Myriad jokes can be made about the 2017 Legislature’s “Joint” Committee on Marijuana Regulation. But its work ranks among the most complex and collaborative, and — legislators hope — successful.

Few lawmakers had experience with marijuana — regulation, at least. The committee devoted numerous evenings to hearing various perspectives in its effort to write reasonable, effective regulations.

Legislators feared that supposedly legal marijuana operations were feeding the black market. Consequently, one new law requires that medical marijuana be tracked through the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, and it expands the OLCC’s authority over marijuana. Lawmakers were displeased with the Oregon Health Authority’s handling of medical marijuana.

Another new law bans marijuana dealers from keeping data that could identify specific customers, unless the customers voluntarily provide their names and contact information for marketing purposes. Because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, legislators don’t want the feds swooping in to target Oregon marijuana users.

Legislators also talked about legalizing “smoking porches” for marijuana, similar to outdoor smoking areas that alcohol establishments created in response to Oregon’s Indoor Clean Air Act. But that proposal stalled.

By the way, the Legislature did legalize those outdoor tobacco-smoking porches.

• The issue that won’t go away: Recent legislatures have been unwilling to consider sweeping changes to the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System. Every legislator has public employees among his or her constituents, and probably retirees as well. Even among Republicans, a lot of this year’s talk about reining in PERS was for show.

Sens. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, and Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, tried, as did a few other senators. One idea was to cap annual PERS benefits at $45,000 for new employees. The rub is whether to index the benefits for cost-of-living increases; and if so, by how much.

One legislative official calculated that if a similar concept had been in effect 30 years ago, someone retiring today with a final average salary of $72,000 would receive an annual retirement benefit of $24,000. That’s not much. On the other hand, that retiree also would have her or his Social Security benefits.

Although rarely discussed this way, PERS was supposed to be a pension that was in addition to Social Security, because public employees — like private employees with pension plans — earn both.

• Your government at work: Want to submit a textbook for adoption by the state Board of Education? The publisher must pay a $50 fee to do so, unless the material is in the public domain.

So says House Bill 2257, passed by the 2017 Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Kate Brown. This must be really, really … really important because the bill included the so-called emergency clause, so the bill took effect immediately instead of in a few months: “This 2017 Act being necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 2017 Act takes effect on its passage.”

But wait, says the legislative pitchman, there’s more!

Out with the “State Board of Psychology Examiners” and in with the “Oregon Board of Psychology” (House Bill 2328). The renamed board is among more than 20 state licensing boards for health professionals, from the “Oregon Board of Naturopathic Medicine” to the “Oregon Medical Board,” “Occupational Therapy Licensing Board,” “Physical Therapist Licensing Board,” “Board of Medical Imaging” and “State Board of Direct Entry Midwifery.”

If you think there is little consistency in how state government names its regulatory boards, you’re right. Apparently that’s your fault and mine, because this bill — like most pieces of legislation — opens with, “Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon … “

• Oregon gains another state bird: I previously reported on the presumed demise of a bill that would designate the osprey as the state bird, replacing the western meadowlark, which had been adopted decades ago by gubernatorial decree but not by the Legislature.

Like a number of other bills, that bill came back to life in the final days of the 2017 session. House Speaker Tina Kotek said the arc of the session led to many bills being sidelined until the final couple of weeks. Others suggest it was that House Democrats had squirreled away the bills to use as bargaining chips for gaining rent control, corporate tax increases and other progressive policies. Once revenue-reform was dead, those bills were released for votes.

The Legislature officially adopted the western meadowlark as the state songbird and, in a compromise, the osprey as the state raptor.

• A tasty law: At the behest of the Shari’s restaurant chain, the Legislature also embraced an official state pie: marionberry.

If you don’t like marionberry, you’re off the hook. House Concurrent Resolution 19 was “Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon …,” not by the aforementioned “… People of the State of Oregon …”

• Parting pleasantries: As an end-of-session gift honoring Speaker Kotek, the House Democratic and Republican caucuses each contributed $500 to the Community of Hope, a Christian service organization that serves single-parent homeless families in North Portland. Democrat Kotek represents North Portland in the House.

Happening on the Legislature’s final and disharmonious day, the presentation was a bit awkward, with a quick hug between Kotek and House Republican Leader Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte, compared with the warm embrace between Kotek and House Majority Leader J ennifer Williamson, D-Portland

In the Senate, President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, gave oversized Pendleton beach towels to each senator. They were the Chief Joseph design and commemorated the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Oregon Beach Bill.

Senators gave Courtney a painting of Salem’s new pedestrian bridge, which is named after him. If you’re in Salem on Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 2, you can attend the official celebration of the Peter Courtney Minto Island Bridge. A 4 p.m. parade will be followed by a 4:30 p.m. dedication ceremony with presentations by Salem Mayor Chuck Bennett, Courtney and Friends of Two Bridges.

Dick Hughes has been covering the state’s political scene since 1976. Contact him at TheHughesisms@Gmail.com or follow him at Facebook.com/Hughesisms.