HARRISBURG -- Two Pittsburgh-area legislators, one Republican and one Democrat, find themselves in a spot where no rank-and-file lawmaker wants to be -- out of sync with their own leaders on a major issue.

But Reps. Mark Mustio, R-Moon, and Matthew Smith, D-Mt. Lebanon, are vowing to push for a vote on a bill that often strikes a chord among the public: reducing the size of the General Assembly.

Mr. Mustio said the size of the proposed reduction isn't set in stone, but he's working on a bill to trim the House, now at 203 members, by about 20 percent, or to 161, and reduce the 50-member Senate to 40. Those are also the numbers contained in a Senate bill sponsored by Sen. John Pippy, R-Moon.

Mr. Mustio would also like to cut the overall cost of legislative operations by about 20 percent, from its current $350 million a year. But Mr. Mustio's bill has been stalled in a House committee. So he has gathered 33 signatures of legislators on what is called a "discharge petition," aimed at forcing a vote in the full House.

"I got 32 Republicans and one Democrat, Matt Smith, to sign the petition," Mr. Mustio said. That's eight more signatures than the minimum of 25 that he needs to force a vote, but he doesn't know when such a vote would occur.

"I'm hoping to bring the bill up for a vote this fall," he said. "But we need to build up some steam among the public and the news media for it."

He admitted that "I'm not the most popular guy in town" because he's bucking his leaders, such as House Republican leader Sam Smith of Punxsutawney, who likes the Legislature the way it is.

"But I didn't come up here [to Harrisburg] to placate the leaders," Mr. Mustio said.

Each House member now represents about 60,000 constituents and each senator about 248,000 voters. With fewer legislators, each lawmaker would have to represent more people, which could hurt constituent service, said Sam Smith aide Steve Miskin. The size of each lawmaker's staff might have to be increased to handle the greater amount of work that would be required, which would reduce the size of any savings, he said.

The rural areas of the state could be especially affected by a reduction in legislators, he added, since more small towns would have to be combined in districts that are larger geographically. Both Sam Smith, who is from Punxsutawney, and House Democratic leader Bill DeWeese of Waynesburg, are from smaller, more rural areas, which they say could be hurt with a reduction in size.

Mr. Smith, who was elected last November, said it's a bit unusual that he's joining Republicans on this issue, but added, "I made a commitment, when I ran last year, to support ideas I thought were good, regardless of whether it was a Democratic or a Republican idea. That's why my constituents expect. I feel strongly about operating the Legislature more efficiently. One way we can do that is to reduce the size."

Mr. Pippy doesn't think constituent services would be hurt with a reduction.

The number of constituents for each senator would rise to 310,000 if there were 40 senators, and if there are 161 House members, each one would represent 77,000 people.

Those numbers are still less than the number of constituents that legislators in three other large states, New York, Michigan and California, have, he said.

Mr. Mustio said that with more sophisticated technology coming on line every day, a single legislator can more easily communicate with more people.

Recently, he said, he held a "teleconference town hall" meeting with 230 people in his district -- and he was in his office in Harrisburg.

People in the Moon area would listen over a phone and then push a button when they wanted to ask him a question.

"I think we'll be able to provide better service to more constituents if we have modern technology and if our staffs are trained properly," he said.

But reducing the size of the Legislature won't happen quickly.

The Mustio or Pippy bill first would have to be approved in the current 2007-08 session, and then again in the following session of 2009-10.

If they pass twice in the Legislature, voters statewide in a November election must approve the idea, so the soonest it could be placed on the ballot would be November 2009.