The clock is ticking down on a solution to Pennsylvania’s broken legislative redistricting process. And when it runs out later this summer, the chances of voters enjoying a better process during the once-a-decade remapping before the 2022 election cycle will dwindle to virtually nil.

In other words, state legislators need to pick up the pace if they want to ensure this vital government reform has a chance to be enacted. And with some leaders in the House and Senate putting their weight behind the issue, we still hold out hope that it can be accomplished in time.

Reforming the state’s redistricting process requires amending the state Constitution, which in turn requires a series of steps that take years to accomplish.

The first step is for both chambers of the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass a bill and then advertise the proposed amendment statewide by Aug. 6.

Lawmakers in Harrisburg say that means the legislation must be passed by July 6 — a tight timeline by any stretch of the imagination when it comes to something as polarizing as redistricting reform.

But of course, there are complications other than partisanship that must be accounted for — namely, the fact that summertime in Pennsylvania is usually budget season.

June in particular is a marathon of negotiations and closed-door meetings as legislators barrel toward the end of the fiscal year on June 30. And when that date hits both chambers generally empty out for the remainder of the summer.

Where’s the room in that schedule for working on redistricting reform? The issue has all but paralyzed the House, and a promising bill passed earlier this year by the Senate State Government Committee has drawn fire from some lawmakers and activists for not doing enough to ensure the commission it creates would be truly independent.

Those are reasonable concerns, but our central concern is what would happen if state lawmakers don’t set the state for a constitutional amendment in this matter: nothing. That’s simply unacceptable.

The last time Pennsylvania lawmakers drew voting districts they turned in a gerrymandered embarrassment of a map that was ultimately thrown out by the state supreme court, which then turned around and drew its own map because lawmakers were unwilling to turn in their own revised version.

That’s twice our state legislators either bungled their constitutional responsibility or shirked it outright.

There’s no reason to give them a third. Meanwhile, the clock continues to tick.