Pennsylvania: Legislative Reforms at the Margin

This is a well-researched and detailed article about the bloated state legislature, with a lot of hard numbers spelled out.
Snippets:
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"Achieving major reforms will be difficult as long as lawmakers are insulated from the trials and tribulations of average people because of their perks and gratuities, said Eric Epstein, coordinator of Rockthecapitol.org.
'Politicians are nibbling at the margins,' he added. 'They are doing just enough to keep voters off their backs.'"

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(Costly support)
"But the real cost comes in maintaining 3,000 legislative support staffers, the largest contingent in the nation, according to the NCSL. The Senate had 858 employees as of Jan. 26. The House counted 2,141 employees in a 2010 staff report. It's not unusual for veteran top-ranking staffers to be paid more than lawmakers."

Even noting those discrepancies, Pennsylvania still has more legislative staffers than the next two largest states, New York and Texas, which have much larger populations.
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"Outside of operating costs, the Pennsylvania Legislature sits on a surplus of $188 million, according to the most recent audit report. This surplus has shrunk by $13 million from the previous year, but it remains a point of controversy with state finances still in the red. Mr. Corbett wants to cap the surplus at 25 percent of the operating budget, roughly in the $70 million range, but his proposal hasn't advanced yet.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/legislative-reform-at-the-margins-1.1114635#ixzz1G5C7CaUv

and institutionalized.