Sometimes, not doing the wrong thing rates as an achievement.

State legislators were willing to claim that victory Wednesday when they gathered at the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce, 826 Ewing St., to reflect on the General Assembly session that ended last weekend.

At the close of the session, Gov. Mitch Daniels described it as “an essentially defensive, Hippocratic session.” At the Chamber, State Rep. Win Moses, D-Fort Wayne, adopted the governor's figure of speech, saying, “We tried hard to do no harm, and I think we were successful.”

Several of the dozen legislators at the Chamber breakfast pointed to the constitutional amendment on property-tax caps as one of the top successes of the session. Those caps – 1 percent for primary residences, 2 percent for farms and 3 percent for businesses – will be on the November ballot for voters' consideration. Senate President David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said he expects voters to pass the amendment referendum.

But legislators didn't shy from discussing the difficult issues that lie ahead next session – drawing new legislative districts, writing another two-year budget with diminished revenue and funding unemployment insurance.

One of the last agreements legislators reached in the session was delaying an increase in unemployment insurance premiums for business. There was widespread agreement that a steep fee increase would have been especially bad for business in a recession. How to fix it in the longer term is a tougher question.

Long said that because so many states, including Indiana, are deeply in debt, to fund unemployment payments, more help from the federal government is likely.

“There's every likelihood there will be not a bailout but a work-out with the federal government,” he said, perhaps involving an extended period for repayment.

State Rep. Jeff Espich , R-Uniondale, said if businesses alone foot the bill for unemployment insurance, without any changes in eligibility or benefits, rates would have to triple to cover the costs of the payments.