HARRISBURG, Aug. 15, 2011 – Senator Judy Schwank (D-Berks) is calling for Senate Committee action on her legislation that would reduce the size of the Pennsylvania legislature by more than one third, from 253 to 163 members.

Schwank, the author of Senate Bill 1079, said change is necessary not just to reduce costs, but so that the legislature can respond more quickly and effectively to allow Pennsylvania to compete for business and growth.

“Our legislative framework is past its expiration date,” Schwank said. “A smaller legislature will cut costs and be able to respond more effectively in a world that moves at the speed of light instead of the speed of horses.”

Schwank noted that besides technological changes that have replaced physical presence as the essential means of communication, the speed at which developing events must be responded to has been slashed from weeks and months to hours and minutes.

Schwank is reaching out to other senators who have introduced similar legislation to work together to get a bill before the full Senate, and has asked the chair of the Senate Committee on State Government, where the bills have been referred for review, to schedule a committee vote on them.

“These proposals have been mostly ignored for 20 years, but the Senate held a hearing on them within the last half-dozen years, and the House recently did likewise, “ she noted. “The winds of change are picking up, and Pennsylvanians deserve the opportunity to exercise their right to decide what the General Assembly should look like.”