their districts — only fair considering the Legislature is shortchanging public schools in terms of state funding. We must trust board members and administrators to employ its provisions with restraint and due respect for education.

Lawmakers increased the Department of Transportation budget by almost 17 percent to $19.8 billion, forestalling until 2014 the original prediction that the agency would only be able to maintain highways, not build them. The issue of roads and highways is vital when Texas is growing so rapidly. Businesses will demand an efficient 21st-century transportation system.

We like the idea of a bill passed that, pending federal approval, allows the state to restructure Medicaid and the Texas Children’s Health Insurance Program to stress medical efficiencies and drive down costs. For instance, it would compel people to make co-payments if they use hospital emergency rooms for non-emergencies.

Yet much time was lost to shameless political grandstanding over legislation such as voter ID (which passed) and sanctuary cities (which didn’t). There was little hard evidence of any problem justifying either of these bills except that it satisfied political sentiments and can be used in re-election campaigns.

Meanwhile, precious few lawmakers did heavy lifting when it came to the true challenges that face our state, including how to equitably and adequately fund our public schools; how to fund long-range water plans in a state too accustomed to droughts; and how to reliably fund our state’s growing transportation needs. We were baffled by resistance to using more from our state funding reserves to help public education in a time of crisis.

Because so many of our legislators ducked serious issues, Texas will experience mighty growing pains in the coming years. In the meantime, we can appreciate the genius of Texas founders in mandating lawmakers meet briefly every two years, then return home, thus doing no more damage than absolutely necessary.