LEGISLATIVE TERM LIMITS

Issue Summary

Term limits were passed by popular initiative in California in 1990. Current law stipulates that members of the State Assembly are subject to a three-term lifetime limit, and members of the State Senate a two-term lifetime limit, resulting in a total legislative limit of 14 years for legislators who serve in both houses. It should be noted that Prop 140 passed with a narrow margin. However, in 1992 voters overwhelmingly passed a subsequent initiative to impose term limits on members of Congress (which was rejected by the courts) and a third initiative in 2002 to allow term-limited incumbents to serve for four more years was rejected by voters 58% to 42%. (The Field Poll, Oct. 2004)

Term limits have created opportunities for political participation by groups that historically have not had access to the political process, and have reduced the influence of career politicians. On the other hand, many experts argue that representatives are succumbing faster than ever to special interest pressure and don’t have time to develop much-needed policy expertise. Because effective budget oversight can take years to learn, budgeting problems are often partially attributed to term limits as well. Nonetheless, for as frustrated as many policy makers are with term limits, the same Field Poll cited above showed 75% of the public supported term limits as of October 2004.

Supporters of term limit reform typically seek to increase the flexibility of legislative terms to enable members to build necessary policy and process expertise, and slow the current whirlwind rotation by elected representatives from one elected office to another, which is perceived to compromise public policy.

Current Status

There was a flurry of activity in the last month of the '06-'07 legislative session by some members of the state legislature to link an extension of term limits to redistricting reform, also under consideration by the legislature at the time. Redistricting reform supporters were adamantly opposed to linking term limits reform, which had low voter support and had not been subject to public hearings or a legislative review process, to a redistricting reform proposal, which -- in contrast -- was strongly supported by voters and had been the subject of public legislative hearings and an extended public review process. In the end no formal term limits extension proposal was ever offered, but legislative leaders stated publicly that they hope to pursue the issue further in the next session.

UPCOMING EVENTS

None scheduled on this topic at this time.

BACKGROUND

Past VoR Programs

Editorial Board Roundtable: Term Limits (hosted by the Fresno Bee, 6/15/05) | PDF TRANSCRIPT

Panel Discussion: Are Term Limits Working? (Spring Conference: "If It’s Broke, Fix It: Making California Government Work for Californians" 6/10/05) | DOWNLOAD MP3

Legislation ('05-'06 legislative session)

ACAX1 6. (Canciamilla D-11) This bill would remove some of the existing restrictions on the terms of legislators.

ACA 31. (Canciamilla D-11) This bill would remove existing terms limits and instead limit legislators to serving 16 years in the Senate, Assembly, or both, in any combination of terms.

Websites

National Conference of State Legislatures. This site provides an overview of legislative term limits.

The Institute of Governmental Studies/Library. The IGS Online Library provides a select bibliography on the topic of term limits.

Washington Post Special Report on Term Limits. This site includes newspaper coverage, opinion pieces and additional links related to federal term limit policy. (The distinction between federal and state legislative term limits is important to recognize, however some of the arguments for or against are relevant in both cases.)

U.S. Term Limits. This organization advocates for term limits. The site includes a chart comparing state legislative term limits.

California Forward. California Forward is a nonprofit organization charting a new path to more effective state governance through nonpartisan policy analysis, public dialogue throughout the state on key issues, and pursuit of sensible reforms.

Reports and Papers

'Termed Out: Reforming California's Legislative Term Limits' Center for Governmental Studies Report by Sasha Horwitz, October 2007

‘Adapting to Term Limits: Recent Experiences and New Directions’ (pdf) Public Policy Institute of California Report by Bruce E. Cain and Thad Kousser, November 2004

‘The Truth About Term Limits’ Governing Magazine, Alan Greenblatt, January 2006

‘Term Limits Have Changed California Legislative Behavior’ Institute of Governmental Studies Report by Daniel Enemark and John Cross, 2002

‘Taking The Politics out of Politics? State Legislative Term Limits and Institutional Political Reform in Twentieth Century California’ (pdf) Dissertation written by Renee Bukovchik Van Vechten, Ph.D. Political Science, University of California, Irvine, 2002