State lawmakers are waiting to hear from residents via a new website on how to fix Pennsylvania's $1.2 billion budget deficit.

More than 900 suggestions have been posted on YourPAbudget.com, including allowing the state to sell license plates with team logos, increasing littering fines and legalizing marijuana.

Lawmakers are composing a budget for the June 30 deadline.

"It's giving them a little skin in the game," said Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil, one of five House members who helped fashion the site.

The website allows users to submit ideas, which are reviewed by Mr. White for clarity and vulgarity. Once an idea is published, it may be voted on by other users.

The first results of the votes are expected to be available in about a week, Mr. White said.

"I love that they have set up a forum for the exchange of ideas, and that's great," said Cassie McCrae of Mt. Lebanon, who submitted a suggestion on the website that taxes be enacted on the extraction of natural gas in Pennsylvania. She said that while she has contacted her representative in the past about the issue, the website also allows others to see her suggestion.

"I think what was new about this opportunity was being able to share those ideas with my fellow citizens," Ms. McCrae said.

So, how many of the ideas are actually new?

"More than you would think," Mr. White said.

One of the website's strengths, he said, is that it allows citizens to bring to light wasteful spending that the state's 253 legislators may not always see.

Tim Potts, leader of the citizens group Democracy Rising PA, said he wished the site would have been created sooner and that it included education for citizens. Mr. Potts said an educational component would help citizens understand issues such as how cutting programs may affect federal grants.

Mr. Potts said the website would have been more useful earlier in the budget process, rather than starting it only a couple weeks before the June 30 budget deadline.

"I'm glad it's there," Mr. Potts said, but he added, "It looks like grandstanding. It looks insincere."

Rep. Matt Smith, D-Allegheny, said the website, which does not use taxpayer money, is intended not just for this budget, but for future budgets.

"I think it's a multi-year project, for sure," he said. "I think the real key thing is having this constant stream of ideas."

Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-Montgomery, said his office has already contacted state Department of Transportation after one user mentioned the department could save money if it bought equipment rather than renting it.

Mr. White said he has been surprised by the website's success, and it is proof to politicians of the importance of using social media.

"I think it definitely has sent out shock waves to people that thought that this kind of social networking ... was nothing more than a fad," Mr. White said.

Mr. Shapiro said the website allows people who normally wouldn't interact with him to voice their ideas.

"Some people don't want to go to a town hall and would rather engage with me through the computer," he said. "This is a new and easy way for the government to connect to its constituents."

Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill, is chairman of the Senate Government Management and Cost Study Commission, a board established in December to examine cost-cutting ideas brought forward by the public.

While his commission has a separate e-mail address for cost-cutting ideas, Mr. Argall also encouraged citizens to use the new website.

"The more people who are willing to lend us help with finding cost- cutting suggestions during these difficult times, the better," he wrote in an e-mail.

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