“We’re living in historic times, and Kansas — the world is looking at us right now,” said House Speaker Mike O’Neal at the conclusion of the most contentious legislative session in recent memory. “Everybody’s just going to be amazed, and your constituents will be very proud of you.”

Part of O’Neal’s statement certainly is true, and, for the good of the state, it is hoped his assessment of the lengthy session will prove to be accurate. However, it will take some time to know the impact of the often-bitter debates and questionable legislation.

The world, or at least the nation, likely is looking at Kansas right now, as O’Neal claims, but perhaps not in a positive way. They probably are looking at us as the only state that has been unable to complete its legislative and congressional redistricting process based on the 2010 census. They see us as the state that now is carrying that bitter battle into the courts hoping it can be settled in time to allow the state’s August primary to occur as scheduled and allow ballots to reach military personnel stationed abroad in time for them to participate in that election. All state legislators should be embarrassed by their inability to find a reasonable solution to this important matter.

They see us as the state whose Legislature, with the governor’s support, used questionable political maneuvers to lock in tax cuts that the state’s own Legislative Research Department says will create a disastrous deficit within a few years. As O’Neal noted, at least some observers are sure “to be amazed” by the impact of that legislation. It either will be people who are amazed that the supply-side approach to job growth in Kansas actually produced something close to the glowing projections of Gov. Sam Brownback and his supporters or it will be people who are amazed that Kansas would approve such controversial tax cuts. Time will tell whether Kansas constituents have reason to be proud.

To be sure, some positive actions came out of the 2012 legislative session. Although it didn’t please everyone, the new plan to fund the Kansas Public Employees Retirement fund is a step toward stabilizing that system and ensuring adequate funding for the future. In the closing days of the session, legislators also approved supplemental funding to prevent furloughs in the state’s court system and included $700,000 in next year’s budget to adequately fund the new Creative Arts Industries Commission in the Kansas Department of Commerce.

In some cases, inaction on certain bills also benefitted the state. Those include measures that would have moved up the requirement for Kansans to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote, one that would have backed off on the state’s smoking ban and the innocent-sounding Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom Act, which could have had a number of undesirable consequences for gays and lesbians in Kansans.

Politically, it was a brutal legislative session, whose winners and loser have yet to be determined. If the world is watching, so are many Kansans because they are the ones who will bear the most direct impact of the just-completed session.