Golden Transcript, March 2, 1995

Guest Column

CTLC wants term limits for all states

by Dennis Polhill, treasurer Colorado Term Limits Coalition

Editor’s note: Dennis Polhill joined more than 40 other state and national term limit leaders in proclaiming their support for a Congressional statute that would allow each state to establish term limits on their own members of Congress.

This statute will let us measure exactly how serious Congress is about term limits. It will call the bluff of those Congressmen who say they’re for term limits but aren’t sure how long the limits should be.

Over the past four years, 22 states have placed term limits on their Congressmen. More than 40% of Congress is now under limits, generally established at three terms in the House and two in the Senate. Term limit leaders are confident that they can pass similar laws in at least two or three states a year until all 50 states are covered. Sooner or later Congress will get the message. However, we’re not going to sit around and wait for Congress to understand; we will keep passing limits through the states until the entire nation enjoys the benefits of citizen legislators.

The State Leaders Statement also called upon Congress to “immediately cease all efforts to overturn existing term limit laws.” This refers to a bill introduced by Congressman Bill McCollum, R-Fla., that would overturn existing term limit laws in 22 states and replace them with limits twice as long as those approved by voters. The statement declares that “overturning state laws through Congressional action is no different than Tom Foley’s effort to overturn the same laws through legal action.”

House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., has expressed support for passage of a term limits federalism statute. While we’re pleased that the speaker is supportive of this effort, we’re reserving final judgment until we can see the precise language of the statute. We need a statute that will truly protect the existing state laws from Congressional repeal.

Colorado Term Limits Coalition believes that states already have the right to place term limits on their members of Congress. However, a legal challenge by term limit opponents is being considered by the Supreme Court. Passage of a statute is likely to protect the rights of states to impose term limits in the unlikely event that the court overturns the existing laws.

 

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