Inaugural session of 2012 will be a short one for Pa. lawmakers

Pennsylvania’s Constitution requires legislators to convene on the first Tuesday of every January.

This year, it will be a short session.

When it follows an election, the first Tuesday of the year is filled with inaugural pomp and circumstance–swearing-in day for legislators.

In even-numbered years, the required state House session is faithfully observed but typically short.

And ill-attended, which rankles government reform advocate Tim Potts.

“The constitution requires you to be there and you blow it off, that says something about the commitment to public service,” Potts said.

Clancy Myer is the state House Parliamentarian Clancy Myer, the rules master of the House, said he’s not sure who, besides the state House speaker, will be on the House floor Tuesday.

“We convene, we call the House to order, and we meet the requirements of the Constitution by doing so,” he said.

However short the session, PCN, the Pennsylvania Cable Network, has it on the airtime schedule.

Potts can’t believe it.

“It’d be an awful expense to show up for five minutes,” he said.

PCN gives it a half-hour.