Powered by the state tax dollars from a booming local economy and an ever-growing antipathy toward the current governor, Hawaii’s legislators ended this week with the not-startling news that they were mostly amazed at how well they did.

The case to be made is that the 2017 Legislature ended with lawmakers doing hardly anything except quarreling over funding Honolulu’s rail transit bailout. Defeated House and Senate leaders admitted they needed “a cooling-off period.”

Now Senate President Ron Kouchi and House Speaker Scott Saiki are beaming, back-slapping each other for what they deemed a job well done.

Indeed in a tricky election year, with a budget that needed only minor tweaking, the Legislature instead moved the needle.

The “death with dignity“ legislation is a major statement of compassion; the new millions in straight cash for housing and homeless programs should translate to relatively quick help and other programs long promised and then aimlessly not delivered. Finally there was a real program to get the hundreds of police-stored rape kits out of the storeroom and under a microscope; plus, a half-dozen progressive, women’s caucus issues were approved.

So what happened?

Veteran legislator Rep. Bert Kobayashi, a key member of the House Finance Committee, said it was the laying on of big bucks.

“We had money this year like never before. Finally we are seeing the fruits of outstanding tourism growth,” Kobayashi said in an interview.

He pointed to $200 million in rental housing assistance, $125 million for the Rainy Day Fund, plus $125 million in cash for flood relief.

“Plus I can count up to seven different $1 million budget add-ons,” Kobayashi said, cautioning that up for question is how the new money will be monitored and accounted for.

Kouchi sees another reason: a Legislature detached from Ige and looking to move when the governor was cautious.

“We just said we just believe in our leadership,” Kouchi said in an interview.

The dissolved governor-Legislature partnership came into the clear when the four top legislative leaders — the Senate president, speaker of the House, and House and Senate finance chairpeople — signed on to a fundraising letter urging voters to contribute to U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa’s gubernatorial campaign against Ige.

Ige howled at the attack, saying “she has the power to control what happens at the state Legislature, and she can say what lives or dies.” It’s like a backroom deal, Ige said in a Honolulu Star-Advertiser report.

No, not a backroom deal, but as Kouchi said, the letter “was a fair description of reality.” As even the always- diplomatic former House Speaker Calvin Say added in an interview last week, “The letter shows the spear has now been thrown. You can see the tension from last year.”

Rep. Della Au Belatti, House majority leader, agreed, saying in an interview that “the strained relationship was already there.”

State Sen. Jill Tokuda added that Ige mostly did not lobby the Legislature.

“You have to have active engagement in the first place to say that there was a breakoff in engagement,” Tokuda said.

“We had to get going because that was what was needed. His lack of action is going to have consequences,” she said.

Perhaps Ige not showing up for much of the Legislature and lobbying will be just as telling as the letters calling for his replacement.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.