In my last blog post, on May 30, (Part II: Speaker of the House – Perspective on Michigan & Illinois), I talked about the institutional and historical perspective that one gains from spending a bit more time in a legislative body – more time than what is constitutionally afforded lawmakers in Michigan.  Specifically, I talked about how leaders in Congress, the state House in Illinois and the pre-term-limited era in Michigan had time to develop coalition building skills as well as an understanding rules, legislative process and gain historical perspective.  As we learned, while term limits really didn’t impact the average number of years that someone served as Speaker of the House, in Michigan it has greatly limited the number of years they can serve and learn in the legislature before taking the reins of power.

Now I want to share insight into Michigan term limits and how it has created sweeping changes at the State Capitol.  Since 1998, when the first group of legislators were restricted from running for re-election, hundreds of citizens have been sworn in as freshman members of the House and Senate.  An opportunity they likely would not have had without term-limits.

The term-limit movement was big in the late 1980’s and by 1991 the national effort was focused squarely on Michigan.  Gathering enough signatures to place Proposal B on Michigan’s 1992 General Election ballot, the Term-Limits Constitutional Amendment was overwhelmingly adopted by 59 percent of voters.  Under the amendment, the Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and State Senators are limited to serving no more than two 4-year terms and the members of the MI House of Representatives limited to three 2-year terms.  Even more restrictive is that they are then barred for life from running for those respective positions again.  The 1992 ballot question included limits to members of Congress, which likely made it even more popular with voters, but that portion was ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court in 1995.  The US Constitution governs the election of federal officials, and the term-limits amendment there-forward only impacted state elected officials.

In 1998, six years after the amendment passed, the first class of thrice elected House members were faced with a ban on running for re-election.  That year, over 60 House members left office.  When the new legislature was seated in January 1999, the clerk of the House was faced with providing “freshman orientation” to one of the largest classes in state history.

In 2002, the first class of Senators were barred from seeking re-election after serving their maximum of 2-terms (8 years).  That year, 27 of the 38 were broomed from office.  The next January, the newly minted Senators were selecting leaders that only had one term under their belt.

While term-limits creates a mass exodus, certain election cycles experience even greater departure.  For example, this fall 27 of the 38 Senate seats are open, most due to term-limits.  While in the House, 44 of the 110 members are departing – 23 are term-limited and 21 are foregoing almost certain re-election to run for open and coveted 8-year Senate seats.  All this is occurring at the same time that the Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State are also “termed out.”

Contrast this all with the fact that in 1991, before term limits was a “thing” in Michigan, only 20 freshman House members and 4 freshman Senators were sworn into office.  The new members that were taking under the wing by mentors so that they could learn how to be impactful.

While change at the Capitol is inevitable in every way, term-limits has created sweeping changes.  This election will bring a lot of new talent, but it’ll take some time before they gain the perspective that their predecessors will be packing up and taking home.

Michigan Legislative Consultants is a bipartisan lobbying firm based in Lansing, Michigan. Our team of lobbyists and procurement specialists provide a wide range of services for some of the most respected companies in America. For more on MLC, visit www.mlcmi.com or connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.