Term Limits Law Should Be Reformed
In
1990, the proponents of Prop. 140 (Term Limits) viewed
legislators as entrenched officials, serving their own interests and striving
to stay in the legislature for decades. They dreamed of a state capitol filled
with "citizen legislators," who would enter office with fresh ideas, beholden
to no one, and then, after a few years in the legislature, return to the
private sector. That dream has
not been realized.
Our
latest CGS report found that, in 2010, the majority of state legislators remained
in government after being termed out-obtaining new offices at the federal,
statewide or local levels. In fact, about the same percentage of politicians
remain in government today after being termed-out as did their predecessors in
the 1980s, long before the term limit "reforms" went into effect in
the mid-1990s.