Yet another dumb term limit measure will be on the February ballot. The Sacramento Bee is reporting that a state legislative “term limits initiative has secured enough support to be placed on the Feb. 5 ballot, according to the secretary of state.”
This measure would:
…reduce the total number of years that a lawmaker could serve in the Legislature from 14 to 12, but it would allow all of those years to be served in the Assembly, Senate or a combination of both.
California currently limits legislators to six years in the Assembly and eight years in the Senate.
The pending initiative also would allow at least one extra term for current incumbents, enabling Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata to retain their leadership posts.
The Santa Ana City Council previously voted to put an even worse council/mayoral term limits measure on the February ballot. You can read what I wrote about it at this link.
The Santa Ana measure has been called a hoax, because it gives the Mayor up to 16 years in office, and Miguel Pulido’s previous 21 years in office do not count. So he gets another 16 years, unless we can defeat him.
The Santa Ana measure also gives the Council members another four year term, for a total of 12 years in office. This measure would allow the current council members who are on their last term to run again next year.
The state legislative measure is likewise ridiculous as it allows Assembly leader Fabian Nunez and Senate leader Don Perata to run for one more term each. I would vote against this measure just to be rid of Perata, who earlier this year locked State Senator Lou Correa out of his office, for reasons that only mattered to Perata. Nunez also moved Assemblyman Todd Spitzer into a closet, after he spoke out against some really bad measures involving our criminal justice and prison systems.
Perata and Nunez need to go! Vote no on both of the equally bogus statewide legislative term limit and local Santa Ana council term limit measures.
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