Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T06:46:48.224Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Limited Impact of Term Limits: Contingent Effects on the Complexity and Breadth of Laws

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Thad Kousser
Thad Kousser*
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Do term limits constrain a legislature's ability to produce complex and broad policy? I investigate this question by examining patterns of policymaking in six states before and after term limits went into effect in four of them. I find that term limits reduced policy complexity in three hybrid and citizen legislatures, while laws became increasingly intricate in the highly professional California legislature. I conclude that both the institutional context and experience of the term-limited legislators condition the effects of this reform on policymaking. In particular, a legislator's experience—in either state or local government—allows him or her to write broad and complex bills, and in legislatures that provide little staff support to compensate for the inexperience of their new members, term limits can reduce overall legislative policy knowledge, thus reducing the complexity of legislation.

Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , Winter 2006 , pp. 410 - 429
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allebaugh, Dalene, and Pinney, Neil. 2003. “The Real Costs of Term Limits: Comparative Study of Competition and Electoral Costs.” In The Test of Time: Coping with Legislative Term Limits, eds. Farmer, Rick, Rausch, John David Jr., and Green, John C.. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Berman, David R. 2003. “Effects of Legislative Term Limits in Arizona: Final Report for the Joint Project on Term Limits.” Denver, CO: National Conference of State Legislatures.Google Scholar
Cain, Bruce E., and Kousser, Thad. 2004. Adapting to Term Limits: Recent Experiences and New Directions. San Francisco, CA: Public Policy Institute of California.Google Scholar
Carey, John, Moncrief, Gary, Niemi, Richard, and Powell, Lynda. 2003. “The Effects of Term Limits on State Legislatures: Evidence from a New Survey of the 50 States.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, PA.Google Scholar
Colorado Office of Legislative Legal Services. 2001. Bills Passed and Included in Session Laws and Average Number of Pages in Session Laws. Denver, CO: Colorado Office of Legislative Legal Services.Google Scholar
Council of State Governments. 2004. The Book of the States 2004. Vol. 36. Lexington, KY: Council of State Governments.Google Scholar
English, Art, and Weberg, Brian. 2004. “Term Limits in the Arkansas General Assembly: A Citizen Legislature Responds: Final Report for the Joint Project on Term Limits.” Denver, CO: National Conference of State Legislatures.Google Scholar
Farmer, Rick, and Little, Thomas H.. 2004. “Legislative Power in the Buckeye State: The Revenge of Term Limits: Final Report for the Joint Project on Term Limits.” Denver, CO: National Conference of State Legislatures.Google Scholar
Fenno, Richard F. 1973. Congressmen in Committees. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Gregory, Bion M. Various Years. Statutes of California and Digests of Measures. Sacramento, CA: Legislative Counsel.Google Scholar
Huber, John D., and Shipan, Charles R.. 2002. Deliberate Discretion? The Institutional Foundations of Bureaucratic Autonomy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, Gary C. 2002. “Partisan and Ideological Polarization in the California Electorate.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 4:113–39.Google Scholar
Kousser, J. Morgan. 1997. “Redistricting: California 1971-2001.” In Governing California: Politics, Government, and Public Policy in the Golden State, eds. Lubenow, Gerald C. and Cain, Bruce E.. Berkeley, CA: Institute of Governmental Studies Press.Google Scholar
Kousser, Thad. 2005. Term Limits and the Dismantling of State Legislative Professionalism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Krehbiel, Keith. 1991. Information and Legislative Organization. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kristol, William. 1995. “Term Limitations: Breaking Up the Iron Triangle.” Excerpted in Election Laws: Cases and Materials, ed. Lowenstein, Daniel Hays. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.Google Scholar
Maass, Arthur. 1983. Congress and the Common Good. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Maine Reviser of Statutes. Various years. Laws of Maine. Augusta, ME: J.S. McCarthy and Company.Google Scholar
National Conference of State Legislatures. 1999. Members Termed Out, 1996-2000. Denver, CO: National Conference of State Legislatures.Google Scholar
National Conference of State Legislatures. 2001. “Size of State Legislative Staff: 1979, 1988 and 1996.” http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legman/about/stf1.htm (June 2001).Google Scholar
New Mexico Department of Finance. Various years. Session laws made available to the author at the Department of Finance office, December 21, 2001.Google Scholar
Osborne, Nathan. 2004. “California's Termed-Out Legislators—Where Do They Go?” Unpublished manuscript. Department of Political Science, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Powell, Richard J. 2003. “The Unintended Effects of Term Limits on Career Paths of State Legislators.” In The Test of Time: Coping with Legislative Term Limits, eds. Farmer, Rick, Rausch, John David Jr., and Green, John C.. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Powell, Richard J., and Jones, Rich. 2004. “Maine: Final Report for the Joint Project on Term Limits.” Denver, CO: National Conference of State Legislatures.Google Scholar
Squire, Peverill. 1992. “Legislative Professionalization and Membership Diversity in State Legislatures.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 17: 69–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
State of Illinois. Various years. Laws of the State of Illinois: Passed by the . . . General Assembly at their ... Sessions. Vandalia, IL: State Printers.Google Scholar
State of Oregon. Various years. Laws of the State of Oregon: Enacted During the . .. Session of the Legislative Assembly, begun ... concluded... . Salem, OR: A. Bush, State Printer.Google Scholar
Straayer, John A. 2004. “Colorado's Legislative Term Limits: Final Report for the Joint Project on Term Limits.” Denver, CO: National Conference of State Legislatures.Google Scholar
Tothero, Rebecca A. 2000. “The Effect of Term Limits on Legislative Behavior in Michigan and Ohio: Roll-Call Voting and the Last Term of Office.” Presented at the Coping with Term Limits: Ohio and the Nation Conference, Columbus, OH.Google Scholar
Will, George F. 1992. Restoration: Congress, Term Limits, and the Recovery of Deliberative Democracy. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar