After only one term, frustrated and disillusioned, the 31-year-old divorce lawyer will leave the state House of Representatives, an institution she now describes as a dysfunctional family where good ideas go to die.

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Bennington is among 24 incumbents in the General Assembly who have decided to give up their seats, a number of them, newcomers and veterans alike, echoing her frustration over the failure to pass important legislation in what was supposed to be a new era of reform.

“It’s been an awful year in terms of governing. I don’t see it getting better,” said Rep. Ron Raymond (R., Delaware), who is leaving after 26 years in the House. “Nothing is moving. The machine is clogged.”

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Even one of the legislature’s champions of reform, Rep. David Steil (R., Bucks) is bailing out, saying he is discouraged by the General Assembly’s failure to embrace change even after voters so clearly said they wanted it when they booted two dozen incumbents from office in 2006.

Efforts to expand public access to state records and limit campaign donations and spending by lobbyists have gone nowhere in Harrisburg.

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“I don’t feel that one voice makes a difference when the House is 203 people,” said Bennington, a Democrat, who in 2006 knocked off a longtime incumbent with her campaign to change Harrisburg. “It’s too big for one person to make a difference.”

She came into office vowing to shake up the “old-boy club” atmosphere and was struck head-on, she says, with numbing partisanship at every turn.

The legislature has failed to limit gun sales, ban smoking in public places, or require hospitals to provide sexual-assault victims with emergency contraception despite widespread public support for each proposal.

“When something needs to be done because there is a mandate to do it, then it gets done and done quickly,” Bennington said. “But when the people say they want something done, we keep waiting.”

Rep. Josh Shapiro (D., Montgomery) said he shared the frustration voiced by members of his caucus. But he said major policy initiatives, such as the ones Bennington mentioned, will likely not get enough votes to pass until key reform measures are enacted.

“We can’t get 102 votes on health-care packages because we don’t have campaign finance reform,” said Shapiro, who cochaired the reform commission with Steil. “We still have special interests controlling the debate instead of lawmakers addressing the needs of their constituents.”