The 1995 legislative session wasn’t a banner year by anyone’s standards.

“A do-nothing year,” said Sen. Tim Tucker, D-Porthill.

“Just mediocre,” said Sen. Mary Lou Reed, D-Coeur d’Alene.

“Kind of non-controversial,” said Rep. Wayne Meyer, R-Rathdrum.

For some, that’s just fine.

“The editorials have called it a ‘do-nothing’ Legislature,” said Sen. Gordon Crow, R-Coeur d’Alene. He said he’s OK with that, feeling that the Nov. 8 elections displayed a widespread popular sentiment for reining in government.

“Even the smallest things we do here can grossly and adversely impact a segment of the population,” Crow said.

Rep. Jeff Alltus, R-Coeur d’Alene, agreed. In general, agency budgets still increased under the Republican supermajority, but he says the numbers were far short of what agencies wanted.

“We weren’t able to cut government significantly,” he acknowledged. “But we were able to stop that burgeoning growth.”

Among the superminority Democrats, opinion differed.

“I’d say it was a very gentle session,” said Rep. Jim Stoicheff, D-Sandpoint. “Nobody got their feelings hurt too badly.”

Stoicheff said he was glad to see the Legislature resolve the catastrophic health care fund problem. The state will now pay for indigent medical care exceeding $10,000 for an individual, easing that burden on counties.

Also, Stoicheff was pleased with the so-called “dual enrollment” bill, which will allow homeschool and private school students to take classes and participate in activities and sports at public schools.

Fellow Democrat Marv Vandenberg of Coeur d’Alene, however, was frustrated by his party’s tiny voice in the Statehouse.

Vandenberg should know - he is the only current Democratic legislator who can remember what it’s like to chair a committee. That was in 1959.

“To the majority belongs the power,” he said. “They’ve given us opportunity to speak; it’s just that we don’t have sufficient numbers to get anything on the agenda.”

Vandenberg was particularly disappointed at Gov. Phil Batt’s property tax relief plan.

Of the projected $40 million in tax relief, 70 percent will go to business, farmers and out-of-state homeowners, he said. The 3 percent tax cap included in the bill is a good idea, he said, but he thinks the Legislature will override it when money gets tight.

Vandenberg said he sees the Legislature mirroring the politics on Capitol Hill.

“There was a lot of bashing of public employees and social programs and in some cases, downright disinterest in the people who are needy,” he said.

Meyer said he was disappointed that Sen. Gordon Crow’s attempt to revive a local impact fees bill failed in the Senate. Such fees on new development are badly needed to offset the cost of growth, he said.

Reed measured the Democrats’ successes not in new bills, but in amendments and overturned legislation. A bill to prevent environmentalists from outbidding ranchers for federal rangeland leases was weakened to allow some bids.

“The successes were, in some degree, in what you could stop,” she said. She fears that new laws weakening air and water standards will come back to haunt the state.

She also regretted that the impact fee bill was killed, although the state’s funding for the Bunker Hill cleanup was a clear victory, she said.

Reed said the Democrats’ job, at least for now, is to educate the public about the results of the Republican legislative victories.

“It’s very frustrating,” she said, “but we’re tough old birds.”