The Pennsylvania Legislature could get a lot smaller if a
handful of special interest groups get their way.

On Friday, Sen. John Pippy, R-Pittsburgh, announced the Senate
Republican Policy Committee will hold a public hearing at the
University of Pittsburgh on Tuesday regarding legislation – Senate
Bill 890 – aimed at reducing the size of the Legislature.

The hearing will be chaired by state Sen. Joe Scarnati,
R-Brockway, who is also a sponsor of the bill.

The legislation introduced by Pippy calls for the House to be
cut from 203 members to 121, while the Senate would shrink by 20
members from 50 to 30. Such a measure would require altering the
state’s Constitution and would likely not go into effect for
several years.

“It’s a subject that seems to have a lot of traction with the
public and one I feel deserves to have a hearing,” Scarnati said
Friday. “We do need some reforms in Pennsylvania … and change the
way we do business here.”

Scarnati said the committee will be charged with gaining input
on the subject, including whether such a move would be beneficial
or detrimental to rural Pennsylvania and how lawmakers’ districts
would be reapportioned under a reduced Legislature.

“Subsequent hearings will be necessary across the rest of the
state,” Scarnati said, noting the legislation would have to be
passed in two consecutive legislative sessions of the General
Assembly before it would become official.

“I believe we should hear the pros and cons of this issue and
let the public hear it for themselves,” Scarnati said.

According to a copy of the legislation, the state would be
divided into 30 senatorial and 121 representative districts, “which
shall be composed of compact and contiguous territory as nearly
equal in population as practicable.”

The legislation also calls for each senatorial district to elect
one senator and each representative district to vote for one
representative. It adds, unless absolutely necessary, no county,
city, town, borough or township would be divided in creating the
new districts.

Not all local lawmakers believe such a move would be good for
the region, however.

State Rep. Martin Causer, R-Turtlepoint, said he’s “100 percent
opposed” to such a measure.

“It’s really not good for rural areas,” Causer said, adding he’s
been following the issue since it was first broached. “It’s a
situation where some of these groups are pushing to reduce the size
of the Legislature by saying it will save taxpayer’s dollars. I
don’t think that’s the case.”

Scheduled to testify during Tuesday’s hearing in Pittsburgh are
representatives from the Pennsylvania League of Women Voters of
Greater Pittsburgh, the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy,
National Conference of State Legislatures and the NAACP of
Pittsburgh.

“When you really look at it, when you reduce the number of
legislators, the districts would become larger,” Causer said. “It
would stand to reason that if that happens, more people would need
to be represented, thus legislators would hire more staff to cover
those areas.

“I just don’t buy into the savings. It could actually be seen as
less representation in rural areas.”

According to Causer, he already has the largest legislative
district in the state by area, covering 1,710-square-miles.

“If you start to significantly reduce the number of House or
Senate members, then you get into how many counties do people want
a representative to cover?” For example, Causer said his district
could be boosted up to six counties instead of the current district
of McKean, Potter and Cameron counties.

Causer said if the Legislature was reduced, it would likely be
easier to accomplish in large cities such as Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh, who sport numerous lawmakers within a short distance of
one another.

“As it stands, residents have more access to their legislator,”
Causer said. “If some were eliminated and the districts got larger,
how much access would a resident have with a legislator then? There
are a whole host of issues that come into play with this.”

Officials said House members currently represent an average of
60,000 residents; the Senate about 240,000.

Causer also believes the issue has gained a new life now because
of the debacle surrounding the legislative pay raises.

“I saw one proposal to eliminate the Senate altogether,” Causer
said. “This really started surfacing after the pay raise issue came
out.”

There was no immediate word on if any hearings could be held in
the four-county region.