With two thirds of the 2006 legislative session already over, it's remarkable how little really has been done:

Property tax reform: While the House passed a bill to cut property tax rates significantly by adding two cents to sales taxes, the Senate is stalled on what was to have been the major issue of the year.

New laws: Of the 32 bills that have been ratified and have become law, only two are significant -- a billboard law that forces municipalities to compensate owners if they are removed and a measure to move school start dates to the third week of August. Other new laws range from keeping children younger than 18 from buying cigarettes to recognizing the sweetgrass basket as the state's official handcraft.

Passed the House: Despite the fact the House has almost three times the number of members, it generally moves more quickly on legislation. It has approved measures on regulatory takings, workers' compensation and tuition caps, but it is waiting on the Senate to act.

Passed the Senate: Meanwhile, the Senate has approved a "right to farm" bill that would keep local municipalities from enacting tougher regulations on poultry operations than enacted by the state.

In conference: The House and Senate have essentially agreed on two other measures -- allowing breastfeeding in public and a statewide charter school district -- but still have details to work out before sending the bills to the governor.

Under debate: Other major measures still being debated by one chamber or the other include a bill to protect isolated wetlands, adding money for earlier childhood education, raising cigarette taxes, banning smoking in restaurants, family court reform and tuition caps.

Missing in action: There hasn't been much talk this year about Medicaid reform or restructuring, a very hot topic in past years. And little progress has been made to strengthen the state's Freedom of Information laws.

The point of this laundry list of legislation is there's a lot to do in the next seven weeks before lawmakers adjourn for the year. Because this year is an election year and the end of the two-year session, there will be extra pressure for lawmakers to show real accomplishments.

In 2005 at this point in the session, about 40 bills were law, a similar number to this year. But by the end of last year's session in June, some 222 bills had become law.

In other words, more work got done the closer that a deadline approached (which seems to happen in home and business life, too). This begs a question:

If the legislative session was shorter, would lawmakers be more efficient with their time and get the same amount done?

We think so. It certainly seems that shorter sessions work just fine elsewhere.

In Georgia, the session is limited to 40 legislative days. Its lawmakers already are finished for the year, while South Carolina's legislators will meet until the first week of June. With Georgia having twice the population of South Carolina, there's a pretty good argument that South Carolina could probably get its work done in a shorter time, too.

For years, House Speaker David Wilkins, now ambassador to Canada, proposed shortening South Carolina's session by three weeks. The bill, which passed the House last year, has been languishing in the Senate since then.

Lawmakers should consider revamping how they meet. Instead of meeting for three days a week over five months, meet four days a week for 10 weeks.

We bet most of the work already being done would get done anyway. And that which doesn't get done might not need to be done at all.