Pennsylvania has the largest full-time state legislature in the country, with 253 well-compensated state representatives and senators. Yet it has been unable to fulfill one of its primary missions: passing a state budget.
The budget impasse between the Democrats and Republicans is now in its 105th day, with no end in sight.
Is it time to shrink the size of the legislature?
Pennsylvania’s State Capitol boasts a magnificent chamber of chandeliered ceilings and marble walls topped by murals depicting Pennsylvania’s rich history, the home away from home for 203 state representatives from all four corners of the Commonwealth.
To run the splendid chamber and the 50-member state Senate down the hall, it costs the taxpayers more $400 million a year.
That means each lawmaker gets a base salary of $110,000, a budget to hire staff for an office in Harrisburg and another in their district, a $200-plus per diem, a generous pension, and healthcare for life, all coming at an estimated $1 million every year.
Despite all that cash, Pennsylvania has historically had one of the least productive legislatures in the country, currently embroiled in a budget battle that drags on.
“Why did you need all these people?” KDKA’s Andy Sheehan asked Pennsylvania Sen. Lisa Boscola (D-Pa. 18).
“You don’t. I’ve been saying it for years and years,” Sen. Boscola said.
Consider that California has 40 million people compared to Pennsylvania’s 13 million, but with 80 state representatives and 40 senators, its legislature is less than half the size of Pennsylvania’s.
Calling the state’s current body expensive, bloated and gridlocked, Sen. Boscola is proposing a bill to essentially cut the legislature in half.
“I think if the public knew what we were doing, or not doing, down here, they would be very angry,” Sen. Boscola said.
Under Sen. Boscola’s bill, the size of the House of Representatives would be reduced from 203 members to 101. On the Senate side, the number of members would be reduced from 50 to 38.
Sen. Boscola says the size of the legislature would still be too big, but she says it’s a start.
“It’s costing the taxpayer. Because you have to reimburse us for being here, then the hotel stays and the meals. And everything else. For what?” Sen. Boscola opined.
“You can’t even do your primary job, which is to pass a budget,” Sheehan said.
“That’s because [there are] too many members and they’re too stuck in the trenches of their party,” Sen. Boscola said.
Boscola says the vast majority of individual representatives have little input on major decisions and are playing no role in the current budget impasse. Those talks are between the governor and the four party leaders in the House and Senate, and Boscola says when it does come to a head, most will vote on party lines to keep their jobs, salary and benefits.
“If you’re only going to have five people at the table, why do you need 203? You don’t. And it’s getting worse and worse,” Boscola added.
“There’s no question that the public is frustrated with the work that we’ve been doing, and I agree with them,” said fellow Democratic Senator and Minority Leader, Jay Costa, who is one of those powerbrokers, but he says the problem is polarization, not the number of legislators.
He says the legislature is right-sized, that the individual representatives do have input in the budget talks and provide constituent services to the districts.
“I understand the public sentiments about not being happy about our pay, the amount of money we receive and things of that nature, but we continue to work day in and day out, not only here in Harrisburg but in our districts as well,” Sen. Costa (D-Pa. 43).
“The one thing that struck me when I came to the legislature is how inefficient government is, and I would like to make it much more efficient,” added Rep. Valerie Gaydos (R-Pa. 44).
Rep. Gaydos has been trying unsuccessfully to get her bill to reduce the size legislature out of committee since 2019.
A Republican, she now plans to join forces with the Democrat Boscola to get a vote in the House and the Senate. She believes it would be her biggest achievement as a legislator.
“You’re willing to vote yourself out of a job?” Sheehan asked Rep. Gaydos.
“Absolutely. 100%,” Gaydos replied.
If it ever does get on the ballot, Boscola says there’s little doubt about how the public would vote.
“Do you want a bill to downsize the legislature? You know the public is going to demand that,” Sen. Boscola said.
As budget talks drag on among the leadership, Pennsylvania taxpayers continue to foot the bill. Perhaps this year, a bill to reduce the size of the legislature will finally get its proper consideration.
