LANSING – When historians review the years 2000-09 in Michigan government, the difficulty that the state had in grappling with a nine-year recession and perpetual budget crises will stand out. But despite an overwhelming focus during the decade on budgetary matters, the state made several major policy changes, too.

Here are the ten most significant laws enacted during the decade as determined by Gongwer News Service, counting down from the 10th most significant to No. 1. In ranking the acts, Gongwer considered the sweep of the law in terms of the number of people and entities affected as well as the intensity of the public debate surrounding the issue.

10. MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE OF 2006: Despite their minority status in the Legislature, Democrats and Governor Jennifer Granholm began pushing for an increase in the state’s minimum wage, then at $5.15 an hour, but Republicans resisted even as Democrats mounted a petition drive to put the issue on the ballot and enshrine the minimum wage in the Constitution.

Fearing the possible insertion of the minimum wage into the Constitution and the political potency of the issue on the ballot, Republicans relented and passed legislation that put the minimum wage at its current level of $7.40 an hour. Democrats and unions were thrilled, but business groups were disgusted.

9. GROUNDWATER WITHDRAWAL REGULATIONS OF 2006, 2008: Two separate actions represented landmark moves to regulate withdrawals of Michigan’s groundwater. In 2006, the first regulations and permits were imposed. Then in 2008, the state went further with the Great Lakes Compact and significantly toughened those rules. Much of the debate surrounded the groundwater withdrawals of the Nestle water bottling plant in Mecosta County.

8. ENERGY LAW OF 2008: Sweeping reform of the state’s utilities required them to use at least 10 percent renewable power by 2015 and help customers cut at least 5.5 percent of their potential power demand through energy efficiency programs over that same period. It also reversed a legislative decision in 2000 to provide customer choice and instead capped that at 10 percent of the load for Consumers Energy and Detroit Edison to give them the demand stability they said they needed to be able to finance new power plants in the state.

7. MANDATORY MINIMUMS REPEALED IN 2002: Michigan’s tough anti-drug laws, especially its mandatory life sentence without parole for anyone trying to deliver 650 grams of cocaine or heroin, earned infamy in the pages of Rolling Stone, which profiled the case of Gary Fannon, who was serving a life sentence under the so-called 650 Lifer Law.

But facing the reality that what many considered the nation’s toughest drug laws had largely failed to catch kingpins and only filled prisons with lower-level offenders, the Legislature and Governor John Engler replaced mandatory minimums with a series of laws giving judges more discretion. For example, the sentences call for offenders to serve life or any term of years for possession of 1,000 grams or more.

6. CONSTITUTIONAL BAN ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE OF 2004: Michigan already had banned same-sex marriage in statute in the 1990s, but opponents of gay marriage took the next step in 2004 to put the ban in the Constitution. They failed in the Legislature to put the proposal on the ballot, but succeeded with a petition drive. But their plan went much further than the 1990s-era law with language that invalidated domestic partner benefits in government institutions, ending health insurance for those using the insurance plan of their same-sex partner. One of the more memorable moments came when then-Rep. Leon Drolet said during House floor debate that the legislation amounted to a government version of “Smear the Queer.”

5. AUTOMATIC RIGHT TO CARRY A CONCEALED WEAPON OF 2000: Probably no issue during the decade was fused with as much emotion, genuine resentment between the bill’s supporters and opponents, and paranoia as when the Legislature and Engler enacted a law giving residents an automatic right to carry a concealed weapon. Gun rights groups had sought the change for years, contending that local gun boards were extremely stingy and haphazard in granting permits.

None of the dramatic predictions offered from each side have played out. There have been no instances of a permit-holder shooting up a public setting as critics claimed would happen. Nor have their been any high-profile examples of permit-holders halting a potentially violent incident with their weapons.

But the ripples from this legislation were huge. Democrats suffered a big setback with voters supportive of gun rights, and it took several years for them to recover. And the Legislature tucked some money into the legislation, leading to the Supreme Court to rule the law was not subject to a voter referendum, essentially giving the Legislature a tool to subvert any referendum attempt.

4. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BAN OF 2006: For years, the University of Michigan was praised and vilified for its points system making a person’s race a factor in its admissions process, even leading to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the consideration of race, though not the actual points system. The debate came to a head in a bitter ballot proposal to amend the Constitution to ban such practices, as well as the use of race and gender in government hiring.

Most of the state’s top politicians, Republican and Democrat, lined up against the plan and polls showed the proposal on shaky ground, but it eventually passed comfortably. Minority admissions to U-M have since dropped.

3. WORKPLACE SMOKING BAN OF 2009: Advocates of banning smoking in Michigan workplaces were stymied throughout the decade, most notably by restaurants and bars, but broke through this month and saw the ban signed into law. The action might have been the most popular move the Legislature made all decade. There was an outpouring of jubilation on Facebook after the final votes. And when that outpouring included the deputy press secretary to Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and the leader of Republicans in northern Oakland County, there was no doubt about the issue’s resonance and popularity across party lines.

2. ‘RACE TO THE TOP’ EDUCATION REFORMS OF 2009: In 10 years, once the impact of the just-passed legislation can be judged, these bills might move up to No. 1. The package included two measures attempted and crushed multiple times throughout the decade: charter school expansion and state intervention in academically-failing schools in addition to those with financial problems. It loosened up teacher certification and re-established certification for school administrators. The dropout age rose to 18.

Teachers unions voiced disgust with the legislation’s granting of authority to void contracts when the state intervenes in a district, and while they voiced support for the other measures, the whole package was a bitter pill.

Policy-makers no doubt will examine not only this package, but also the tougher high school curriculum standards enacted the previous term, for the impact on the educational system.

1. REPLACEMENT OF THE SINGLE BUSINESS TAX WITH THE MICHIGAN BUSINESS TAX IN 2007: The Single Business Tax for about 30 years served as the state’s main tax on business, and it was hated by the business community for its complexity, its burden even during times when businesses lost money and other provisions that discouraged new hiring. Efforts began at the beginning of the decade to bring the SBT to an end and kicked into overdrive when Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson launched a petition drive that led to the Legislature approving the SBT’s repeal.

That set the stage for an effort to replace the tax in 2007. The new MBT is based less on value-added factors than the old SBT and is levied on a much broader swath than the SBT, which heavily hit manufacturers. Much of the co