Every legislative session has its own narrative. The narrative of the Eighty-third Legislature was about atoning for the sins of its predecessor. To be fair, the lawmakers of the Eighty-second drew the blackest of all black beans: a $27 billion shortfall, which necessitated mammoth cuts in state services (more on that in the Worst list). The Eighty-third was a different story entirely. What had seemed to be a looming disaster simply melted away. Lawmakers returned to the Capitol to find that the state had a surplus of $8.8 billion and an overflowing Rainy Day Fund. By the time they put the finishing touches on the new budget, most of the cuts inflicted two years ago had been reversed. Moreover, budget writers took advantage of the situation to tend to some long-neglected needs, including water. (The most notable failure in this regard was to find some middle ground on Medicaid expansion, which would have gone a long way toward improving the health care crisis among our poorest residents.) And in response to a huge backlash from teachers and parents on high-stakes testing, the Legislature passed one of the most sweeping education bills in recent memory, which lowered the number of end-of-course exams required for graduation and expanded pathways to earning a diploma.