Oct. 03, 2018
HARRISBURG – Rep. Jerry Knowles (R-Berks/Carbon/Schuylkill) today identified the individual responsible for obstructing the chance for the voters of Pennsylvania to decide next year about whether to reduce the size of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives or not.
“Thanks to Minority Democrat Leader Frank Dermody’s mischief,
House Bill 153 may just die this session, thereby denying the people of Pennsylvania the ability to decide,” Knowles said. “While the Democrat leader often claims to be ‘for the people,’ his actions, as most recently demonstrated by his strong opposition to ending the use of taxpayer-funded leased vehicles, are more telling than mere words on press releases.”
Smaller government, cutting costs and improving efficiencies are at the crux of Knowles’ bill, which originally sought to allow the people of Pennsylvania to decide whether the state House should be reduced in size from the current 203 members to 151. However, House Bill 153 was recently amended in the House Rules Committee to include the size of the state Senate in the legislation.
“The purpose of the poison-pill amendment is to blow up the bill and deny the people a vote,” Knowles said. “Sadly, thanks to the Democrat leader’s shenanigans, the entire process will have to restart, or just might be dead.”
If the original language contained in House Bill 153 is adopted by the House and Senate for the second consecutive session, the question of whether to reduce the size of the Pennsylvania House could appear as a ballot referendum as early as the Spring 2019 election.
For more information about House Bill 153, or any other legislative topic, contact Knowles’ district office in Tamaqua at 570-668-1240, or in Hamburg at 610-562-3411. Information can also be found online at
RepKnowles.com or
Facebook.com/RepKnowles.
EDITOR’S NOTE: For more information or to interview Rep. Knowles about House Bill 153, please call his cell phone at 570-449-7466
Representative Jerry Knowles
124th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Ty McCauslin
717.772.9979
RepKnowles.com /
Facebook.com/RepKnowles