Bill Text: HI SR91 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Legislative Reference Bureau; Legislature Members; Term Limits

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-03-16 - (S) Referred to JDL, WAM. [SR91 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-SR91-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	91
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the legislative reference bureau to conduct a study of the benefits and drawbacks of implementing term limits for members of the legislature.

 

 

     WHEREAS, when the United States Supreme Court decided in Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), that certain campaign spending limits would not have to be observed, the ability of nonincumbents to challenge elected officials was substantially impaired; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1974, the year of the only state election which observed spending limits, twenty-two new members were elected to the House of Representatives and eight new members were elected to the Senate; in other words, forty-three percent of the representatives and thirty-two percent of the senators elected in 1974 were new to the Legislature; and

 

     WHEREAS, the expenses for nonincumbents seeking election to the Legislature and the small chance of winning leads to a reduction in the number of seriously contested races, which results in voter apathy and the undermining of the entire foundation and process of representative democracy; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2012, that the Legislative Reference Bureau conduct a study of the benefits and drawbacks of implementing term limits for members of the Legislature; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau report its findings to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2013; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Senate President.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Legislative Reference Bureau; Legislature Members; Term Limits