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Term limits restrict the length of time a member can serve in the state legislature by capping either lifetime service or the number of consecutive terms. The
term limits movement gained momentum in the 1990s, spreading across a wide array of state legislative institutions. Today, fifteen states have imposed term limits on their state house and state senate members. On the other hand, six states, one as recently as 2004, have repealed the term limits imposed on them by the electorate, through either judicial action in the state Supreme Courts or through legislative action in the state legislature.
National Conference of State Legislatures. 13 March 2015. “The Term-Limited States,” http://www.ncsl.org/research/about-state-legislatures/chart-of-term-limits-states.aspx.
Under
consecutive term limits , a member can serve for only a specified period of time in either the state house or the state senate, most commonly eight years. To try to regain a seat in the legislature once the limit has been met, the member will have to wait to run for office again. If the member succeeds, the clock will reset and the legislator may once again serve up to the limit set by the state. In states with a
lifetime ban , such as Oklahoma, members can serve only one time for the number of years allotted, and they are not permitted to run for office again (
[link] ).
See note 65.
The first term limits were enacted in 1990 in California, Colorado, and Oklahoma. In 1992, eight more states followed suit in one large wave. The last state to enact term limits on legislative members was Nebraska in 2000.
See note 65. However, term limits did not stay in effect in all these states; many state supreme courts repealed them and declared them unconstitutional for a variety of reasons (
[link] ). For instance, in Massachusetts and Washington, term limits were deemed unconstitutional because they affected candidate qualifications to compete for a given office. The courts ruled that changes to those qualifications could be made only by amending the state constitution, not by voters changing the state law.
National Conference of State Legislatures. “Term Limits and the Courts,” http://www.ncsl.org/research/about-state-legislatures/summaries-of-term-limits-cases.aspx (March 14, 2016).
In many cases, the movement to institute term limits was initiated by voters and passed through citizen initiatives, which allow citizens to place a proposed law or constitutional amendment on the ballot for a popular vote.
National Conference of State Legislatures. 20 September 2012. “Initiative, Referendum and Recall,” http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/initiative-referendum-and-recall-overview.aspx. Proponents of term limits felt new blood was needed in state legislatures to bring fresh ideas and perspectives to lawmaking. In addition, they hoped term limits would compel turnover among members by shortening the time anyone could serve and by reducing the tendency for elected officials to make legislative service their career. In conjunction with this thinking, some supporters hoped term limits would increase the motivation to make good public policy. If members were less focused on reelection and knew they could not serve more than a certain number of years, perhaps they would get right down to the business of making laws and produce innovative policy within a narrow window of time.
John Carey, Richard Niemi, and Lynda Powell. 2000.
Term Limits in State Legislatures . Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
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