The Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex in Harrisburg. (Massoud Hossaini | TribLive)
Pennsylvania’s General Assembly is fond of calling itself a “full-time” legislature. But judging by what happened during the 2025-26 session, Pennsylvanians might reasonably wonder what “full-time” is supposed to mean. The numbers tell an uncomfortable story.
The current session began in January 2025 and does not formally end until November 2026. Yet, by late September, the House and Senate have scheduled only 11 more legislative days in Harrisburg.
That followed an 11-week hiatus after passage of the state budget in July. (Put another way, nearly a quarter of the available calendar year passed before legislators returned to Harrisburg to consider more legislation.)
And there is a lot of legislation still in committees, unaddressed.
Approximately 4,000 bills have been introduced this session. As of early October, only 134 had become law— 23 budget-related measures and 111 non-budget bills
. Meanwhile, 2,818 bills remain in their original committees— 1,816 House bills and 1,002 Senate bills
.
To be fair, not every bill deserves passage. Legislatures should reject bad ideas as well as enact good ones. But in Pennsylvania, legislation is too often prevented from even receiving a hearing or a vote. That’s because powerful leaders control the agenda and what bills get action, and rank-and-file members are paperweights. It’s a system that, session after session, continues to produce truly abysmal productivity.
Over the past four sessions, here’s their record of bills introduced and passed:
2025-26: approximately 4,108/134 to date
When the session ends, it is unlikely to exceed 150 … one of the worst records yet.
Redistricting reform provides a striking example. For five consecutive two-year sessions, Fair Districts PA and its allies have supported legislation to create an independent citizens’ commission to draw Pennsylvania’s legislative and congressional districts. Leaders have blocked it, session after session, despite strong two-thirds polling support from the public and bipartisan co-sponsorship by rank-and-file legislators.
The calendar for the final 11-day sprint hardly suggests Harrisburg will open the floodgates. Only 13 of 26 House committees had scheduled voting meetings to consider just 27 of the 1,816 House bills still in committee. Five of 21 Senate committees scheduled voting meetings, on just six of the 1,002 bills awaiting action.
But those same legislators will still have time to attend nearly 100 Harrisburg fundraisers scheduled during these closing days. And, as if this isn’t enough outrage, consider this:
Buried in the July 2026 budget is another $4 million — allocated among the Democratic Caucus, Republican Caucus and Speaker’s Office. Those dollars were added by legislative leaders. They were added to unaccountable legislative reserve funds that accumulate session after session. With the latest addition, they total nearly $400 million.
These aren’t ordinary state-agency reserves. According to legislative budget provisions, money left unspent by state agencies generally reverts to the General Fund. But money left in legislative and legislative-support accounts remains in those reserve funds, and each new budget allocation adds to their size.
Worse yet, those funds are shielded from audit by the state treasurer and auditor general and are exempt from Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know process. That means taxpayers, the media and rank-and-file legislators have no ability to see how the money is being spent or why legislative leaders continue adding to reserves approaching $400 million.
Following the last two budget negotiations, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman described closing the budget gaps as “finding money in the couch cushions of bureaucracy.” But Pennsylvania taxpayers should demand to know why nearly $400 million of our money is accumulating in unaccountable legislative reserves while leaders brag about finding money in couch cushions.
In a responsive democracy, a legislature should be accountable for what it does — and what it refuses to do. Pennsylvania taxpayers pay their legislators more than $113,000 a year, plus benefits, with annual cost-of-living increases built in. Leadership positions pay more. In return, they deserve a legislature that operates transparently, provides meaningful opportunities for legislation to receive hearings and votes and accounts publicly for hundreds of millions of dollars under its control.
That shouldn’t be a partisan demand. It should be the minimum expectation of a functioning representative government.
Doug Webster of Monroeville is a retired marketing communications executive and Fair Districts PA volunteer.
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