HARRISBURG -- When state Sen. John Pippy, R-Moon, proposed cutting the size of the Legislature two years ago, it seemed like an unlikely idea in tradition-bound Harrisburg.

But since then, several shocks have hit the General Assembly, the most notable being the defeat or retirement of 55 incumbents in 2006 due to public anger over the now-repealed July 2005 pay raise.

So it was significant that Mr. Pippy got some help yesterday from the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate -- the whip, Sen. Michael A. O'Pake of Berks.

Initially Mr. Pippy favored reducing the Senate to 30 members, down from the current 50. Based on hearings held last year, he later revised the plan to 40 members and 151 members in the House, compared to the current 203.

Mr. O'Pake proposed reducing the size of the Senate to 40 members and the House to 121 members.

Mr. Pippy said yesterday he is willing to compromise on the numbers. "I think there should be more public hearings on the idea," he said. "We could then meet and come up with legislation. I think it's good that both parties are considering it."

House Democratic leader H. William DeWeese opposes reducing the Legislature, saying it will have a negative effect on small towns and rural areas, many of which now have their own legislator. He said some small towns or counties would have to share a lawmaker with neighboring areas if the number is reduced.

But proponents say reducing the size is a way to reduce the cost of state government. Mr. Pippy would like a provision requiring the Legislature to cut its budget by the same percentage that the number of members are reduced. That idea isn't mentioned in Mr. O'Pake's plan.

Any cut in the number of legislators will, however, require an amendment to the 1968 state Constitution, meaning it would need approval from two different sessions of the Legislature and then approval by the public in a statewide referendum.

Mr. O'Pake suggested a second idea that would need a constitutional change. He wants to have the new congressional districts redrawn, after the 2010 census, by a nonpartisan group called the Legislative Reapportionment Commission, which already redraws the state House and Senate district lines.

Currently, congressional district lines are redrawn by the majority party in the Legislature. The last time, after the 2000 census, Democrats complained that Republicans redrew the congressional lines to try to ensure re-election of GOP incumbents. The current system lets the majority party in the Legislature "redraw congressional districts with a partisan bias," Mr. O'Pake said.

A third idea wouldn't need a constitutional change. Mr. O'Pake wants to make it easier for state residents to block "robo-calls" by politicians seeking election -- the automated phone calls by office holders or their supporters urging people to vote for them. He would let people add such calls to the state's Do Not Call list, an idea first proposed last fall by Rep. Michael McGeehan, D-Philadelphia. He also is vowing to push for it again.

The changes to the constitution would first have to be passed in the 2007-08 session, which just started, and then again in the 2009-10 session in order to get on the November 2009 statewide ballot, at the earliest.