Repealing State Legislative Term Limits: a Comparative Analysis of Legislative Statutes and Judicial Decisions

This study is a comparative case analysis of State governments that have attempted to repeal term limits. It examines the institutional processes and the behavior of political actors culminating in legislative statutes and judicial decisions. The theoretical propositions explored in this research are derived from decision-making theories, democratic theories of representation, and the findings of the existing literature on State legislative term limits. The States selected are Florida, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming, during the years 1999 to 2004. The goals of this research are to generate and test hypotheses as to which factors had an effect on the decision to either repeal or retain State legislative term limits. The positive findings for legislative decisions pertain to institutional structure and to a lesser extent voter preference. Judicial decision-making is found to rely on the legal model, focusing on the wording and clarity of term limit measures and pertinent portions of state constitutions. Professionals as well as others interested in term limits, and other mechanisms of direct democracy, should find interest in this book.