Term Limits’ Downside

With the approach of the November election, California government is in the final stage of a revolution. It began in 1990 when voters approved Proposition 140, imposing strict term limits on all 120 state legislators, eight statewide officers and the four members of the state Board of Equalization. The results have not been what voters might have hoped.

By January, there will have been a complete turnover in elected government since 1991. Gov. Pete Wilson becomes the first chief executive forced from office because of the limits. State officials and senators are restricted to two four-year terms and Assembly members to three two-year terms. They may not sit out a term or two and run again for the same job.

Over time, term limits will have little impact on statewide elected officials, who rarely serve more than two terms anyway. It’s in the Legislature that the effect is profound, particularly in the Assembly, where members can serve only six years.

The state Senate loses the last of its pre-limits veterans this year, with their experience and knowledge. Any senator elected in 1990 or earlier now is “termed out,” as they say in Sacramento. Eleven members with 180 years of service in the Senate are leaving, including Democrats Herschel Rosenthal and Diane Watson of Los Angeles, Ralph Dills of El Segundo and Ruben Ayala of Chino.

Still, there will be more continuity in the Senate than in the Assembly. Of the 11 open Senate seats, nine are likely to be filled by current or former Assembly members. The Assembly has suffered from constant turnover and occasional turmoil. Of the 80 seats, at least 24 will be filled with newcomers next year. None of the 80 will have more than four years’ experience, except for four who had served earlier terms and were out of office when term limits took effect.

More than ever, Assembly members’ attention is focused on partisan politics, fund-raising and what they will do when termed out. The logical step up is to move to the Senate. Because each Senate district is composed of two Assembly districts, there is often tension between the two members over which will be better positioned to move up when the Senate seat comes open.

Often overlooked is the fact that Proposition 140 also cut the legislative staff by 40%. The ranks have been further thinned because the turnover makes work in the Legislature far less attractive as a career. Many top aides have taken their institutional memory and expertise to other jobs in government or to become lobbyists or consultants for interest groups.

The fresh blood in the Legislature has produced some creative thinking and a few new ideas, as the sponsors of Proposition 140 promised. But usually, the new members discover that their “new” ideas have been tried before and have failed. Legislating, they find, involves skills of give and take, of fine-tuning details, of knowing when to force an issue or quietly retreat.

Most who win election to the Legislature are dedicated citizens trying to do the right thing for their districts and the state. The problem with the current term limits law, especially in the Assembly, is that just when legislators are best able to do the job, they have to leave and never return, except as special-interest lobbyists.