This session, my very own Representative Keith Perry (R) introduced a little bill to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would change term limits for the state legislature. It would change the length of terms for both houses – from four to six years in the senate and from two to four years in the state representatives. In an interview with the Gainesville Sun, he issued one simple statement that touched upon the underlying structural problems in Tallahassee that term limits have caused and this is worth discussion and attention: “It’s easy for politicians to not do things controversial,” he said, “As incumbents are term-limited out after eight years, the turnover within the Legislature allows lobbyists and government staff, who retain the most institutional knowledge, to have a bigger influence on policy-making than they should because newer representatives rely more on their expertise.” His bill did not go anywhere; there was a huge public backlash from many within his own party (see a letter from the President of U.S. Term Limits Phillip Blumel here).

As Blumel lays out, term limits are an incredibly popular idea. Representative Perry himself was careful to not attack the whole idea of term-limits: “I’m a term limits guy. I think there’s really good things about not letting people become professional politicians,” Perry said. “But at the same time, you have to balance that against the magnitude and complexity of government.” It passed in Florida in 1992 with a margin of 77% and it remains an intensely popular idea. A Quinnipiac poll from 2009 has 79% of Florida voters in favor of the current limits. Everybody hates the idea of the career legislator and it seems very logical that limits would add new voices to government. A high turnover is supposed to eliminate careerism and force members to stop focusing on getting re-elected. The argument at the time was that term limits would solve a whole litany of problems, including the deadlocked policy process, rampant corruption, and concentration of power and these arguments continue to be relevant as many groups push to enact term limits on Congress. Term limits were supposed to fix things. How exactly is that going?

They came into effect in 2000, so the state of Florida is just beginning to see the real impact. This magical solution has quickly faded into an entire different set of problems. Far from distributing power and making it easier to run for office, it has concentrated power. Now, leadership positions in the house and the senate are fought years before officials are even elected and leadership is determined years in advanced.  Logically it seems like a high turn-over would increase accessibility, however, there has been no definitive research to show that term limits increase the number of women and minorities serving office.

Instead of being focused on getting re-elected, members are focused on the job they can line up after they leave office. the legislature became a stepping stone in a career path. When you have short-term legislators, there is no motivation to address long-term problems. While there is the argument that many state legislators move to the senate, the simple math is that two-thirds of them do not (because the senate is one-third the size of the house, so not all of them get a seat).  Attacks on careerism are certainly valid, however, the alternative is that you take the institutional knowledge that Representative Perry refers to and you place it in the hand of the special interests.  career lobbyists because they are the permanent fixture.  Enter the lobbyist as the main holder of continuity. The same barriers to serving office still exist and more than ever boil down to one thing; money, which more than ever lobbyists control. When they are not focused on re-election, it seems a bit far-fetched that representatives will suddenly take their jobs seriously and address major problems the state is facing.

Now the reality is that they are just lining up a sweet job after serving. Term limits attack one specific idea – that once a legislator reaches a certain point, they are no longer an effective representative of the people. This cannot be proven in every single case.  Where is that balance? Is there a magical number where legislators suddenly become ‘career’?  Is there really an expiration date?  Is there a huge moral decline in years 7 to 8?  What we see is that  Republicans have had an iron grip on the state for almost 20 years.  Unfortunately term limits effect the good and the bad, the majority and the minority alike, yet Republicans have been much better about organizing and playing this new system.  The biggest consequences have been with policy.  The founders meant for policy to be a slow process because it brings stability. A government that makes slow changes is supposed to stable and deliberative.  Moreover,when you have to work with people for a lengthy time, you are motivated to be nice.  Policy depends on these relationships.  Instead of fostering cooperation, term limits have simply increased competition among members to the point of dysfunction. Ultimately, voters always had the power to remove incumbents.

Functionally, term limits are just an excuse for the voter to be lazy and not pay attention to issues like incumbency.  As we see, very very few incumbents lose their seats before term limits are up, which means that there are less competitive races, meaning that there are less issues and problems that are being addressed and talked about.  On the Division of Elections website, you can only see a handful of truly competitive races, which was the opposite of what term-limits were supposed to accomplish. If Floridians want a new breed of legislator, the people always had the power to vote one in and they gave it away. Term limits are not a magical fix and come with many more problems to add to the system. There are very few issues I agree with Representative Perry, but this one is a very valid conversation that this state needs to have.

Further reading: http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2011-03-03/how-term-limits-reshaped-florida-politics-%E2%80%94-better-or-worse