(Source: MIRS.news, Published 09/13/2022) If voters pass the term limits and financial disclosure ballot proposal on Nov. 8, 89% of the 737 former Michigan legislators could run again for a legislative seat, according to a new analysis from the Citizens Research Council.
The non-partisan analysis also found that 40% of the past House members and 33% of the past senators have eligibility remaining under the current term limits scheme.
The numbers were used by Scott Tillman, treasurer for the No More Time For Career Politicians group, during a recorded debate on Proposal 1 that will air on the MIRS Monday podcast Sept. 19.
Tillman is making the argument that these numbers are proof that Proposal 1 will not reduce time for the Legislature for officeholders.
"This is letting the vast majority come back," Tillman said. "That's huge."
The longer a person stays in office, the more entrenched they get with special interests and the less tuned in they are with the people back home, he argued.
However, Jase Bolger, the former speaker of the House and co-chair of Voters for Transparency and Term Limits, said he has yet to speak with one former colleague who is planning to return to the Legislature if Proposal 1 passes.
Rather, he sees the proposal as allowing legislators to focus on serving in one chamber a little longer as opposed to jumping around from one chamber or the other to reach their maximum number of allowable terms.
The seniority will allow them to better stand up to state bureaucrats who currently may wait out a legislator who they see as an obstacle.
Currently, a Michigander is allowed to serve two four-year terms in the Senate and three two-year terms in the House for a total of 14 years. Proposal 1 allows a person to serve in the Senate and the House for a combined 12 years.
The CRC report also reported:
- Term limits "exacerbate the fairly common propensity to engage in governing by avoiding problems." Since legislators are only serving a few years, they can kick the meat of a proposal, like the 2015 road plan, into the future when they are no longer in office.
- Diversity of the gender and racial composition of Michigan's legislative bodies has increased under term limits, but society has become more diverse and legislatures without term limits are becoming more diversified, too.
- The CRC opines that term limits has reduced opportunities to gain “sufficient knowledge to become issue experts and trusted resources for their peers.” In their absences, lobbyists and other special interest groups have filled the void.
- The combination of short terms and hyper partisanship seems to have shifted the focus of chamber leadership away from policy and increasingly into fundraising for the political parties.
- The brevity of the current House terms "do not allow talented newcomers to develop their abilities, especially their leadership abilities."
