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Richard Powell, a professor of political science at the University of Maine, recently coauthored a book on the effects of term limits on the Maine Legislature. Kenneth Palmer and Matthew Moen, two former UMaine professors, joined Powell in his study.
In their book, “Changing Members: The Maine Legislature in the Era of Term Limits,” the authors make no argument for or against term limits. They do present a detailed look at the effects that term limits have had on the state of Maine, as well as other states that have implemented some sort of limits on their elected representatives.
In 1993 Maine voters approved term limits. Nearly 70 percent of Maine voters voted in favor of term limits. In 1996 the state became the first to enforce term limits on its leaders in the state legislature. That year 26 members of the Maine State House and four members of the State Senate were ineligible to run. Other states have followed Maine’s lead. There are currently 15 states that have term limit laws. Six other states had term limits at one point, but have repealed them.
Voters hoped that term limits would help prevent legislators from becoming professional politicians. Powell said that while term limits have made it impossible to make a career out of legislative service, they have also had unintended consequences.
“You have a lot less experience,” he said. “You can only serve eight years before you have to leave.”
Powell said that the inexperience of legislators leads to problems that have to be solved elsewhere.
“Staff members who work for the Legislature become much more important,” Powell said.
He said that term limits have made the legislative branch less powerful as a whole.
“The governor and the executive branch have become much more powerful,” Powell said. “Because they have a lot more experience than the legislators themselves.”
The authors point out both the positive and the negative points of term limits. They preface their book by saying they will not attempt to resolve the issue of term limits, but rather inform and chronicle a discussion that they say has taken place in Maine for more than a decade.
In the book, the authors point out that the book also offers lessons for states “that are not as far down the term limits path.”
Powell said he is unsure of what the future of term limits will be.
“The effort to impose [term limits] in places where they don’t already exist has basically disappeared,” he said.
Powell said there are also current members of the state Legislature who would like to see changes to the current system in Maine. He said there are bills to both repeal term limits and extend them to as much as 12 years, which would give members six terms before they would be forced out. Currently no member of the legislature can serve more than four consecutive elected terms in the same house.
Powell said he is hesitant to take sides on the issue, but he realizes potential problems with extending term limits.
“Extending probably means that term limits don’t have very much of an affect at all,” he said. “Among the legislators there is a consensus that term limits are a bad thing.”
He said that legislators are hesitant to repeal term limits because it was the voters of Maine who put term limits in place.
“Polls right now suggest most Maine people support term limits,” Powell said. “Mainers have shown the ability to change their mind also.”
