Scale back the Legislature

The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News: Here’s a proposal you don’t see out of state lawmakers often: Let’s downsize the Legislature.

Yes, you read that right. Rep. Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, deserves a standing ovation for introducing a bill to trim Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives from its current 203 members to 153.

Equally as shocking is that 59 other lawmakers co-sponsored the bill.

Rightfully so. Pennsylvania has one of the largest full-time assemblies in the country. Scaling back the number of representatives would likely lead to a cleaner law-making process — and certainly a less costly one.

The only legitimate argument against downsizing is that people would lose touch with their representatives. But if Pennsylvanians are honest, there isn’t much difference between the current system of a representative per every 60,000 people and one per every 85,000 under Smith’s proposal.

While there’s much to applaud in Smith’s bill, there’s a big catch: It would take a decade or more to make it happen. The state would have to hold a lengthy constitutional amendment process and then wait until 2020 to re-draw all the districts.

If Pennsylvania lawmakers are serious about making the Legislature more efficient, there’s a much simpler way to do it: Scale back the pay and perks.

Gov. Corbett and members of the now GOP-controlled General Assembly wasted no time since taking over to call on others to sacrifice.

They have asked teachers unions and university professors to freeze their pay and state workers to prepare for potential cuts.

But what have lawmakers sacrificed themselves?

Not much, looking at the figures.

In 2009-10, the Legislature spent $299 million. This year it is on tap to spend $300 million. And next year? $296 million.