Harrisburg is broken. The Pa. House has a chance to fix it.

Imagine if one NFL team could rewrite the rules at the start of each season. They hand them to the other teams as they’re heading out to the field just before the first game begins. The one privileged team decides where the lines are drawn, hires and fires the referees, decides what plays are legal. At any point in the season — mid-game, mid-playoff, mid-Super Bowl — that one team can bench players on the other team, turn back the clock, whatever they want, because, right now, they’re in charge.

The toxic chaos wouldn’t last long. Players would quit; viewers would turn away in disgust. But somehow, in our state government, that kind of behavior is allowed.

In the Pennsylvania Senate, the vote on legislative rules took place quickly on the first day of session, long before the senators had a chance to read the 43 pages of operating rules, 11 pages of ethical conduct, and 16 pages of financial operating rules introduced earlier that same day.

As in past years, those rules say the president pro tempore of the Senate can appoint the chairs to each committee, so chairs belong to the Senate speaker’s (the majority) party. These chairs then decide which bills will be put forward for a vote, which gives committee chairs near-dictatorial power and renders minority party members irrelevant.

The same has been true in the Pennsylvania House until this year, when a razor’s edge majority upended the status quo. The team that held complete sway for a dozen years hoped to hold control at least a few months longer, but special elections on Tuesday and an unexpected speaker controversy have called that into question.

Now, with all eyes on the Pennsylvania House, our representatives face the same questions the founders of our commonwealth and of our nation wrestled with: What should representation look like? Is it possible to protect the rights of the minority while affirming the will of the majority? How can the legislative process reflect changing public sentiments while maintaining stability and ensuring the common good?

“What should representation look like?”

Those questions should be part of any legislative process, but for decades in Pennsylvania, the rules have given more and more power to one party while shutting the other out almost completely. In 2021-2022, an analysis by my colleagues and me at Fair Districts PA found that just two bills introduced by Senate Democrats, and one introduced by a House Democrat, made it to the governor’s desk. All the rest were introduced by Republicans. This is appalling, especially in a state where registered Ds outnumber Rs, and a growing number of independents see their concerns ignored completely.

Beyond that, for years the rules have been drafted to allow only the privileged few complete control by placing so much power in the hands of committee chairs.

In past sessions, public discussion and votes on legislative rules have taken little time — sometimes, we’ve been told, less than the length of an average football game. This year, the House deliberation is taking longer. Legislators from both parties may have a say — and even voters have had a chance to weigh in — as the Speakers Workgroup to Move Pennsylvania Forward has collected written comments and held public hearings in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, State College, and Wilkes-Barre. Speaker Mark Rozzi has announced his intention to incorporate suggestions into the revised House rules, with negotiations underway in preparation for the next House session day later this month.

» READ MORE: Pennsylvanians were asked what they want to change about the state House. Their answer: less partisan deadlock.

Volunteers with Fair Districts PA have been studying legislative rules since we saw the way bipartisan redistricting reform efforts were upended in both the Pennsylvania House and Senate in 2018. With the League of Women Voters, we launched the Fix Harrisburg campaign in the spring of 2022, calling for attention to legislative rules. Last fall, we published a report that highlights the harm done when legislative rules block needed bipartisan solutions.

Pennsylvania’s full-time, two-year legislative sessions regularly accomplish far less than neighboring states with part-time sessions. Laws to address issues of long-standing public concern are ignored for years. According to our analysis, half the bills passed in one chamber go nowhere in the other. Meanwhile, amendments like Senate Bill 1 — three constitutional amendments shoehorned into one bill — speed through with no public hearings or pretense of deliberation.

Before that listening tour began, we wrote to legislative leaders with our own recommendations for better rules. Many Pennsylvania residents who spoke or offered comments pointed toward those proposals and added their own requests for greater transparency, more public input, and collaboration for best solutions.

We encourage all Pennsylvania representatives to take their time and get this right. Better rules would be a win for all of us.

Carol Kuniholm is the chair of Fair Districts PA.