A rushed, heavy-handed House session: Running the body takes discipline, organization and transparency.

Just a few months ago, Rep. Stephen Shurtleff won the election for House speaker, and I wished my friend the best. He accepted his nomination by saying that "it's important to put partisanship aside to work for the common good of our people." I couldn't agree more.

Government works best when parties work together to produce the best policies possible for our state. However, Republicans have been extremely disappointed by how the opposite has occurred. This session has been marred by disorganization, partisanship and rushed, heavy-handed policy.

Not too long ago, we had one of the most unfavorable business tax climates in the nation. Through Republican efforts to reduce rates and reform other areas of tax law, we felt we made improvements. Business tax revenue has outperformed estimates, and contributed to surpluses in the last two state budgets. Most people would view this as a successful outcome. But not Democrats.

Immediately, we saw a bill to repeal those business tax reforms and a bill to introduce a new tax on capital gains. The economy is doing great in many parts of our state, and Republicans would like to encourage that to continue and spread. These Democrat initiatives propose to siphon over $240 million out of our economy over the next two years.

Speaking of being anti-business, I'm sure you have heard a lot about their paid family leave mandate. I want to set the record straight: Republicans support paid family leave. But we don't support a mandated and state-run family leave program that will grow government, hurt employers and force our citizens into an income tax. That's right, folks. Everyone's wages will be taxed for this benefit whether you qualify for it or not, and it will cost businesses and employees $168 million per year.

All of these initiatives to increase taxes have, ironically, come under their banner of "tax relief." They would like you to believe that hundreds of millions of dollars in new or increased taxes in one area will result in lower taxes in others. It all comes out of our economy somehow, and the only proven method to keep taxes low is to spend less.

We've had several other bills pass the House that defy common sense. Let's take, for example, allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain state driver's licenses. That bill rewards people who have admitted to not...