REPORT TITLE:
Legislative Term Limits


DESCRIPTION:
Limits state senators to 3 consecutive 4-year terms and state
representatives to 6 consecutive 2-year terms beginning on the
day of the general election of 2000.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.716        
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE III, SECTION 4, OF THE HAWAII
   CONSTITUTION, TO ESTABLISH LEGISLATIVE TERM LIMITS.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Findings.  The decision of the United States
 
 2 Supreme Court in Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), by
 
 3 disallowing certain campaign spending limits, substantially
 
 4 impaired the ability of nonincumbents to challenge elected
 
 5 officials.  It is instructive to compare the election of 1974,
 
 6 the only state election with mandatory spending limits, with the
 
 7 1990 election.
 
 8      In 1974, twenty-two new members were elected to the house of
 
 9 representatives (forty-three per cent) and eight new members were
 
10 elected to the senate (thirty-two per cent).  As this election
 
11 was held under the 1973 reapportionment plan, some of the
 
12 turnover may be attributable to changes in district boundaries.
 
13 However, there can be no doubt that this was an extraordinarily
 
14 fruitful election for bringing new blood into the process.  Among
 
15 the twenty-two new faces in the house of representatives that
 
16 year were the current governor and the congressman from the first
 
17 congressional district.  Eighteen years later, four others were
 
18 still members of the legislature.
 
19      In contrast, the 1990 elections saw the election of only one
 

 
Page 2                                                     
                                     H.B. NO.716        
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 new senator.  Even the solitary member of the senate's freshman
 
 2 class had prior elective experience and replaced a senator who
 
 3 did not seek reelection.  Eleven incumbent senators ran in 1990,
 
 4 all were reelected.  Of the ten incumbent candidates from the
 
 5 majority party, five faced no opposition in the primary or
 
 6 general election (but still spent between $17,328 and $41,632)
 
 7 and three others faced no general election opposition.  (This
 
 8 includes one race that was technically contested, but the
 
 9 opponent made no expenditure beyond the filing fee of $25.)
 
10      Things were only a little better for challengers in the
 
11 fifty-one-member house of representatives in 1990.  Seventeen
 
12 incumbents were elected, without opposition, by merely filing
 
13 their nomination papers, although they still spent an average of
 
14 almost $30,000 apiece.  Thirteen more incumbents faced only token
 
15 opposition.  Of forty-nine incumbents running, only four were
 
16 defeated.  Ninety-two per cent of the incumbents successfully
 
17 retained their seats.
 
18      The result of the high cost to nonincumbents running and the
 
19 small chance of winning is a reduction in the number of seriously
 
20 contested races.  This, in turn, has increased voter apathy.  It
 
21 is a cycle that is undermining the entire process of
 
22 representative democracy.  To help correct this problem, this Act
 
23 proposes an amendment to article III, section 4, of the
 

 
Page 3                                                     
                                     H.B. NO.716        
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 Constitution of the State of Hawaii to limit state senators to
 
 2 three consecutive four-year terms and state representatives to
 
 3 six consecutive two-year terms.  The legislature proposes to give
 
 4 the people of Hawaii an opportunity to weigh the benefits and
 
 5 detriments of term limits and, upon due consideration, choose
 
 6 whether or not to apply them.
 
 7      SECTION 2.  Article III, section 4, of the Constitution of
 
 8 the State of Hawaii is amended to read as follows:
 
 9                    "ELECTION OF MEMBERS; TERM
 
10      Section 4.  Each member of the legislature shall be elected
 
11 at an election.  If more than one candidate has been nominated
 
12 for election to a seat in the legislature, the member occupying
 
13 that seat shall be elected at a general election.  If a candidate
 
14 nominated for a seat at a primary election is unopposed for that
 
15 seat at the general election, the candidate shall be deemed
 
16 elected at the primary election.  The term of office of a member
 
17 of the house of representatives shall be two years [and the];
 
18 provided that, beginning with terms commencing on the day of the
 
19 general election of 2000, no member shall serve for more than six
 
20 consecutive two-year terms.  The term of office of a member of
 
21 the senate shall be four years[.]; provided that, beginning with
 
22 terms commencing on the day of the general election of 2000, no
 
23 member shall serve for more than three consecutive four-year
 

 
Page 4                                                     
                                     H.B. NO.716        
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 terms.  Terms are considered consecutive unless there is a break
 
 2 in service between terms of at least      years.
 
 3      For purposes of computing the term limits in this section,
 
 4 the following shall be considered to have served a full term of
 
 5 office:
 
 6      (1)  Any member of the senate whose term does not expire at
 
 7           the 2000 general election, but who has two years
 
 8           remaining in the current term of office; and
 
 9      (2)  Any person appointed or elected to fill a vacancy in
 
10           the legislature and who serves at least one-half of a
 
11           term of office.
 
12      The term of a member of the legislature shall begin on the
 
13 day of the general election at which elected or if elected at a
 
14 primary election, on the day of the general election immediately
 
15 following the primary election at which elected.  For a member of
 
16 the house of representatives, the terms shall end on the day of
 
17 the general election immediately following the day the member's
 
18 term commences.  For a member of the senate, the term shall end
 
19 on the day of the second general election immediately following
 
20 the day the member's term commences."
 
21      SECTION 3.  The question to be printed on the ballot shall
 
22 be as follows:
 
23      "Shall state senators be limited to serving three
 

 
Page 5                                                     
                                     H.B. NO.716        
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      consecutive four-year terms and shall state representatives
 
 2      be limited to serving six consecutive two-year terms
 
 3      beginning with terms commencing on the day of the general
 
 4      election of 2000?"
 
 5      SECTION 4.  Constitutional material to be repealed is
 
 6 bracketed.  New constitutional material is underscored.
 
 7      SECTION 5.  This amendment shall take effect upon compliance
 
 8 with article XVII, section 3, of the Constitution of the State of
 
 9 Hawaii.
 
10 
 
11                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________