One Size Legislature Fits All?

• Author: Erickson, Brenda
• Position: TRENDS - Debate on downsizing legislatures

When lawmakers consider changing the sizes of their chambers, the debate typically centers on three major themes: representation, efficiency and cost. This year, at least three state legislatures debated downsizing.

Pennsylvania, with the second largest number of lawmakers in the country, is considering a bill to shrink the General Assembly from 253 members to 189 members --50 senators to 38, 203 representatives to 151. Representative Jerry Knowles (R), who introduced the bill, told public radio that, with fewer members, there "would just be better discussion, better debate." In a smaller legislature, the responsibility of each member increases and legislators become more visible, supporters argue. It's also cheaper to shrink. Pennsylvania would save an estimated $15 million a year if Knowles' bill passes and citizens approve it.

But rural lawmakers worry that if the number of legislators is decreased and the size of districts is increased, it will be more difficult to connect with constituents. The more the members, the fewer the constituents for each. With fewer constituents, opponents to these bills argue, it's easier to have face-to-face dealings with them.

Kansas, Minnesota and New York also had legislation proposing downsizing this year. New York's and Minnesota's legislatures currently are the fourth and fifth largest in the country, respectively; Kansas falls in the middle.

So, what's the right size?

"Ideally, a legislature should be large enough to represent and reflect the diverse elements of its constituency and small enough to get things done," the authors of the groundbreaking legislative study "The Sometime Governments" wrote in 1971.

Historically, the most significant changes to state legislatures occurred during the 1960s and '70s. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling Baker v. Can and other "one man, one vote" redistricting decisions in the early 1960s sparked an interest in state legislatures and their size. In all, 34 states changed the number of legislative seats in one or both chambers during those...