HARRISBURG, Pa. (WENY) - According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Pennsylvania’s General Assembly is one-of-four full-time state legislatures in the country where lawmakers are well-staffed and well-paid. A pay increase last December bumped all legislative salaries to six-digits, among the highest in the nation. 

Some lawmakers are questioning whether a full-time legislature is necessary. 

“We've done really nothing for four months. Almost all the other states in the Union have not only started, they've finished their work for the year,” said Rep. Paul Schemel (R-Franklin), who feels taxpayers are not getting their money’s worth out of Harrisburg.  

Schemel says during the 1960s, the General Assembly transitioned to full-time in order to address the needs of a large, growing state.  

“But since then, we've seen a number of states like Texas, Florida, Ohio- other states that are good sized states- grow and become as big or bigger than we are. And they seem more than adequately to be able to address all of the needs they have,” said Schemel. “It's obviously less expensive, it’s a more efficient use of taxpayer dollars.” 

Schemel recently introduced legislation, House Bill 293, to make the General Assembly a part-time legislature. The bill would cut lawmaker salaries to $25,000 a year, compress session calendars and eliminate health care benefits. He says lawmakers in other states continue to wrap up their legislative duties in a fraction of the time it takes Pennsylvania lawmakers to finish theirs. 

“We never have to get to anything. Everything can always be pushed off to tomorrow. I think that deadlines actually cause better legislation, better policy. Other states manage this, we can manage it too,” said Schemel. 

Not only does Schemel believe the Commonwealth would benefit from hard deadlines for lawmakers, but also from outside career experiences that are difficult to balance as a full-time lawmaker. 

"Legislators would have real jobs with real experience that they could contribute to state policymaking. That's a good thing. We are lacking in those kinds of occupations because not many doctors want to stop being doctors so they can be state legislators,” said Schemel. “In Pennsylvania, we have the smallest percentage of attorneys of any state legislature in the nation. Until this year, we had no physicians. We have one, of 253 state legislators, we have one doctor. We have no engineers,” he added. 

Schemel says only state lawmakers in California and New York are paid more than Pennsylvania’s. 

“These are all states that have lost congressional representation. I think when you put us up against the other 50 states, you can say, look, there're things that we need to think about that we're maybe not doing so well. This is one of them,” said Schemel. 

Some lawmakers call the proposal a political stunt. House Majority Policy Committee Chairman Ryan Bizzarro (D-Erie) says Schemel’s own party had several opportunities to run his legislation in recent years. 

“Republicans have controlled the state legislature for 26 of the past 30 years. To let you know how strong of a proposal this is, Rep. Schemel couldn’t convince his own colleagues to run this bill when they had the majority. If he couldn’t even get his own party on board, I don’t see it getting a vote this session. This is nothing more than a ploy to score cheap political points,” said Bizzarro. 

Other House lawmakers say providing constituent services on a daily basis is a full-time job in and of itself. Many are open to exploring ways to increase productivity but say the services their offices and staff provide on a daily basis are crucial. Schemel says his proposal is a solution, but certainly not the only one. He’s open to discussing others. 

“If not this, then something else that really puts a check on the legislature and the expense that the legislature is and the amount of time the legislature spends. This is a solution. There could be other solutions, we need to get the conversation started,” said Schemel.