Pennsylvania General Assembly

The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is a bicameral body consisting of an upper house, the Pennsylvania State Senate, with 50 members, and a lower house, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, with 203 members. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg.

During colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly and was unicameral. Since the Constitution of 1776, the legislature has been known as the General Assembly. The General Assembly became a bicameral legislature in 1791.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly has a lengthy history as one of the most openly corrupt state legislatures in the United States, going back over two centuries to the era of the Thirteen Colonies. In 1794, while visiting western Pennsylvania, Alexander Hamilton wrote to Rufus King: "The political putrefaction of Pennsylvania is greater than I had any idea of".

During the 19th century, the culture of corruption in the General Assembly got so bad that from 1866 to 1873, about 8,700 of 9,300 acts passed in that timeframe were local or special acts. The frustration of the people of the commonwealth with its legislature finally boiled over in 1871 and resulted in a 1873 constitutional convention and a 1874 constitutional amendment. One of the amendment's reforms was to prohibit the General Assembly from writing statutes covering more than one subject.

The amendment (today found at Section 3 of Article III of the Pennsylvania Constitution) was so poorly written that it also prevented the General Assembly from undertaking a comprehensive codification of the commonwealth's statutes until another amendment was pushed through in 1967 to provide the necessary exception. This is why Pennsylvania remains the only U.S. state that has not yet completed a comprehensive codification of its general statutory law. Since 1970, Pennsylvania has been undertaking its first official codification process, resulting in the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. With over 300 years of uncodified statutes to go through, the codification process is still not yet complete after over five decades of work.

The General Assembly is a continuing body within the term for which its representatives are elected. It convenes at 12 o'clock noon on the first Tuesday of January each year and then meets regularly throughout the year. Both houses adjourn on November 30 in even-numbered years, when the terms of all members of the House and half the members of the Senate expire. Neither body can adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other.

The governor may call a special session in order to press for legislation on important issues. As of 2017, only 35 special sessions have been called in the history of Pennsylvania.

The General Assembly meets in the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, which was completed in 1906. Under the Pennsylvania Constitution, the General Assembly must meet in the City of Harrisburg and can move only if given the consent of both chambers.