HARRISBURG -- The General Assembly will screech to a halt Nov. 3 because of a decision by state Senate leaders to prevent votes during the so-called "lame duck" session between Election Day on Nov. 4 and the end of the legislative session on Nov. 30.

That also renders any House action taken after Nov. 3 moot, because any bills passed there would die without Senate concurrence. And it eliminates a period where critics say retiring or ousted legislators can pass unpopular measures without fear of retribution.

"If the Senate's not here, the House can't really do much," said House Republican Leader Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney.

Democratic leaders who control the House agenda say it's premature to talk about the fall schedule when the budget is still being negotiated.

The state budget for 2008-09 is supposed to be enacted by July 1, the start of the state's new fiscal year. But Mr. Smith is predicting that it will take a long stretch of full-day sessions through the month of July to even begin to complete action on a long list of legislative items that remain in the waning months of the 2007-08 legislative session.

Typically, after adopting a new budget, both chambers adjourn at the beginning of July and return in late September. In even-numbered years, when General Assembly elections are held, lawmakers virtually clear their legislative calendars for campaigning in October. By law, each two-year legislative session ends on Nov. 30 of even-numbered years.

"Everything that's going to get done has to be done in the next month or so," Mr. Smith told Capitol reporters yesterday.

The agenda is daunting.

Along with adopting a new, roughly $28 billion state budget, legislators must act on proposals to reduce Pennsylvania's reliance on foreign oil, expand state-funded health insurance programs, lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike to raise funds to fix roads and bridges, reduce or eliminate school property taxes, eliminate mandatory overtime for nurses, assist homeowners facing foreclosures and ban smoking in some or all public places. None of those proposals face easy passage.

"I don't think it's likely that we can deal with all of those. It's a stretch," Mr. Smith said.

Mr. Smith said the budget process is already behind schedule and that passage is doubtful before June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Johnna A. Pro, spokeswoman for House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, said that isn't so.

"We're exactly where we need to be right now. Leadership from both caucuses and both parties have met on at least two occasions" and are waiting for updated, end-of-May reports on state revenue, Ms. Pro said.

The Senate decided to announce the elimination of the lame duck session now so that "we can plan, along with the House and the governor, to complete this year's legislative work before the [November] election," Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, said in a statement yesterday.

Some officials, though, are concerned that the pressure to act on other legislative agenda items before the election could distract from budget talks.

Mr. Evans was taken aback by the Senate's decision and wasn't sure how it might affect the budget process.

"He's just stunned that the Senate leadership would want to take an additional month off of work," Ms. Pro said. "Really, you can't wrap yourself in the mantle of reform and then argue you should take an extra month off at the holidays."

But Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Chester, said the decision to end lame duck sessions -- also called "sine die" sessions -- makes government more accountable.

"This decision is part of our ongoing effort to make the Senate's work more transparent to the public," said Mr. Pileggi.

Mr. Smith hasn't taken a strong position on the issue.

"I have never had a problem with the sine die sessions," he said. "I guess the Senate feels it's one way to force the issue and foreclose on a consensus that something bad will happen in sine die."

In the days after the 2006 general election, both chambers hurriedly enacted a law allowing casinos to serve free alcoholic drinks.

In the 2004 sine die period, legislative leaders tried unsuccessfully to negotiate pay raises for lawmakers, but couldn't get Gov. Ed Rendell to go along.

Watchdog groups have long criticized post-election session days because they allow lawmakers to vote at a time when they are less accountable to voters because they have chosen to retire from office or have been voted out. Yesterday, groups like Democracy Rising PA lauded the Senate's decision.

"For at least this year, it gives Pennsylvania citizens the same protection against post-election deal-making that citizens in most states already have," said founder Tim Potts. "Since the House cannot enact election without the Senate, citizens may rest easy after Election Day."