Hard as it is to imagine voting to support possibly giving yourself and 51 of your colleagues a pink slip, that is exactly what a majority of the House State Government Committee did on Tuesday.

By approving a proposed constitutional amendment to shrink the size of the 203-member state House of Representatives to 151 members, the committee advanced this government reform measure to a point in the lengthy state constitutional amendment process that it is believed it has never reached before.

Some see this measure, which passed the committee by a 14-10 vote, as a way to save money and make government more efficient. Some simply want to let the voters decide if this is a reform they want to see occur. Yet, others see it as making House districts too expansive and the wrong direction for state government to head.

Regardless, the proposed constitutional amendment to shrink the nation's second largest Legislature - and the largest full-time Legislature - now goes to the full House for consideration possibly as soon as early next month.

If approved, it would move to the Senate for action. This bill does not touch the size of the 50-member Senate.

An identical measure passed the House in the last legislative session by a 139-56 vote and the Senate by a 43-6 vote. To amend the constitution, it requires a proposed amendment to secure House and Senate passage in an identical form in two consecutive legislation session before it goes to the voters for ratification.

Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-Schuylkill County, who sponsored the legislation, said that's the important thing to remember about this bill: it is the voters who will decide how big or small they want the House to be.

He is hoping to get it on the November ballot for a ratification vote when a large voter turnout is expected.

"Let's get it done," he said following the committee vote.

The committee's near hourlong discussion of the bill, approved by a 14-10 near-party-line vote, would reduce the chamber to 151 members, starting with the 2022 election.

But Democratic members of the committee made it clear they didn't support shrinking the size of the House without changing the constitutionally prescribed process for drawing up legislative district boundaries.

Montgomery County Democratic Rep. Mary Jo Daley unsuccessfully attempted to amend the bill to marry the House downsizing with establishing an 11-member citizen commission to handle the reapportionment and redistricting work.

She said a commission would be more transparent and less partisan than the current process that hands the task a five-member panel consisting of the four leaders of the House and Senate Republican and Democratic caucuses, plus a chairman they select.

Without the redistricting reform language added in, Rep. Matt Bradford, another Montgomery County Democrat, said, "if you are going to charge legislative leaders with picking and choosing not only the drawing of districts but the elimination of 52 districts as part of that same process, the potential for mischief making becomes quite dramatic."

Committee Chairman Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler County, argued that the commission Daley is proposing would not be non-partisan since eight of its members would be appointed based on their party affiliation. Further, he and Knowles both saw that as a separate issue from shrinking the House's membership - and one that is sure to get more attention after Monday's Supreme Court ruling that found the last congressional redistricting map to be unconstitutional.

"They are two completely different issues and I believe that by holding this legislation hostage, I believe you are making a big mistake," Knowles said. "I believe this is getting a foot in the door. I think all of us will agree we haven't heard the last of the reapportionment issue. I think that's something we will all consider as we move forward."

Moreover, he said inserting that language into the legislation would cause it to start the constitutional amendment approval process all over again, which could be cutting it close to getting through both chambers this session and next session so it could be able to take effect after the next reapportionment after the 2020 census.

While its supporters painted it as a government reform that the public wants to see, the measure's opponents offered a variety of reasons why the amendment should not move out of committee.

Daley noted it had been nearly seven years since the last public hearing on the issue and it deserved to be vetted again since many of the committee's current members were not around to hear the testimony that was presented.

Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Philadelphia, said he feared that with larger House districts the voices of rural areas and underrepresented populations would not be heard. Rep. Pam Delissio, D- Montgomery County, said people that she has spoken with are less frustrated over the number of House members than they are with the "quality of the work product."

Rep. Cris Dush, R-Jefferson County was the sole Republican to oppose the measure. His objection centered around the intimacy with voters that would be lost by increasing the number of constituents each member serves to about 85,000, up from about 65,000 currently.

Pointing out his district contains 900 square miles consisting of 50 municipalities and nine school districts, he said, "To get around to see all of them is very difficult as it is. If this happens, my district will grow to 1,200 to 1,300 square miles. ... It's that intimacy that's going to be lost. This is going to be a way for money to be more important in the electoral. What is supposed to be the People's House is going to end up being the House of People with Money."

In a separate action, the committee voted 16-8 to approve another proposed constitutional amendment that would cut the House down to 153 districts as well as reduce the Senate to 37 districts.

The Senate didn't act on this measure the last time the House sent it over for consideration. So for it to get on the ballot before the next reapportionment and redistricting process in 2020, it would require the measure passing the House and Senate this year as well as in the 2019-20 session before it could go to the voters.

The committee's discussion remained mostly civil unlike the last time it met when Metcalfe declared his sexual orientation and told Bradford to stop touching him, an exchange which drew national media attention.