HARRISBURG -- Better late than never, says state Rep. Mark Mustio, R-Moon.

One year and seven months after it got his bill to reduce the size of the state Legislature, the House's State Government Committee has finally agreed to hold a hearing on it on Aug. 19.

The Democrat-controlled committee, led by Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, has been accused of stalling on several major bills to overhaul the Legislature, including House Bill 55, which would reduce the 203-member House to 161 members and the 50-member Senate to 40.

The bill also would reduce, by 20 percent, the House and Senate operating budgets, which together total about $300 million this year.

Ms. Josephs has denied subjecting the bill to any unnecessary delays, but she is an ally of House Democratic leader Bill DeWeese of Waynesburg, who opposes any reduction in the size of the Legislature. He contends that would worsen legislators' service to their constituents, because each lawmaker would have more people to serve.

Mr. Mustio's bill wouldn't take effect until after the 2010 census and the redistricting process that will be done in 2011, when the lines of the House and Senate districts will be redrawn.

"Despite reports of its demise, the issue of reducing the size of the Legislature has never been more alive or within the people's grasp as it is today,'' Mr. Mustio said in a release today.

He introduced his bill in January 2007, at the start of the 2007-08 legislative session, which will end Nov. 30. The bill was referred to the State Government Committee on Jan. 30, 2007, he said.

The hearing on the bill will be from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Capitol.