Here's a novel way to save taxpayer money: make life easier for state legislators by chopping their annual session by one-third, from 90 days to 60 days. It would save at least $500,000 in costs and give lawmakers more time to work at real jobs in the world outside the State House.

We suspect that this proposal, from two Western Maryland legislators, Peter G. Callas and George Edwards, won't make it through the General Assembly obstacle course. Their colleagues like the food and lodging allowances spread over 90 days. They also believe there is too much work to do it all in 90 days, let alone 60.

Yet Delegate Callas is correct when he notes, "we have a lot of wasted time." There is nothing sacred about a 90-day session. A shorter, more concentrated effort by legislators might be more vTC appropriate in the no-frills era of the 1990s.