Lawmakers will have distractions aplenty when they convene at the Capitol in February, not the least of them a likely billion-dollar surplus they should save rather than spend.

The noise mustn’t deter them from tackling Gov. Mark Dayton’s stated purpose for the 2014 session, an “Unsession” to undo laws, regulations and practices that burden people and hinder efficiency.

The governor explained in his State of the State message last winter that, except for responding to an emergency and passing a bonding bill, the “Unsession” should be devoted to eliminating unnecessary or redundant laws, rules and regulations; reducing the verbiage in those that remain; shortening the timelines for developing and implementing them; and “undoing anything else that makes government nearly impossible to understand, operate or support.”

Amid the pressures, it’s a worthy concept that encourages the Legislature to shrink the size of its own work, returning to the spirit of Minnesota’s smaller-government past, when lawmakers met every other year.

And, in the spirit of continuous improvement, it’s a concept that merits bipartisan support over time. Minnesota would be better with regular “Unsessions,” say, every fourth year.

It’s work to be sustained — both when the lever of a down economy adds urgency and when good times make it easier to put off reforms.

It’s our practice on these pages to make note of such efforts, which in recent weeks have included work by a legislative panel to abolish outmoded state advisory boards, councils and task forces. Among them is the Minnesota Nuclear Waste Council, which hasn’t met since 1986, the Pioneer Press’ Bill Salisbury noted this week.

Also this month, the Dayton administration honored 78 state employees from 15 agencies with Continuous Improvement Awards. The winning efforts, selected from among nominations for 28 teams, include:

• Reducing workplace injuries: The MnSAFE program, created by a Department of Administration team, accomplished a 10 percent reduction in employee injuries in 2013, saving an estimated $2.8 million. Before the program, state employees reported more than 1,800 work-related injuries every year, costing Minnesota more than $23 million in direct losses and between $48.3 million and $126.5 million in indirect losses (lost productivity, administrative time and retraining). Such claims costs had increased 40 percent from 2006 to 2011.

• Streamlining letter-printing and mail-processing systems: Reforms, with an expected savings of more than $630,000 a year, have reduced “return mail” to the Department of Revenue by more than 22 percent, while saving time and improving responsiveness to the public.

• Improving pharmaceutical safety: The Department of Human Services streamlined and improved an outdated system for filling prescriptions at state hospitals and medical facilities. Improvements made an electronic prescription drug system simpler to use and eliminated paperwork. A decrease in transcription errors and an increase in awareness of drug interactions and allergies is said to increase safety for patients.

• Using technology: The Department of Natural Resources employed online and mobile technology to improve service to fishing enthusiasts, launching the online sale of fishing licenses, with confirmation provided via text message. The department also launched a mobile version of its popular LakeFinder website.

• Increasing restitution to crime victims: Incarcerated inmates owe Minnesota crime victims more than $25 million in restitution and court-ordered fines, but the Department of Corrections collected only about $560,000 annually from inmate wages to help pay the obligations. After a change in inmate assessment and surcharge policies, payments to crime victims have increased by 130 percent and court fine payments have increased by 400 percent.

• Improving access to public health information: A one-stop shop for health and environment data on the Department of Health website is intended to make it easier for both researchers and the public to access information that before was located on many different state web pages.

Such efforts are a fitting prelude to the Unsession.

— St. Paul Pioneer Press, Dec. 18