Bill to shrink state legislature introduced again
State legislators once again are attempting to reduce the size of their cohort with a proposed constitutional amendment.
Rep. Valerie Gaydos, R-44th, a legislator from Allegheny County, recently introduced legislation, HB 2151, that would shrink the number of legislative districts in Pennsylvania from 203 to 151. Gaydos’ efforts to pass the bill are supported by Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-124th, who co-sponsored the House bill.
Knowles supported similar legislation in the last two legislative sessions, according to an announcement from Gaydos. Knowles’ district covers Berks, Carbon and Schuylkill counties. The bill was referred to the House’s State Government Committee.
“Pennsylvania has the second-largest state legislature in the country,” Gaydos said in a prepared statement. “Reducing the number of seats in the House of Representatives will not only provide a significant cost savings to taxpayers but also streamline the legislative process and make it easier for lawmakers to reach consensus.”
But on Thursday, Marci Mustello, R-11th, worried that a reduction in districts might negatively affect rural areas of the state. Mustello represents part of Butler County.
Mustello said Thursday she supports making government more efficient, but raised concerns about not wanting to overlook rural areas she considers neglected already. “Northern Butler ... we’ve got such a diverse county with Cranberry to the south, Adams ... and the Chicora-Petrolia valley area,” Mustello said. “So, if you reduce the size of it, you could affect them more and they might not have anyone to turn to for help.”
Mustello went on to say there are several paths to making government efficient.
“With reducing (the) size of (the) legislature, is it more about cutting costs? If it’s something like that, there are a lot of other ways,” she said.
For the legislation to go into effect, identical bills would need to pass through the General Assembly in back-to-back sessions before being put to a vote from the general public as an amendment in a statewide referendum.
