THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	10
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

REQUESTING THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF STATE LEGISLATURES AND COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS TO UPDATE THE FINDINGS OF THE 2004 JOINT PROJECT ON TERM LIMITS ON THE POTENTIAL POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPLEMENTING TERM LIMITS FOR MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE.

WHEREAS, when the United States Supreme Court decided in Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), that certain campaign spending limits were unconstitutional, the ability of nonincumbents to challenge elected officials was substantially impaired; and

WHEREAS, in 1974, the year of the only Hawaii election that observed spending limits, twenty-two new members were elected to the House of Representatives and eight new members were elected to the Senate; in other words, forty-three percent of the representatives and thirty-two percent of the senators elected in 1974 were new to the Legislature; and

WHEREAS, fifteen states have imposed term limits on state legislators: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, and South Dakota; and

WHEREAS, thirty-six states have imposed term limits on their governors; and

WHEREAS, thirty-three states have imposed term limits on their members in the United States Congress; and

WHEREAS, the legislatures of Idaho and Utah have repealed term limits on state legislators; and

WHEREAS, the supreme courts of Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming have invalidated term limits on state legislators due to procedural concerns, and not the merits of the applicable laws; and

WHEREAS, the expenses for nonincumbents seeking election to the Legislature and the small chance of winning reduce the number of seriously contested races, which may increase voter apathy and undermine the entire foundation and process of representative democracy; and

WHEREAS, from 2001 through 2004, a Joint Project on Term Limits was conducted as a cooperative effort by the National Conference of State Legislatures, Council of State Governments, State Legislative Leaders Foundation, and a number of legislative scholars; and

WHEREAS, the massive project assessed the effects of term limits on state legislatures and identified approaches for coping with term limits; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, the House of Representatives concurring, that the National Conference of State Legislatures and Council of State Governments is requested to update the findings of the 2004 Joint Project on Term Limits on the potential positive and negative consequences of implementing term limits for members of the Legislature; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the Executive Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures and National President of the Council of State Governments.

Report Title:

Legislators; Senators; Representatives; Term Limits; Study