HARRISBURG — It was 1998, and time and modern safety requirements had caught up with the cavernous 92-year-old Capitol building chamber where the Keystone state’s 203 elected representatives met.

Sprinkler heads and heat and smoke detectors had to be installed. The representatives would have to meet elsewhere. Options were studied, and on June 1, House Speaker Matthew J. Ryan spoke in a connected pair of large rooms in the Capitol East Wing.

“The Senate was very generous in helping us solve our problem by providing these Senate hearing rooms to us,” Ryan said on the first of what would be 12 session days held in those rooms between June 1 and Oct. 13, 1998.

The scenario from 25 years ago illustrates why some lawmakers are skeptical about the three-month stoppage that has been scheduled for all formal voting sessions of the Pennsylvania House early next year.

In a Dec. 5 email, Speaker Joanna McClinton — a Philadelphia Democrat and the point person for scheduling — told House members that a lengthy departure from the ornate chamber was necessary to make repairs on damage caused by a 2022 water leak above the House chamber.

When the final 2023 session day ended Wednesday, no formal voting session days were scheduled until March 18, excluding a Feb. 6 gathering in the Rotunda to hear the governor’s budget address.

The stretch of 96 days without a structured session of the 203 members — each of whom makes more than $102,000 a year — coincides with a long stretch when McClinton’s party will be without the razor-thin majority it has held for much of the past year.

On Thursday, Bucks County Democratic Rep. John Galloway resigned to take a new job. That left the House in a 101-101 tie that will remain in effect until the vote in a special election in Galloway’s 140th House District is certified. McClinton has directed the special election be held Feb 13.

Some lawmakers, at least when asked about it, accept the situation as it is described. Others, even in McClinton’s own party, are skeptical.

“I think it is inexcusable,” said Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton. “The real issue is that they are 101-101. That is what they are all about.”

A former House member, Boscola was part of those relocated East Wing session days back in 1998.

“So you were in tight quarters. It wasn’t that bad. There was room to speak,” she recalled. “We all heard each other. We were able to vote. There is not excuse not to [do that].”

Democratic Rep. Mark Rozzi of Berks County, who was House speaker for a brief period early this year, shook his head over the situation.

“I am not the leader,” he said Wednesday. “If I was, we would be meeting or hanging a bucket somewhere.”

A spokesperson for McClinton, Nicole Reigelman, rejected the criticism. Any projected vacancies or absences — including Galloway’s resignation and a military deployment of a Republican House member — had no role in setting up the timeline for repairs, she said.

And while House members met elsewhere decades ago, Reigelman said the current body is more reliant on modern technology that “allows for electronic voting, remote voting, livestreaming, and having essential staff available to lawmakers.”

House rules, she said, also are clear that “certain actions must be carried out in the House chamber, including the swearing in of members, the recording of the electronic roll call, and the signing of bills.”

She provided a Department of General Services-projected timetable for the leak damage repair job.

Following a few earlier phases, floor protection will be installed Jan. 8 to Jan. 16; scaffolding put up from Jan. 15 to Jan. 26; and, after brief periods for identifying the scope of work and pricing repairs, a projected 20-day stretch of repair work will run through March 1.

Rep. Robert Freeman, D-Northampton, who has served in the House for 38 years, said some repairs are so pressing that schedules must be altered. He noted that committees could still meet and hearings could be held during the House stoppage.

And, Freeman said, without the distraction of 203-member sessions in the chamber, committee work might be more thoughtful and productive. As of Thursday, one committee meeting already was scheduled for mid-January, along with the traditional long series of budget hearings set to begin Feb. 20.

But Rep. Josh Kail, R-Beaver, said it was clear that Democratic leadership didn’t like the numbers with Galloway’s resignation.

“We know what this is about,” he said. “They made up a phony excuse to shut it down.”

Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-Franklin, said there was plenty of legislative work to be done that would be no different for Democrats without a House majority.

“Obviously, the imminent closure is far more about politics than it is about facilities,” Kauffman said. “If it is about facilities, there would be no problem finding a place.”

The lawmaking function of the state House has been moved elsewhere at least three times in its long history. The following information was obtained from Jesse Teitelbaum, director of archives for the House, as well as the House Legislative Journals:

—In 1897, the Capitol building was destroyed by a fire. The Legislature held its session days in Grace United Methodist Church on State Street for more than 22 months.

—In 1968, when the House chamber underwent renovations, its lawmakers met for nine session days in the Pennsylvania State Museum.

—The 1998 string of session days held in the East Wing began with an explanation from Speaker Ryan that an attempt was made to move House operations to Harrisburg’s Forum Building, but “it was busy with graduations and other events that were long planned.” Consideration also was given to the state Museum.