Though the 2008 legislative session may not have been a complete knockout, it was a session with some moderate progress.

That was the message legislators from both sides of the aisle gave Tuesday during the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce’s session summary.

“It wasn’t a home run; it wasn’t a triple. It was a good stand-up double,” said Senate Minority Leader David Senjem.

During the session summary, Senjem, along with House Majority Leader Margaret Anderson Kelliher, House Minority Leader Marty Seifert and local District 27A lawmakers Sen. Dan Sparks and Rep. Robin Brown, talked of the ups and downs of this most recent session and discussed some of their hopes for the upcoming year.

The event gave community leaders and others in attendance the opportunity to hear firsthand of some of the successes from the session, as well as what the goals are for the coming year.

A notable part of the session, the lawmakers said, was that it ended on time with legislation that will better the state’s citizens.

“In the end I think we did come out with a good package,” said Senjem, a Republican.

It helped bring both sides of legislative leaders together to compromise, he said.

“Overall we balanced the budget in a fiscally responsible way,” said Sparks, a DFLer.

He touched on some of the highlights that will affect Freeborn County locally from the session, including the success for Albert Lea in receiving the remaining bonds to move forward with the North Edgewater Park Landfill cleanup, the money given to support different facilities upgrades at Riverland Community College and the help given to wastewater treatment facilities in cities like Manchester.

“I would say we had a productive session,” he said.

Brown, a DFLer talked of how she thinks the Legislature worked competently this year in many aspects.

One of those aspects — finishing the session on time — was nothing to chuckle at, she said.

She also talked on the educational aspects of the session, including the addition of $51 per student throughout the state.

Seifert, a Republican, said he would characterize the session as “successful, but not earth-shattering.”

He said there were some modest changes to health care reform, but he thinks the No. 1 issue in the coming years is going to be jump-starting the economy.

The other lawmakers acknowledged that the upcoming year will be a difficult one for the Legislature, especially if the economy doesn’t improve. They talked of working to bring in more jobs to Minnesota and to work diligently to be a good competitor with surrounding states.

Kelliher said though there will be a deficit, legislators will adjust and reprioritize.

She said overall she agreed with everyone’s comments but thought they weren’t giving the successes of the session enough credit.

Kelliher said numbers show that upwards of 50,000 jobs will be created as a result of the session. College tuition will be at a 10-year low, and the Legislature is poised to make major reform to the education funding formula, she said.

“This is a Legislature that got things done,” Kelliher said. “This is a Legislature that got things done on time.”

And it is a Legislature that listened to the people, she said.