IF ONE NORTHSIDE senator has it his way, there will be fewer lawmakers returning to the Mississippi State Capitol building in 2012.

When the 2010 legislative session begins next month, District 25 Sen. Walter Michel hopes to present a bill that would reduce the number of senators and representatives on the state level by roughly a fourth.

He also will introduce a constitutional amendment resolution that would allow Mississippi voters to decide the issue in November if the lawmakers decline to address it.

If the bill passes, it would make legislative districts larger, while reducing the number of senators from 52 to 40 and the number of seats in the House of Representatives from 122 to 90, he said in a recent press release.

Michel has looked at other states, which average 36 senators and 102 House members. “In 1890 when our constitution was drafted, a legislator had limited communication with constituents, and a larger legislature made sense,” he said.

With modern technology, such as cell phones, fax machines, text messages and e-mails, he said legislators are capable of serving a larger constituency.

The legislation would increase the number of constituents in a senator’s district to roughly 75,000. House members would serve about 33,000 residents.

Michel said the bill is needed to reduce expenditures during the recession and bring Mississippi in line with the representation in other states. It will reduce the state’s annual payroll by approximately $2 million.

Senate Information Officer Arnold Lindsay said the base salary for lawmakers is $23,500 a year; that includes a $10,000 lump sum for the three-month session, and $1,500 a month for lawmakers once the session is over.

That amount doesn’t include insurance and other benefits, Michel said.

The state has experienced a significant revenue shortfall throughout the year, collecting about $30 million a month less than it is projected to bring in. To complicate matters, the state received about $360 million in federal stimulus dollars last year to shore up the budget, funds lawmakers won’t receive in 2010.

“We’ve been exploring ways to save money and this is somewhere else we can look,” he told the Sun. “The governor has given us several good ideas, but already some people are saying they’re not going to support them.”

The senator was referring to Gov. Haley Barbour’s recent idea to combine the state’s historically black colleges with Jackson State University, and the Mississippi University for Women with Mississippi State University.

The suggestion has drawn fire from residents and lawmakers alike. “People are saying no to the governor and not coming up with any additional options,” he said in a phone interview. “All some people want to do is criticize.”

He believes the bill comes at a perfect time, when lawmakers are gearing up to redraw the state districts to comply with the 2010 census.

IN ADDITION to reducing the state’s spending, Michel also hopes to expand on one of his previous successes - the passage of a sales tax holiday bill.

This year, he authored a bill that created the holiday during the last weekend in July. It allows shoppers to purchase clothing and footwear under $100 and avoid paying the state’s seven percent sales tax.

“We had positive feedback on the holiday, but one thing people wanted in the bill was school supplies,” he said. The bill only applies to clothing items, not electronics, furniture, or school supplies.

He said Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant hopes to remedy the bill this year, including a provision for pens, pencils, paper, crayons and other classroom essentials.

Michel had hoped to include items in the 2009 legislation, but said he was just happy to see it passed. “I worked on the sales tax holiday for 10 years,”he said. “Everyone I’ve spoken to has been happy with the savings.”