Minnesota for decades has taken pride in responsible and pragmatic government, whether it is at the local levels or at the state level.

That is why the bills the state Senate and House are moving to deal with the situation of a state shutdown make sense. Last July’s 20-day shutdown made Minnesota look horrible and ineffective in the national spotlight. One reason was the standoff over the budget failure, but another reason was that Minnesota had no shutdown legislation to fall back on. The courts, in effect, had to decide everything. The judicial branch temporarily had to do the legislative branch’s job.

Some might say that without the looming threat of a shutdown, it could cause budget battles to be drawn out even longer. However, we would argue that without better precautionary measures, people who don’t deserve to be punished for the failures of state lawmakers will get punished. The are everyday folks from construction workers to summer campers to people who need child care support.

These bills would define what happens in the event of a budget standoff, and some propose to keep state parks and freeway rest areas open, to continue road construction projects, to keep inspections going, to still sell lottery tickets, to assure funding for education and to maintain issuance of hunting and fishing licenses, among other steps.

But there is one aspect among the flurry of shutdown bills that needs to be considered. We can’t keep selling lottery tickets and keep a zoo open but not care for the basics, such as state medical care reimbursements and other safety-net measures. Don’t comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted.

Still, even at least having a shutdown plan on the law books, pretty much no matter what it turns out to be, should be better than what happened in July 2011.