The easy part of a recent report on the efficiency of the Maine Legislature got the most attention, but a more important aspect will be ignored unless legislative leaders from both parties can explain its value to rank and file and to the public.

The easy correction suggested in an extensive review by the National Conference of State Legislatures is to reduce or eliminate what are known as legislative sentiments – the official declarations of happy birthdays, in remembrance, congratulations to the championship basketball players, etc. – that take up too much time. The NCSL helpfully suggests setting stricter limits on them and switching to legislative certificates, which would not require the drafting, hearings and voting that each sentiment now gets.

The harder issue is to increase the role and authority of the legislative council, a challenge if for no other reason than it is likely that most of the public does not know a legislative council exists. It consists of five members of each house: Senate president, House speaker, two leaders of each party. It meets regularly, sets legislative budgets and agendas and generally keeps lawmakers moving, or is supposed to.

The NCSL review says it can do much more. It should, for instance, take greater charge of institutional reform and long-range planning; it should more strongly enforce budget discipline, with presiding officer of each house making independent spending decisions; it should establish a Maine Legislative Services Agency for all non-partisan staff and strengthen information systems. Finally, the council should improve training for lawmakers, to provide more background on policy topics. This has become especially important since term limits.

The general direction of these recommendations is toward greater authority by the council, which demands greater cooperation between the two major political parties. It also means these leaders must be more willing to accept responsibility for the performance of the Legislature. This change could be good for Maine if these leaders are given the time and training to learn their jobs. A problem currently is that often these leaders do not earn their posts until they are in their fourth and final two-year terms as lawmakers.

Still, the NCSL report gives the Legislature an opportunity to improve itself as an institution, and it gives the public a sense of how its government might serve the state better.