HARRISBURG -- For more than 20 years, state Sen. James Rhoades has been trying to give Pennsylvanians the power of "initiative and referendum,'' allowing citizens to enact new laws directly without going through the state Legislature, as well as the power to overturn measures passed by the Legislature.

No one has seemed interested, until now.

"It's been so long, I had to dust off my old proposals to review them for this hearing,'' the Schuylkill County Republican joked yesterday to the Senate's State Government Committee.

The committee will vote by June 30 on Senate Bill 137, Mr. Rhoades' proposal to create the possibility of "initiative and referendum'' in Pennsylvania.

Such a major change "will give individual citizens a greater voice in the legislative process, and will help government be more responsive to those we serve,'' said Mr. Rhoades. "Increasing the public's say in the laws we pass in Harrisburg will stimulate public involvement.''

His proposal got support yesterday from Common Cause/Pennsylvania and the Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative think tank. Common Cause Executive Director Barry Kauffman said 28 states already give their citizens the power of initiative and referendum, the most notable being California, where election ballots sometimes contain 10 or more measures up for a popular vote.

"Initiative'' gives a citizens group the power to collect a certain amount of signatures of registered voters, based on the number of votes cast in the last election for governor. If the signatures are verified, a proposed law or constitutional change is put to a statewide referendum without waiting for the Legislature to act.

For example, citizens could put on the ballot a measure to change the state tax structure, such as rolling the income tax back to 2.8 percent, where it was until the Legislature increased it to 3.07 percent in 2004.

"Referendum'' means a citizens group can collect signatures to try to overturn a law passed by the Legislature. For example, citizens could have used such power to overturn the legislators' 2005 pay raise.

"Our organization has been a strong advocate of initiative and referendum for nearly two decades,'' said Mr. Kauffman. "Citizens recognize these tools for what they are, essential legislative safety valves necessary to ensure an effectively functioning representative democracy.''

"Empower the people of Pennsylvania with the ability to initiate and repeal legislative and constitutional changes,'' said Matthew Brouillette, Commonwealth Foundation president. It's part of the overall effort to "increase openness, transparency and accountability in state government," he said, a movement that has sprung up in the wake of the Legislature's now-repealed pay raise.

Sen. Jeff Piccola, R-Dauphin, said the initiative and referendum measure is one of four "reform" bills that his State Government Committee is dealing with, including two that won committee approval two weeks ago. One of them would reduce the size of the 253-member Legislature and another would eliminate "lame duck sessions,'' the three-week sessions held after the November election in even-numbered years.

Other reform bills are the Rhoades' proposals and one that would create a nonpartisan panel to redraw House and Senate district lines after every 10-year census. Now, legislators redraw their own lines, which leads to oddly shaped, "gerrymandered'' districts that lump together far-flung pockets of legislators' support. Such gerrymandering makes it hard for challengers to run against incumbent office holders. Mr. Piccola said he wants to vote on that bill by June 30, as well as on the initiatives-referendum bill.

However, there is still considerable opposition in the Legislature to all of the measures. Some lawmakers fear the initiative bill will dilute the power, which they alone now have, to enact new laws. Others don't want to give citizens the ability to overturn laws the Legislature enacts. Others fear it will cause citizens groups to gain too much influence.