PROP 28 – 5 June 2012

[Marty]

LIMITS ON LEGISLATORS' TERMS IN OFFICE. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
SUMMARY
Reduces total amount of time a person may serve in the state legislature from 14 years to 12 years. Allows 12 years' service in one house. Applies only to legislators first elected after measure is passed. Fiscal Impact: No direct fiscal effect on state or local governments.

WHAT YOUR VOTE MEANS
Yes
A YES vote on this measure means: Future Members of the State Legislature could serve a total of 12 years in office—without regard to whether the years were served in the State Assembly or the State Senate. Legislators first elected on or before June 5, 2012 would continue to be restricted by existing term limits.

NO
A NO vote on this measure means: Existing term limits for the Legislature would remain in place for current and future legislators. These limits allow a total of 14 years in office—including a maximum of six years in the State Assembly and eight years in the State Senate.

ARGUMENTS
PRO
The status quo isn't working. After two decades, our term limits law needs fixing. Prop. 28 places a hard 12 year limit on legislators and closes the loophole that allows legislators to serve nearly 17 years. It's a simple reform that helps make legislators more accountable. Read it. Vote Yes.

CON
Proposition 28 is a scam by special interests to trick voters into weakening term limits. It actually lengthens—not reduces—terms for politicians in office. It doubles the time politicians can serve in the State Assembly. It increases by 50% the time politicians can serve in the State Senate.

Proposition 28 represents the latest effort by politicians and their special interest supporters to try to fool California voters into gutting California’s voter-approved term limits law.

Prop. 28 is designed to trick voters into thinking it strengthens terms limits when it does the opposite. The measure weakens term limits for state legislators and lengthens the amount of time that they can stay in one office. If this measure passes, it means that most state legislators will serve a full decade in office without having to deal with a competitive election, because incumbency is such a powerful force in elections. Limiting service to six years in the Assembly and eight years in the state Senate ensures that these elected officials do not forget the voters put them in office.

Here are the plain, simple facts. You be the judge:

Prop. 28 allows politicians to be in the Assembly for 12 years – not the six-year maximum permitted under current law. That means Assembly members will have their time in one office doubled, not reduced.

It also allows politicians to be in the state Senate for 12 years – not the eight-year maximum permitted under current law. That means members of the Senate will actually have their time in one office increased by 50 percent, not reduced.

A study was conducted on how Prop. 28 would affect current term limits. The conclusion by Robert Prener, an emeritus professor of mathematics at Long Island University , was that, “The proposed change in law will weaken term limits; we may expect lengthening of incumbency for approximately 80 percent of legislators who are newly elected.”

Yes – four out of five politicians in Sacramento would be able to serve longer if Prop. 28 is passed by the voters.
Proponents of Prop. 28 will tell you that one of their goals is to reduce the possible time that a legislator can serve from 14 to 12 years. They will not tell you that fewer than 8 percent of legislators actually serve six years in the Assembly and eight years in the State Senate.

Is it any wonder that the groups urging you to vote for Prop. 28 are the same groups that opposed the original, successful term-limits measure?

Politicians and special interests spent millions to try to stop term limits when it first passed in 1990. Since then, they have tried twice to trick voters into letting the politicians stay in power for more years. Prop. 28 is just their latest effort.