Colorado may have a divided legislature with Democrats leading the House and Republicans leading the Senate, but that doesn’t mean we have a divided state.

Colorado’s Office of Legislative Legal Services — which houses many of the brightest, nonpartisan folks in the Capitol — reported that 682 bills were introduced this legislative session. About 55 percent of those bills cleared the legislative process and made it to my desk.

This may have been one of the lower passage rates in recent years, yet we saw many important policy achievements.

The General Assembly enacted a bill making it a felony to be convicted four or more times of driving under the influence (DUI). The number of states without a felony DUI law can be counted on one hand. We’ve seen too many accidents caused by too many drunk drivers that have harmed too many families. This bill is a huge step forward in removing habitual DUI offenders from our roads.

The legislature also approved language to inject new transparency into our petition and signature gathering process. Adding fiscal information for petition signers that want to know more before they sign on — that just makes sense. We saw bipartisan support for the annual budget bill, which provided $100 million in new funding for high priority highway, bridge and transit projects throughout the state — the first General Fund money we’ve kicked toward transportation in seven years. We still have a long way to go in fully funding our transportation needs, but this is a solid start.

These were just a few of the great accomplishments from this year’s session, passed by split chambers.

As with any session, there is also some unfinished business. While the economy is growing and unemployment continues to drop, Colorado has competing and conflicting provisions of the state constitution and statutes that are beginning to have unintended consequences on the state budget.

We have an untenable system where one law limits revenue the state can take in, while another law mandates constant spending increases. It’s easy to see how over time these competing laws are quickly crowding out all other essential government services in our state budget, including restoring cuts to education, building and maintaining roads and bridges and providing a bit of relief to Colorado’s middle class.

I asked the General Assembly to tackle this problem by approving legislation to correct an error made five years ago, and move the Hospital Provider Fee into an enterprise fund. This would have provided budget flexibility, providing new dollars for K-12 education and transportation projects. Unfortunately, it did not clear both chambers and we will begin to see the consequences in next year’s budget setting process. While we were unable to find a solution this session, rest assured, we are continuing these conversations.

This was the exception, not the rule this legislative session. This year was a year for coming together, working hard and making government work better for Coloradans. I believe this is our job, our purpose and the real definition of success.

— Gov. John Hickenlooper is a Democrat in his second term.