South Dakota Term Limits Repeal Proposal

by Karl Kurtz

CNNPolitics.com had a nice story last week about the ballot measure in South Dakota to repeal term limits.  The leader of the repeal campaign is Sen. William Napoli who, before he became a legislator, had led the campaign in favor of term limits when they were approved in 1992.

"I wanted to get the old guys out of there and get some fresh blood in. I wanted term limits worse than anybody," said Napoli, the owner of an antique car museum in Rapid City.

The measure passed in 1992, and Napoli became one of its "beneficiaries" after he was elected to the House in 1994. He served the maximum of four two-year terms in the House before switching to the Senate in 2002.

Under South Dakota's term limits, he could seek re-election this year one last time, but he's not going to. On his way out, he is hoping to undo the term limits legacy by sponsoring a constitutional amendment to remove them.

"We've seen the results of term limits, and they have decimated the legislative process. They put too much power in the hands of the government, bureaucrats and lobbyists, and they've neutered the third branch," Napoli said.

The story goes on to summarize the history of repeals of terms limits in six states and New York City, drawing heavily on information from NCSL's Jennie Drage Bowser.

Polls show the South Dakota repeal measure trailing.  It's one of the many ballot proposals that we'll be following tonight.  We'll update this post before the night is out.

Comments

[travis.eb]

Just as Wyoming's term-limit law would claim its first victims this year, two 12-year veterans of the Legislature are suing to challenge the constitutionality of the state law that would force them out of office.

If they prevail, Wyoming would become the sixth of 21 states that adopted the popular government reform in the 1990s to reverse course and rescind To declare a contract void—of no legal force or binding effect—from its inception and thereby restore the parties to the positions they would have occupied had no contract ever been made.
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rescind v. term limits. The action in Wyoming is the latest sign that the drive to use term limits to try to break the grip of special interests and entrenched en·trench also in·trench
v. en·trenched, en·trench·ing, en·trench·es

v.tr.
1. To provide with a trench, especially for the purpose of fortifying or defending.

2. lawmakers has peaked and, in fact, is reversing course at the state level.

Already, term limits adopted in Idaho, Massachusetts, Oregon, Utah and Washington have been repealed or thrown out by courts as a result of vigorous resistance by the term-limited lawmakers. "In virtually every state that has term limits, the legislature has at least attempted to eliminate of alter them," said Gary Moncrief, political science professor at Boise State University in Idaho.

Although term limits were rejected by voters in Mississippi and North Dakota North Dakota, state in the N central United States. It is bordered by Minnesota, across the Red River of the North (E), South Dakota (S), Montana (W), and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba (N). , they are often supported by a majority of voters. Moncrief said, however, the drive to restrict legislators' terms has run its course. That is largely because it was a voter-driven movement whose success was confined con·fine
v. con·fined, con·fin·ing, con·fines

v.tr.
1. To keep within bounds; restrict: Please confine your remarks to the issues at hand. See Synonyms at limit. to states where voters could bypass the legislature and put the issue directly on the ballot, he says.
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travis

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[icr]

"We've seen the results of term limits, and they have decimated the legislative process. They put too much power in the hands of the government, bureaucrats and lobbyists, and they've neutered the third branch," Napoli said.

How much evidence is there for all this?