State Rep. Perry Stambaugh, R-New Bloomfield, is pictured speaking at the dedication of a memorial to state Trooper Jacques F. Rougeau Jr. earlier this year.

Legislation to make Pennsylvania’s legislature part-time have gone nowhere in the past few years, so Rep. Perry Stambaugh is taking a new approach to the issue.

Stambaugh, R-New Bloomfield, is circulating a co-sponsorship memorandum for legislation he is drafting that would authorize a study of whether or not to reduce the General Assembly to part-time status. The state Legislative Budget and Finance Committee would be asked to study pros and cons of a part-time legislature, including various methods, processes and timelines for a constitutional amendment switching to a part-time legislature, if the measure is approved by voters.

“In an age of virtually instant communications not requiring travel to the capitol for committee hearings, etc., a part-time legislative model might provide a more efficient way for modern government to function,” Stambaugh wrote in his memorandum. “This study would begin the conversation of bringing our legislative body into the 21st century and giving Pennsylvania a ‘government that works.'”

State Rep. Paul Schemel, R-Franklin, has been trying for years to pass legislation that would make the legislature part-time and cut lawmakers’ salaries to $25,000 a year, but those bills have never progressed in the state House of Representatives. Schemel did not seek re-election this year, leaving Stambaugh to pick up the effort to move the legislature back to part-time status.

Pennsylvania is one of 10 states that has a full-time legislature, and its 253-member legislature is the largest in the country. While the General Assembly meets nearly every month of the year in Harrisburg, the legislature takes lengthy recesses and votes a few times a month. Actual session days are about the same as states with part-time legislatures like New York, though some legislative committees or legislative hearings are held on non-voting days.

Stambaugh wrote in his memorandum that the National Conference of State Legislatures lists Pennsylvania’s legislature as among the nation’s most expensive, while Stambaugh was critical of what he called an “inefficient legislative process.”

“There are many ways to make Pennsylvania’s legislature more efficient and less costly. We can and should look to examples of other states for guidance,” Stambaugh wrote. “Reducing the time the General Assembly remains in session would shrink the cost of benefits, reduce the opportunity for political corruption (it is not mere coincidence that lobbying firms maintain their most significant presence in the few states with full-time legislatures), and, most importantly, force more productive legislative sessions — as worked successfully for PA prior to 1968.”