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 2004.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. Findings. The decision of the United States Supreme Court in Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), by disallowing certain campaign spending limits, substantially impaired the ability of nonincumbents to challenge elected officials. It is instructive to compare the election of 1974, the only state election with mandatory spending limits, with the 1990 election.

In 1974, twenty-two new members were elected to the house of representatives (forty-three per cent) and eight new members were elected to the senate (thirty-two per cent). As this election was held under the 1973 reapportionment plan, some of the turnover may be attributable to changes in district boundaries. However, there can be no doubt that this was an extraordinarily fruitful election for bringing new blood into the process. Among the twenty-two new faces in the house of representatives that year were the current governor and the congressman from the first congressional district. Eighteen years later, four others were still members of the legislature.

In contrast, the 1990 elections saw the election of only one new senator. Even the solitary member of the senate's freshman class had prior elective experience and replaced a senator who did not seek reelection. Eleven incumbent senators ran in 1990; all were reelected. Of the ten incumbent candidates from the majority party, five faced no opposition in the primary or general election (but still spent between $17,328 and $41,632) and three others faced no general election opposition. This includes one race that was technically contested, but the opponent made no expenditure beyond the filing fee of $25.

Things were only a little better for challengers in the fifty-one-member house of representatives in 1990. Seventeen incumbents were elected, without opposition, by merely filing their nomination papers, although they still spent an average of almost $30,000 apiece. Thirteen more incumbents faced only token opposition. Of forty-nine incumbents running, only four were defeated. Ninety-two per cent of the incumbents successfully retained their seats.

The result of the high cost to nonincumbents running and the small chance of winning is a reduction in the number of seriously contested races. This, in turn, has increased voter apathy. It is a cycle that is undermining the entire process of representative democracy. To help correct this problem, this Act proposes an amendment to article III, section 4, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii to limit state senators to three consecutive four-year terms and state representatives to six consecutive two-year terms. The legislature proposes to give the people of Hawaii an opportunity to weigh the benefits and detriments of term limits and, upon due consideration, choose whether or not to apply them.

SECTION 2. Article III, section 4, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii is amended to read as follows:

"ELECTION OF MEMBERS; TERM

Section 4. Each member of the legislature shall be elected at an election. If more than one candidate has been nominated for election to a seat in the legislature, the member occupying that seat shall be elected at a general election. If a candidate nominated for a seat at a primary election is unopposed for that seat at the general election, the candidate shall be deemed elected at the primary election. The term of office of a member of the house of representatives shall be two years [and the]; provided that, beginning with terms commencing on the day of the general election of 2004, no member shall serve for more than six consecutive two-year terms. The term of office of a member of the senate shall be four years[.]; provided that, beginning with terms commencing on the day of the general election of 2004, no member shall serve for more than three consecutive four-year terms. Terms are considered consecutive unless there is a break in service between terms of at least      years.

For purposes of computing the term limits in this section, the following shall be considered to have served a full term of office:

The term of a member of the legislature shall begin on the day of the general election at which elected or if elected at a primary election, on the day of the general election immediately following the primary election at which elected. For a member of the house of representatives, the terms shall end on the day of the general election immediately following the day the member's term commences. For a member of the senate, the term shall end on the day of the second general election immediately following the day the member's term commences."

SECTION 3. The question to be printed on the ballot shall be as follows:

SECTION 4. Constitutional material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New constitutional material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This amendment shall take effect upon compliance with article XVII, section 3, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii.