The Legislature has been at work two months, but it seems it’s just getting started. When I sat down with Senate President Justin Alfond last Tuesday, he acknowledged the slow pace, and had a two-word explanation: term limits.

The lack of institutional knowledge caused by the involuntary retirement of so many legislators, plus the sharp partisan swings of recent elections, has consequences. “One-third of our members are new. We have a lot of committee chairs in their first or second terms,” he said.

So the first item of business at many committee has been briefings, not hearings, something Alfond said may not be ideal, but is necessary.

The same is true of leadership. Alfond is the only one of the 10 members of the Legislative Council who served in leadership last session, and he moved up two notches from assistant leader. “Even if you’ve been here before, this job is different from anything you’ve experienced,” he said.

One result is that the news has been dominated by skirmishing rather than legislating. Alfond said this is more distracting than helpful. “In one week, Rep. Fredette (House Republican leader) was talking about a government shutdown, and Gov. LePage was saying he’d veto every bill,” he said.

Fredette was reacting to the prospect of revenues being needed to balance the biennial budget, while LePage was irked that lawmakers haven’t fast-tracked his plan to pay off hospital debts.

A hearing on LePage’s plan, which uses prospective revenues from a renewed liquor wholesale contract, and a Democratic alternative is set for Monday. Alfond said the overall budget should be the focus. “These are separate issues. That debt needs to be paid, but there are other priorities, too.”

The much-ballyhooed meeting standoff between LePage and Democratic leaders, however, it seems  ended. LePage abruptly canceled a session with Alfond and House Speaker Mark Eves before their December swearing-in, and nearly two months elapsed before the three met before LePage’s State of the State address.

Since then, meetings have occurred regularly and privately. LePage and his advisers met with Alfond to hear his ideas on education, including early childhood learning and school construction. “We meet when it’s needed,” Alfond said. “We’re listening well.”

Regarding the budget, Alfond said the governor’s proposed shift of $425 million to municipalities by eliminating revenue sharing and other property tax relief programs isn’t playing well with either party. “It’s a nonstarter,” he said. “It doesn’t have support.”

In terms of trying to find the money elsewhere, he said Democrats do support reviewing the tax cut package adopted in 2011, though repealing it isn’t something he or other Democrats support –- many of them, Alfond included, voted for it.

Does he regret that vote? “Partially,” he said. “You have to remember we were promised that other programs we supported would be maintained, and that promise wasn’t kept” –- Republicans enacted party-line supplemental budget cuts last year. “And a lot of people we trust, including (Finance Commissioner) Sawin Millett, said there’d be enough revenue growth to pay for them. And there hasn’t been.”

All potential sources of revenue –- including the liquor contract –- have to be in the package to make it acceptable to both parties, Alfond said.

LePage has resisted the expansion of Medicaid provided by the federal Affordable Care Act. Alfond said a bill that “strengthens Medicaid” will soon be referred to the Appropriations Committee. He said hearings should demonstrate that providing health care for all Mainers is in the state’s interests.

“We could be insuring 44,000 more people, plus 25,000 the administration has tried to remove from Medicaid, and bring in $140 million from Washington at no cost to the state budget,” he said. “I believe, morally, it’s something we have to do.”

Alfond dismisses concerns that federal Medicaid support could waver. “That’s never happened, and it won’t happen now,” he said. “That’s not a legitimate reason for rejecting this.”

Alfond has high expectations for the select Workforce and Economic Future Committee, which is digging into why Maine has had such poor economic growth. “It’s about job skills, yes, but we also have to find out why so many small business get started and so few grow to employ 50 or 100 people,” he said. Based on its work to date, he’s considering extending the committee into next year so it can continue working between sessions.

He said, “For me, the Maine economy is a four-legged stool, with the private sector, nonprofits, government and education all working together. If they’re not, we don’t grow.

Douglas Rooks is a former daily and weekly newspaper editor who has covered the State House for 28 years. He can be reached at [email protected].