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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 8, 2013 02:47 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Jaret Gibbons |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Co-sponsorship of Legislation – Unicameral General Assembly |
| In the near future, I plan to re-introduce legislation that proposes integrated amendments to the Pennsylvania Constitution providing for a unicameral General Assembly. A unicameral legislature would eliminate unnecessary duplication and provide better citizen access to the legislative process. Conversion to a unicameral system would result in immediate cost-savings as the need for duplicative staffing, constituent services, and other legislative functions would be eliminated. The idea of a unicameral state legislature is not a new one, nor is current consideration limited to Pennsylvania. In fact, the Pennsylvania General Assembly was originally a unicameral body from 1777-1790. Nebraska is currently the only state with a unicameral legislature. U.S. Senator George William Norris is considered the architect of Nebraska’s unicameral system. During the Great Depression, he traveled the state promoting the idea. He claimed the two-house system was “outdated, inefficient and unnecessary,” and I hope you will agree with me that this is still the case today, if not more so now than then. In recent years, efforts have been undertaken in several different states to move toward unicameral legislature, as discussed in an October 26, 2010, article in the Wall Street Journal. On June 9, 2009, the Maine House of Representatives voted to form a unicameral legislature, but the bill subsequently died in the state Senate. Additionally, unicameral proposals in Pennsylvania have previously received support in editorials by the New Castle News and Pottsville Republican Herald. The bicameral legislative body represents a time in history when one house would represent the aristocracy and the other would represent the commoners. Recognizable bicameral institutions first arose in medieval Europe where they were associated with separate representation of different estates of the realm. Within the individual United States, bicameralism was usually modeled upon that of the United States federal government, with the upper house consisting of State Senators who represented geographic areas independent of their population, typically counties at the state level in correlation to the states at the federal level. However, the United State Supreme Court ruled in Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964), that under the “one person, one vote” principle all districts for both State Senate seats and State House seats must be more or less proportional to each other seat in that chamber. Thus, Reynolds v. Sims ended the traditional practice of having State Senators apportioned by county and eliminated the ability of the upper chamber to balance the interests of lower governmental units with varying populations. The key elements of this amendment include that the General Assembly would consist of 201 members. At the first General Election after the adoption of the amendment, members from odd-numbered districts would be elected for a two-year term, and members from even-numbered districts would be elected for a four-year term. Afterwards, all members would be chosen for four-year terms. The impeachment process is changed to allow that the Supreme Court will try cases of impeachment filed by the General Assembly, except against a Supreme Court justice, in which case a panel of the Superior Court shall be chosen to hear the impeachment. This is modeled after the Nebraska impeachment process. The General Assembly shall be charged with consenting upon appointments made by the Governor. As there will no longer be a President pro tempore of the Senate, the order of succession is changed to allow for appointment of a Lieutenant Governor upon vacancy in that office. Should there be a vacancy in the office of Governor and no Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the General Assembly shall become Governor. |
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| View Attachment | ||
Introduced as HB1638