Back in 1992, Arkansas voters approved Amendment 73 to the state constitution setting term limits for lawmakers.
State representatives were limited to three two-year terms and state senators could serve two four-year terms. The same amendment also limited terms for U.S. representatives and senators from Arkansas, but that was overturned by the U.S. Supreme court.
Then in 2014, voters gave their OK to Amendment 94, which increased the total time state House and Senate members could serve to 16 years total in any combination of offices. That was packaged with ethics reform, and some people have suggested voters weren't so supportive of extending limits as they were with limiting corporate, lobbyist and union influence.
Now some in the state want to tighten the limits up a bit.
According to a story published Sunday on the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette website, a group called Arkansas Term Limits is proposing an amendment to shorten the total time a state legislator could serve to a maximum of 10 years, with no more than six of those years in the House or eight in the Senate. Apparently the effort began two years ago and the ballot title has already been approved by the state attorney general, so all that remains is for supporters to collect nearly 85,000 signatures before the proposal appears before voters. Arkansas Term Limits says they've been collecting signatures for a year and already have about 70,000, according to the Democrat-Gazette
State lawmakers aren't happy, of course. They don't want more restrictive terms. But should this get on the ballot, that's a question the voters can decide. That's why the people of Arkansas have the power to initiate ballot measures.
But the proposed amendment would also bar the Legislature from approving any further ballot measures on term limits. We do have an issue with that.
Arkansas Term Limits has every right to try and get their proposal voted into law. And the proposal would still allow the people to initiate an amendment to change term limit laws and that's good. But the Legislature has the power under the state Constitution to propose amendments. The people have the power to approve or reject them. We understand the reason behind the provision, but we aren't sure that messing about with lawmakers' constitutional authority is the right way to go.
We expect to see this on the ballot in November. And it will be interesting to see just how Arkansas voters react-especially considering that so-called "career politicians" aren't the most popular folks these days.