The state House of Representatives adjourned for the summer on Monday, with one high-profile piece of legislation left unfinished and in all likelihood, dead.
A bill to reduce the size of the state House of Representatives from the current 203 members to 151 needed one more vote to make it to the November ballot as a constitutional amendment, but House leaders did not call the bill up to the floor before breaking indefinitely.
Given the 90-day notice required for a ballot referendum, House members would have to return before Aug. 8 to resurrect the multi-session effort.
House conservatives, like Butler County’s Daryl Metcalfe, were crying foul even before Monday’s recess.
“If the leadership does not call this vote up today, it rests on them. They will be the ones responsible for not allowing this to be called before the voters in November,” Metcalfe said during a press conference he held on Monday.
Pennsylvania has the largest full-time lower legislative chamber in the country. Neighboring state Ohio governs with a 99-member state House.