Supporters of a proposed ballot initiative to alter California's legislative term limits announced Monday that they are submitting about 1.1 million voter signatures - 400,000 more than necessary - to qualify for the Feb. 5 ballot. Launched by Gale Kaufman and Matthew Dowd, political strategists for Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, respectively, the initiative campaign needs 694,354 valid voter signatures.
Kaufman announced Monday that the initiative petitions are being submitted to elections officials for certification. "Representing the people of California is honorable work," Núñez said in a written statement. "This initiative with its bipartisan coalition of supporters can bring more stability and greater expertise to our system."
Critics claim the measure expands rather than reduces term limits, however, and that the initiative represents a desperate measure by Núñez and Perata to retain their $133,639-a-year jobs.
Kaufman's announcement Monday comes at a tense time for the state's 120 legislators, who are tangled in a lengthy budget impasse that threatens to delay payment to state vendors. The proposed initiative would reduce the total years that California lawmakers may serve, but would allow all existing incumbents - including Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata - to remain at least one extra term. Núñez could lead the Assembly for six additional years and Perata could oversee the Senate for four additional years under the proposed ballot measure. Both are scheduled to be termed out next year.
California's existing term limits, adopted in 1990, limit legislators to six years in the Assembly and eight years in the Senate, thus allowing 14 years of service if an incumbent forced from one house wins election to the other. The new proposal would reduce the total number of years that a lawmaker could serve to 12 but would allow all of them to be served in the Assembly, the Senate or a combination of both. Sitting legislators are granted an exception - they could serve 12 years in the house they are serving now, regardless whether they were termed out of the opposite house. For Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, the initiative would mean he could serve a total of 18 years in the Legislature, since he was termed out of the Assembly after six years and could serve up to 12 in the Senate.
Opposition to the initiative is led by GOP political consultant Kevin Spillane under the auspices of Term Limits America, a Virginia-based group. If voters approve the initiative on the Feb. 5 presidential primary ballot, incumbent legislators who are scheduled to be termed out next year - including Núñez and Perata - could file for re-election in time for the June primary for state offices.
The stage for such a re-election scenario was set in March by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed legislation to move California's presidential primary up by four months next year - to Feb. 5. Schwarzenegger has said that he will not support altering legislative term limits, however, unless a separate measure is placed on the ballot that would strip from lawmakers the authority to draw the state's political districts.
Separate proposals to transfer such map-making authority to an independent commission are pending in the Senate and Assembly.
