Some Republican lawmakers say the Minnesota Legislature would be better off with fewer members. State Sen. Gen Olson, R-Minnetrista, and Rep. Steve Gottwalt, R-St. Cloud, have introduced legislation which would shrink the Legislature to 168 members, down from the 201. The reduction could save the state at least $1.4 million a year. "We can, in fact, function effectively with a smaller number, and send a good-faith message to people that in the economic times we are going through," we are doing our part, Olson said Friday. "With redistricting about to take place, we could implement this change and redraw district lines with the least possible confusion." Under the plan, the state Senate would have 56 members, down from 67. The House would have 112 members, down from 134.

The authors of the bill specifically want 56 senators in case Minnesota loses one of its eight congressional seats after the census and redistricting.The 56 senate districts are evenly divisible by seven or eight. A smaller Legislature could save money, too. Olson calculated that taxpayers spend $130,821 to maintain a Senate seat each year. Slicing off 11 seats would save the state $1.4 million, not including savings in the House. Sen. Claire Robling, R-Jordan, a co-author of the bill, currently represents about 100,000 constituents. "I have one of the largest, if not the largest, state Senate districts in the state right now, and I know that it's manageable" in large part thanks to e-mail and the Internet, she said. "The way we are communicating and staying in touch with each other right now, it does make it easier to have more constituents at one time." Olson and other lawmakers noted that Minnesota has the fifth-largest Legislature in the country, while the state ranks twenty-first in population. Similar proposals to cut the size of the Legislature have not been widely embraced in recent years. Olson described the proposed changes as modest and reasonable. "If you do something too radical, it just looks like we are posturing," she said. "We are not posturing. I think it has a better chance of taking flight because the public wants it to happen and in the economic conditions we are in, we should all be tightening our belts."

Since Minnesota was first a territory, the size of the Legislature has changed 14 times, the most recent in 1971, when the House shrank from 135 to 134 members, according to the bill's sponsors. The size of the Senate has not changed since 1915, when it increased from 63 to 67 seats.