It's almost hard to imagine after the past legislative session ended without resolving the major issue of the year -- the budget deficit -- thereby allowing Gov. Tim Pawlenty to hatch his unallotment plan, but the St. Paul Legal Ledger reports that 13 state senators and 14 House members have been designated legislators of distinction for 2009 by the League of Minnesota Cities.

The league says it honors legislators annually to emphasize “that in order to successfully serve commonly shared constituents, state and city officials must work together to meet the unique needs of rural, suburban and urban main streets all across Minnesota.”

And legislators did deal with other issues during the session besides the budget.

Here's the list:

House: Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder; Rep. Jim Davnie, DFL-Minneapolis; Rep. Kent Eken, DFL-Twin Valley; Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis; Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park; Rep. Larry Hosch, DFL-St. Joseph; Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead; Rep. Diane Loeffler, DFL-Minneapolis; Rep. Paul Marquart, DFL-Dilworth; Rep. Mike Nelson, DFL-Brooklyn Park; Rep. Brita Sailer, DFL-Park Rapids; Rep. Bev Scalze, DFL-Little Canada; Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park; and Rep. Paul Torkelson, R-Nelson Township.

Senate: Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul; Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook; Sen. Don Betzold, DFL-Fridley; Sen. Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud; Sen. Steve Dille, R-Dassel; Sen. Dennis Frederickson, R-New Ulm; Sen. Ann Lynch, DFL-Rochester; Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon, DFL-Duluth; Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope; Sen. Sandy Rummel, DFL-White Bear Lake; Sen. Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook; and Sen. Dan Skogen, DFL-Hewitt.