Proposition 28 is on that ballot and gives Californians a change to fix one of the many things that is wrong with state government.
Sacramento is not working as it should. Californians agree and are frustrated by the lack of leadership and decision making in our state Capitol. How do we move past the status quo of disappointment and disfunctionality?
One step is to make term limits work to our advantage rather than our disadvantage. Our current term limits law has created legislators more focused on running for their next office than doing the job citizens elected them to do.
On June 5, voters will have the chance to reform term limits to make them more effective by voting YES on Proposition 28, a sensible reform that reduces time in office from 14 to 12 years and allows legislators to serve that time in either the State Assembly or the State Senate.
Right now legislators’ time in office is limited by terms — three two-year terms in the Assembly and two four-year terms in the Senate. The original intent of term limits was to end the era of entrenched politicians and foster a new breed of citizen-legislators. But that’s not what happened.
“Term limits haven’t worked the way proponents expected,” said former Republican State Senate leader Jim Brulte, who has served as the leader in both houses of the Legislature. “California is a complex state and the idea that you can master it and come up here on Day One and start making great decisions is just wrong.
” Instead of building the expertise needed to weed out bad bills, we have political-legislators who campaign constantly, jumping from office to office.
Proposition 28 will allow legislators to focus on their districts, rather than spending their energy lining up support to run for their next office.
That’s why Proposition 28 is supported by a broad-based coalition of business and labor along with dozens of local and statewide organizations including the League of Women Voters of California and California Common Cause. The Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, San Jose Mercury News and the San Diego Union-Tribune have called Proposition 28 a sensible reform that will improve the governance of California.
Proposition 28 is a fresh start for term limits because current and former legislators are legally prohibited from using Proposition 28 to extend their time in office.
Proposition 28 won’t fix every problem in the Capitol. But it’s a step in the right direction. It deserves a YES vote on June 5.