Taking names next in term-limit push

State approves title for ballot issue

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge certified the popular name and ballot title for a constitutional amendment that would further limit the amount of time lawmakers can serve in the General Assembly.

Bob Porto, co-chairman of Restore Term Limits, the organization behind the push, said the group now will start to gather the nearly 82,000 signatures required to place the proposal on the ballot.

"I hope that anyone who is for limiting government through term limits would come up and help us," he said. "It's really a shame that the legislators are able to -- in session -- to use deception to deceive the voters."

Porto said that when legislators put Issue 3 on the ballot last year, they obscured the term-limit change, which allowed lawmakers to serve up to 16 years in the House, Senate or combination of terms in both.

But Sen. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, who wrote the measure with Rep. Warwick Sabin, D-Little Rock, said increasing the amount of time legislators can serve was an important part of the amendment's goal.

The measure, which became Amendment 94 to the Arkansas Constitution, also prohibits elected officials from accepting certain gifts from lobbyists, prohibits direct campaign contributions from corporations and unions, and extends the cooling-off period for lawmakers before they can register as lobbyists.

"The reason why the term limits qualified to be part of an overall ethics package was because we were trying to balance positions being elected by the people so they can be on a level playing field with the lobbyists and the bureaucrats," Woods said. "You have bureaucrats and lobbyists doing circles around the lawmakers in Little Rock."

Before Amendment 94, lawmakers had been limited to six years in the House and eight years in the Senate. Some senators had been able to serve 10 years if they drew a two-year term after winning in the election after once-per-decade redistricting.

The ballot measure proposed by Restore Term Limits would limit representatives to six years in office, senators to eight years and a maximum of 10 years for lawmakers who serve in both chambers. It also would prohibit the Legislature from putting future term-limit measures on the ballot.

House Speaker Rep. Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, said the measure, if enacted, would be the strictest in the country.

"They're taking away democracy from the people, who should be allowed to make their own choices on who represents them," he said. "That shows just how extreme this is."

He said it was too early to say if there would be an organized push by House members against the ballot measure.

If the measure appears on the ballot, Tim Jacob, co-chairman of Restore Term Limits, said he expects voters will pass it.

"The people demand it," he said. "I think it creates a shared responsibility in government. When you have one person in office for year after year after year, I think they become less representative of the people."

Jacob, who serves on the board for U.S. Term Limits, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that "advocates for term limits at all levels of government," said he didn't know if the group would help fund Restore Term Limits' push.

Unlike Jacob, Woods said he would be surprised if voters supported the measure.

"This particular ballot measure is very, very radical and irrational," he said. "I've never seen a ballot measure, so quickly, try to undo what the people voted on."

Metro on 08/07/2015

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