BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REAPPORTIONMENT
Senator Kevin Murray, Chair
BILL NO: SCA 20 HEARING DATE: 5/17/00
AUTHOR: PERATA ANALYSIS BY: Darren
Chesin
AMENDED: AS PROPOSED FOR AMENDMENT
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT :
Legislature: term limits.
BACKGROUND :
The California Constitution, pursuant to Proposition 140 of
1990, provides that no Senator may serve more than two
terms and no Member of the Assembly may serve more than
three terms. A partial term of less than one-half a full
term does not count toward the term limit.
Proposition 140 also provided that members of the Board of
Equalization and all statewide elected officeholders (e.g.,
Governor, Attorney General, etc.), may not serve more than
two terms.
In 1991, the California Supreme Court ruled in Legislature
v. Eu that Proposition 140's term limitations extend over
the lifetime of each affected officeholder rather than
merely limiting the number of consecutive terms held.
PROPOSED LAW :
This measure would instead provide that a Senator may not
serve more than three terms and that a Member of the
Assembly may not serve more than six terms.
Under this measure, terms already served by most
legislators would not count against the revised limits. If
approved by the voters at the November 7, 2000 General
Election, any member of the Senate or Assembly elected at
that same election would be able to serve the entire three
or six terms. However, members of the Senate whose terms
run through 2002 (i.e., those representing even-numbered
districts) will have their current term counted as the
first of the three terms permitted to be served under this
measure.
This measure does not affect the number of terms that may
be served by members of the Board of Equalization or the
statewide elected officeholders.
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COMMENTS :
1.According to the author, term limits has resulted in a
number of positive outcomes for the Legislature: there is
greater diversity, an influx of new ideas, and greater
emphasis on the needs of local government, as more local
elected officials become state officeholders. However,
the length of each legislative term under Proposition 140
has resulted in some unintended drawbacks:
There isn't enough time under the current limits for any
individual legislator to develop the expertise necessary
to tackle the increasingly complex issues that affect the
state: education, water, transportation, and healthcare,
just to name a few. In short, Band-aid solutions have
tended to prevail over long-term reform.
As experience among electeds decreases, and legislators are
in constant pursuit of higher office, special interests
have more influence than ever. More than 700 new
interest groups have emerged since 1990, while lobbying
expenditures have increased by more than $100 million.
The amount of money spent on campaigns is at an all-time
high.
It was for these reasons that the independent, bi-partisan
Constitution Revision Commission in 1996 recommended the
very change that SCA 20 advocates.
The solution is not to remove term limits. Instead, it is
to create a balance between the experience and time
needed to accomplish the job the voters have given us,
while preventing the deadlock, abuse of power and lack of
accountability that unlimited terms support.
2.In its 1996 final report, the California Constitution
Revision Commission recommended that members of both
houses of the Legislature serve three terms of four years
each. The Commission found that allowing longer term
limits would increase the stability and effectiveness of
the Legislature, while continuing to assure voters that
members could not make careers of legislative service.
The commission was concerned that the current term limits
do not allow enough time for legislators to develop the
expertise necessary to perform their responsibilities
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effectively.
3.This bill is similar in intent to SCA 35 (Maddy) of 1998
which died in the Assembly policy committee, ACA 21
(Papan) of 1998 which failed passage on the Assembly
floor, and ACA 2 (Papan) which is currently pending on
the Assembly floor.
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POSITIONS :
Sponsor: Author
Support: Congress of California Seniors
California School Employees Association
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
Planning and Conservation League (PCL)
California Independent Public Employees
Legislative Council
California Nurses Association (CNA)
California Common Cause
California Professional Firefighters
California Medical Association (CMA)
Sierra Club California
Mr. Louis M. Meunier, Executive Vice President
External Affairs -
Macy's West
Oppose: None received
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