What it means to slash the legislature’s size

by State Sen. Sam Graves

One of the many fights that took place in the House and Senate this year was regarding the size of Missouri’s legislature.

The proponents of slashing the size of the Missouri House contended all year that reducing the size of the House would result in cutting the cost of running the House and hasten the legislative process. Regarding the first point, reducing the size would not likely cut any of the costs associated with running the legislature. First of all, despite the fact that the legislature continues to give itself yearly raises, the legislative salaries are still a small portion of the overall cost of running the House. Staff and support account for most of the cost.

Secondly, assuming that fewer members would mean that the process would go faster, who is to say that we want the process to go any faster? More speed equals more bills, more laws, and more taxes. I do not know about you, but I do not think that the quality of the legislature should be judged by the number of new laws we create or the amount of money we take from you to spend elsewhere. Regardless, the real issue is whether or not the size of the Legislature has any correlation with the quality of representation that the people of the state receive. I think it does. Having served as a state representative and now a state senator, I know all too well how difficult it is to stay in touch with those whom I represent. The larger the population that a legislator must be accountable to, the less accountable he/she is likely to be. This is particularly the case in a state legislative seat where the number of resources available to you are extremely limited.

For instance, in the House, a legislator has only one assistant. That equals two people to care for the concerns of 31,000. In the Senate, the ration is equally dramatic where a Senator and a staff of two must attend to the needs of 151,000 people. As you can see, a small number of legislators would simply mean fewer opportunities for the legislator to interact personally with their constituents.