Many state residents might remain skeptical, but perhaps the Pennsylvania General Assembly has mustered some degree of conscience on behalf of the taxpayers.

The possibility that the legislature will return to the state treasury millions of dollars now socked away in the legislature's surplus fund is an indication that lawmakers still are fearing fallout from the notorious 2005 middle-of-the-night pay-raise vote, the pension-hike debacle and other actions based more on their own selfish self-interests than the best interests of the taxpayers they are supposed to be serving.

Indeed, it is to be hoped that the legislative housecleaning that began in 2006 will continue this election year, beyond this effort by lawmakers to improve their tattered image.

While no amount has been disclosed as to how much the legislature might be willing to return — the legislature should send back all of it — it has been said that lawmakers could feel comfortable with an $80 million three-month cushion. The surplus now stands at about $211 million.

Since the fund became public following the ill-fated pay-raise action, lawmakers have defended it as a safeguard against a possible budget battle in which a governor could strip funding for legislative functions.

The last time that happened was in 1988 — 20 years ago. That year then-Gov. Robert P. Casey, during a drawn-out budget fight, vetoed operating money for Senate Republicans, leaving them unable to pay their employees.

Return of the surplus money could help make a 2008-09 budget settlement easier to achieve or provide an additional foundation for expanded health care subsidies or property tax reductions.

The money also could be better "spent" if, for now, it was deposited in the state's Rainy Day Fund.

But foremost in the legislature's consideration of the giveback proposal should be that the legislature is the only branch of state government that accumulates a surplus; both the administration and the judiciary are required to return what they don't spend from one year to the next.

State Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-Montgomery, believes return of the money can take place before the legislature enacts the budget for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1. However, there appears to be uncertainty at this time as to whether that can be accomplished simply by way of an agreement between Senate and House leaders, or whether that action will require a vote by the membership of the respective legislative houses.

Regardless, the intent should be to get the job done, and as quickly as possible. If it doesn't get done before a new budget is in place, it is likely that the proposal will be forgotten.

If the existing surplus survives this election year, it's anybody's guess when such a plan will be revisited.

"This is a new day," said Shapiro, who is chairman of the joint House-Senate Legislative Audit Advisory Committee. "And I think there is a new will to budget more responsibly and be more accountable to the taxpayers of Pennsylvania."

In response, the collective thought of state residents should be a resounding "we'll see."

State residents shouldn't be convinced that a newfound conscience is in place in Harrisburg as long as the General Assembly's unconscionable hoarding keeps the money in question from more worthy uses.