Term limits proposed again for Arkansas lawmakers

10-year cutoff would be strictest in U.S.

The Arkansas Term Limits ballot committee last week filed a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit state lawmakers to serving a maximum of 10 years in the Legislature.

The committee -- chaired by Thomas Steele of Little Rock -- filed the proposal, with its ballot title and popular name, with the secretary of state's office on Thursday, said Chris Powell, a spokesman for Secretary of State John Thurston.

In October, the state Supreme Court struck from the ballot a similar proposed amendment sponsored by the Arkansas Term Limits committee.

In a 4-3 ruling written by Justice Shawn Womack, a former state senator, the state's high court concluded that a special master was correct in his findings that there were insufficient valid signatures of registered voters on petitions submitted by the committee to then-Secretary of State Mark Martin's office. Randy Zook, chairman of the Arkansans for Common Sense Term Limits committee, challenged the signatures, after the proposal initially qualified for the ballot.

Like the proposal rejected last year, the most recent proposed amendment would impose the nation's strictest term limits on state lawmakers.

The current strictest term limits are in California and Oklahoma, which both limit lawmakers to serving 12 years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Amendment 94 to the Arkansas Constitution, approved by voters in November 2014, limits lawmakers to serving 16 years in the House, the Senate or in combined service in both chambers. Beyond that limit, some senators may serve two more years because of once-a-decade redrawing of legislative boundaries.

Before Amendment 94, lawmakers were limited to serving up to three two-year terms in the state House, plus up to two four-year terms in the Senate under Amendment 73, which was approved by voters in 1992. Some senators were able to serve an extra two-year term, because of redistricting.

Qualifying a proposed constitutional amendment requires the sponsor to collect signatures totaling 10 percent of the votes cast for governor in the last election, so 89,151 valid signatures will be required, Powell said.

"The deadline to submit petitions, as it currently stands, is four months prior to the general election," Powell said. "This comes out to July 3, 2020."

Steele said the committee is having attorneys review the ballot title to ensure that it wouldn't open the door to a successful legal challenge. He hopes the committee can begin to collect signatures of registered voters in the next month.

Under Act 376 of 2019, the authority to certify popular names and ballot titles has been shifted from the attorney general's office to the state Board of Election Commissioners.

The certification is now required after the sponsor of a ballot measure turns in the signatures of registered voters to the secretary of state. Previously, the attorney general's certification of the popular name and ballot title was required before the sponsor began collecting signatures.

The Arkansas Term Limits' proposal would limit lawmakers from being elected to more than three two-year terms as a member of the state House of Representatives, more than two four-year terms as a senator, or any term that if served would exceed 10 years in the General Assembly.

Two-year House terms and two- and four-year terms in the Senate would be used in calculating the 10-year limit.

A partial term served as a result of a special election under Article 5, Section 6, of the Arkansas Constitution "shall not count toward the limit unless service in that term is longer than one year in duration," under the proposed amendment. "Only full years of a partial term shall be counted."

Lawmakers' service in the General Assembly on and after Jan. 1, 1993, "shall be included in calculating allowable terms and service under this Amendment," according to the proposal.

The proposal states that "this Amendment shall not cut short or invalidate a term for which a member of the House of Representatives or Senate was elected prior to elective date of the Amendment." If approved by voters in 2020, the amendment would become effective Jan. 1, 2021.

Also, the proposal states, the "General Assembly does not have the authority to propose an amendment to the Constitution to amend or repeal term limits for the House of Representatives or Senate."

The U.S. Term Limits committee of Melbourne, Fla., raised and spent $814,369.04 to support the Arkansas Term Limits committee's proposal in the 2018 election cycle.

U.S. Term Limits advocates for term limits at all levels of government, according to its website. Its board of directors includes Tim Jacob of Little Rock, who served as a spokesman for the Arkansas Term Limits committee.

Arkansas Term Limits reported raising $13,200 and spending $8,904.70 through Nov. 30, leaving $5,111.77 in its campaign account on Nov. 30, according to its latest report filed Dec. 14.

An opponent, Arkansans for Common Sense Term Limits, reported raising $87,545 and spending $61,888.27, leaving $29,276.73 in its campaign account through Nov. 5, according to its final report.

Nick Tomboulides, executive director of U.S. Term Limits, said in December, "We are absolutely going to assist the term limits activists in Arkansas."

He linked the need for the effort to five former state lawmakers who have either pleaded guilty or been convicted of crimes as a result of federal investigations in the past two years.

In response to the convictions, legislative leaders have emphasized the importance of lawmakers holding each other to high ethical standards. They have proposed a package of six ethics measures. Last year, the Senate overhauled its code of its ethics and created an ethics committee.

SundayMonday on 03/18/2019

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