MANKATO — During a press conference in Mankato Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers accentuated the positive when reviewing the first session in a decade where they had complete control of the House and Senate.

They mentioned environmental legislation, the statewide smoking ban and health care coverage for uninsured children. They also talked about property tax relief in their tax legislation even though Republican governor Tim Pawlenty stood in the same Mankato Airport lobby Tuesday morning predicting he would veto the bill after reviewing it.

“We are very proud of the work we have done in this legislative session,” said House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, just hours after the chaotic midnight adjournment of her initial session running the House. “... We feel good about the work we’ve done.”

Kelliher, a Mankato native now living in Minneapolis, said the Legislature stabilized education funding, passed a health and human services bill that will provide health care coverage for 30,000 children and set up a system where more of the state’s electricity will be produced with wind power and other renewable energy.

Senate leaders said they were also proud of assembling a balanced state budget without relying on fee increases, shifts to property taxes or accounting gimmicks that have been used in previous budgets. And they noted that they finished the budget by the deadline set in the Minnesota Constitution, presumably avoiding a special session for the first time during a budget-setting year since 1999.

“Getting your work done on time is a basic value,” said Sen. Tarryl Clark, the assistant majority leader.

Clark praised the higher education funding in the two-year budget and the passage of the statewide smoking ban in bars, restaurants and most other public indoor spaces, a bill sponsored by Sen. Kathy Sheran.

Sheran and Rep. Kathy Brynaert, both Mankato Democrats, continued the theme.

“We were able to do some important things this year,” Sheran said of health care initiatives that included special appropriations for children’s mental health and programs to reduce homelessness.

“We have accomplished a lot,” Brynaert said.

Still, lawmakers who campaigned on the need to provide property tax relief had relatively modest assistance in their final budget after Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed the DFL plan to provide massive relief by imposing new income taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent of Minnesotans.

Another campaign theme by area Democrats was about the need for more transportation funding, and they passed a nickel increase in the gas tax, plus a 2.5-cent surcharge to pay for highway bonds Pawlenty had requested. That, too, was vetoed and Monday night’s 11th-hour attempt to override the veto garnered 86 of the 90 votes needed in the House. (Three lawmakers, recognizing the override was failing, switched their votes to leave the official tally at 83).

Pawlenty’s veto stamp also landed on a capital investment bill that financed construction projects around the state, including improvements to Gaylord’s storm sewer system to improve the water quality in Lake Titloe and a new Mankato headquarters building for the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Now even the modest property tax relief, placed in tax legislation passed just as the midnight adjournment deadline arrived, appears headed for a veto. The bill provided direct property tax assistance to low-income homeowners and a one-time boost in state aid to all but the most prosperous cities.

If Pawlenty doesn’t reverse himself on the veto of the tax bill, Democratic lawmakers will have even less to trumpet.

Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller of Minneapolis is hoping the governor reconsiders.

“We’re trying to be positive, upbeat, about where the session’s at,” Pogemiller said.