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Term limits is a bad idea!
It was a bad idea in 1994 when Utah lawmakers gave into an emotional populist movement and passed term limits legislation. In nine years nothing has changed to make the idea of limiting legislative service to 12 years any better.
The legislative process often benefits from having experienced people on board to provide continuity and a degree of stability. Besides, the natural turnover that occurs on Capitol Hill only reaffirms the absurdity of trying to force seasoned lawmakers out of office.
Of the 75 members of the Utah House of Representatives currently serving, only 12 were there in 1994. 63 of them have come on the scene since. That’s an 84 percent turnover rate!
Of the 29 state senators now on Capitol Hill, only five filled the same roll in 1994. That means 24 new senators in less than a decade, a turnover rate of 83 percent!
Realize this turnover is natural, not the result of lawmakers leaving office because of term limits. The term limits law approved in 1994 won’t apply until 2006.
With that kind of natural change, why, we ask, is a term limits law needed? What is the justification? Where is the rationale?
Legislation is in the works to repeal term limits. KSL believes it ought to pass. If a change in elected officials is warranted, let the voters bring it about as they often do, at the polls.
