Most of us are familiar with the adage: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

It’s a message my parents gave to me when I came up short in my efforts, and I am sure that you have been given a similar message at least once in your life, whether by mom or dad, a teacher, a boss, a mentor or whomever.

State Reps. Valerie Gaydos, R-Allegheny, and Jerry Knowles, R-Schuylkill/Carbon, have taken this message to heart: Their efforts at reducing the size of the state House of Representatives have failed three times previously, so they are hoping that the fourth will be the charm.

Gaydos introduced House Bill 482 last week to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution, reducing the number of legislative districts in Pennsylvania from 203 to 151. There would be no change to the 50-member Senate.

The bill, which had previously been introduced in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 legislative sessions, failed, although the second effort, initiated by Knowles, came oh-so-close before going down to defeat because of a procedural maneuver initiated by three Republican House members who are no longer in office, Gaydos said.

A thoroughly disgusted Knowles passed the baton to then-freshman legislator Gaydos, who has been an ardent supporter of the concept. She introduced the almost identical bill in 2020, a little more than halfway through the last legislative session, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the bill languished in the State Government Committee to which it had been assigned.

Gaydos describes herself as a person who prides herself in “leading the way to make government more efficient, transparent and accountable.”

The way the Legislature works, with the start of the new two-year session in December 2020, the process must start from scratch, so Gaydos has introduced the bill again, which again has been assigned to the same committee.

This time, however, with much more time to gather support, both Gaydos and Knowles are confident that they can produce a positive outcome.

Gaydos believes this bill is a no-brainer. Since Pennsylvania has the second-largest legislature in the United States, reducing its size will streamline the legislative process, make it easier for lawmakers to reach consensus and save us taxpayers money.

At a salary of $90,335 for each rank-and-file House member, the savings on salary alone would come to $4.7 million. Add in benefits and perks, and the total savings could top $15 million annually.

Because such a change would necessitate an amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution, identical versions of the bill would need to pass through the General Assembly in back-to-back sessions. At that point, the public would vote on the amendment in a statewide referendum.

Even if all of this occurs, the change would not take effect until after the 2030 decennial census, because Gaydos’ bill requires the Legislative Reapportionment Committee to establish new district boundaries. There is not enough time for this to happen after the just completed 2020 decennial census.

Although Gaydos has 22 co-sponsors, including Knowles and Ryan MacKenzie, R-Lehigh/Berks, the bill faces a number of obstacles, including the practical matter of legislators in some cases eliminating their own jobs.

There is an inside joke among legislators that the person who proposes a member-reduction bill will be the first to lose a seat. This doesn’t faze Gaydos, also a small-business owner. “This job doesn’t define me,” she said.

Knowles said that it is much better to work with a smaller number of legislators because it is easier to build consensus and come to agreements. “With the constant improvement and evolution of technology, legislators can respond to constituents quicker and more efficiently, thus saving taxpayers money,” Knowles said. He also believes voters should decide the matter.

Critics have said the bill would increase the number of each representative’s constituency, which is true. Currently, the ideal population of a House district is about 62,600; under Gaydos’ plan, it would rise to about 84,000. This would mean, for example, that Carbon County with a population of about 63,000, which is now self-contained except for Summit Hill borough, would be lumped with one or more contiguous counties.

In trying to prevent this from happening frequently, Gaydos’ bill says that “unless absolutely necessary,” no county or municipality would be divided in forming the new districts.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com