May 2, 2008

Rhode Island Politics

Term Limits Proposed

Marc Comtois

Via N4N:

Rep. Stephen R. Ucci (D-Dist. 42, Johnston, Cranston) has introduced legislation that would allow voters to decide on a proposal to increase term lengths for and impose term limits upon members of the General Assembly.

Under the proposal, elections held after 2010 would be held every four years. Legislators would serve four-year terms and be limited to three terms (totaling 12 years) in the same chamber.

Here's the proposed amendment and Ian's post contains some of Ucci's reasoning. OK, setting aside the likelihood that this thing is probably DOA, it's an interesting proposal. Term limits at the expense of longer terms. Question is, is the that a trade off people are willing to make?

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I think the legislators should have longer terms and that the different districts should be staggered so not every legislator is up for election at once.

Hopefully the result would be a little less fundraising and campaigning and a little more focus and the longterm effects of legislation. Also, it might help reduce election time gimick legislation and other one-time-fixes.

Posted by: Josh at May 2, 2008 3:19 PM

I don't think we need to trade off anything. I think we need 2 year terms to keep them responsive, but that term limits definitely need to be on the table. Maybe a limit of 3 or 4 2-year terms in each House. If term limits are good enough for the general officers and the President, it's certainly good enough for them.

What we really need is for the US Attorney to get back in the saddle and indict the heck out of the General Assembly ASAP! Hopefully, his relative silence recently is just like the darkness before the dawn, because it sure has been dark on Smith Hill lately!

While I appreciate Rep. Ucci thinking a little bit about the future here, I distinctly get the impression of someone offering us tasty applesauce laced with cyanide. ;)

Posted by: Will at May 3, 2008 1:59 AM
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