Proponents of a proposed constitutional amendment to again change term limits said Wednesday that in an effort to get their proposal onto the November ballot, they're making "a big push" to collect signatures of registered voters up to and on the day of the March 1 election.
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And state Rep. Donnie Copeland, R-North Little Rock, and state House candidate Jim A. Hall, a Republican from Monticello, said they've signed the petition for Restore Term Limits' proposed amendment. The proposal would limit state representatives to serving six years, senators to serving eight years and state lawmakers overall to a maximum of 10 years' service. The proposed amendment also would prohibit the Legislature from putting future term-limit measures on the ballot.
Lawmakers may now serve up to 16 years in the House, Senate or both under state constitutional Amendment 94, which voters adopted in November 2014.
Restore Term Limits must collect 84,859 valid signatures of registered voters on petitions to qualify its proposal for the Nov. 8 general election ballot. July 8 is the deadline to turn in the petitions with the secretary of state's office, said Chris Powell, a spokesman for the office.
Angel Roberson of Sherwood, Restore Term Limits' volunteer coordinator, said people are either "outraged" or "shocked" when they're informed that voters, by approving Amendment 94, increased the number of years that lawmakers may serve in the Legislature.
"The main goal ... is to get boots on the ground," she said at a news conference at the state Capitol. "It is the easiest petition ever to get signed."
Restore Term Limits spokesman Tim Jacob of Little Rock said the ballot title for Amendment 94 was misleading.
Voters deserve "a fair chance" to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment with "a fair ballot title," he said.
Amendment 94 barred state elected officials from accepting certain gifts, such as meals in one-on-one meetings, from lobbyists; created a citizens commission that increased the salaries of state elected officials; banned direct corporate and union contributions to state officials; and extended the cooling-off period for lawmakers before they may register as lobbyists.
Before Amendment 94 was passed, state lawmakers had been limited to serving 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.
Jacob said he's not sure how many signatures that Restore Term Limits has collected so far.
The group won't know that number until about three weeks after the "big push" to gather signatures in the March 1 election, he said. The primary and nonpartisan judicial elections will be held that day.
"But because the primary is so early we do have four months after the primary to work and what we are going to do is work as hard as we can," he said.
Restore Term Limits eventually plans to use paid signature-gatherers, Jacob said.
Through Jan. 31, Restore Term Limits reported contributions of $8,826 and spending of $7,969.04, leaving $866.96 in the bank.
State Rep. Warwick Sabin, D-Little Rock, who proposed what became Amendment 94 with state Sen. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, said he doesn't have an opinion on Restore Term Limits' proposed amendment.
"I personally don't have any kind of opinion or preference one way or the other," he said, noting that state lawmakers were limited to serving six years in the House and eight years in the Senate when he first ran for a House seat in 2012.
Increasing the amount of time that lawmakers may serve in the Legislature "was part of the compromise to get my ethics provisions passed," said Sabin.
The ballot title for Amendment 94 "wasn't really misleading," he said, adding it was written by employees of the Bureau of Legislative Research. "Everyone quibbles with ballot titles every time."
The ballot title read: "An amendment regulating contributions to candidates for state or local office, barring gifts from lobbyists to certain state officials, providing for setting salaries of certain state officials, and setting term limits for members of the General Assembly."
Woods could not be reached for comment by telephone on Wednesday.
"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 last year.
Copeland, who is challenging Sen. Jane English, R-North Little Rock, in the primary, and Hall, who is challenging state Rep. Sheilla Lampkin, D-Monticello, in the general election, attended the news conference held by Restore Term Limits.
Copeland said he didn't vote for Amendment 94 "because I felt like the true intention of the [proposal] was buried within it."
"Politicians are not going by the will of the people. They are going with what's best for them," Copeland said.
English said she doesn't recall why she didn't vote in 2013 to refer to voters what became Amendment 94.
She said she voted against it at the ballot box because "I just thought it was too much."
English said Restore Term Limits' proposed amendment limiting lawmakers to serving a maximum of 10 years in both chambers is "ridiculous."
"If you served six years in the House, you could only serve one term in the Senate," she said. "You wonder, why even have a Legislature? Let's just turn it over to the bureaucrats."
Hall criticized Lampkin for voting in 2013 to refer to voters what became Amendment 94.
Lampkin said she wanted to "let the people speak on it."
She said she's surprised voters approved Amendment 94, but she doesn't know whether she would support the Restore Term Limits proposal.
Metro on 02/18/2016