Des Moines, Iowa — One of our area legislators has drafted two bills — one calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution mandating term limits in Congress, and one calling for an amendment to the Iowa Constitution mandating term limits of legislators.
According to “U.S. Term Limits,” a nonprofit advocacy group for term limits, District 1 State Senator Zach Whiting of Spirit Lake, who represents Lyon, Osceola, Dickinson, Clay and Palo Alto counties called for the constitutional amendments. They say Whiting has introduced a resolution for a national constitutional convention about the term limits issue. They say the resolution, SJR11, was referred to the committee on State Government. According to “U.S. Term Limits,” Whiting also filed a term limits resolution to term limit the Iowa state legislature (SJR4).
The group quotes Whiting as saying, “Term limits are an important tool that can be used to help bring greater accountability to elected officials at all levels–federal, state, and local. Our focus as elected officials should be on service before self, not perpetuity in elected office.” They say he continued, “Accordingly, I am proud to sponsor constitutional amendments related to term limits for both members of Congress and state legislators in Iowa.”
The advocacy group says that on the federal level, 34 state legislatures can team up for a convention to propose an amendment to the Constitution. The Term Limits Convention effort is being shepherded by “U.S. Term Limits.”
According to Nick Tomboulides, executive director of the group, there are two ways to propose an amendment for term limits: through the Congress or through the states at a national convention. He says that’s why it’s “important to get support from state legislators, and sponsors like Senator Whiting, to call for a convention to discuss the details of the amendment.” Once proposed, the amendment must be ratified by 38 states in order to become law.
The group says that according to the last nationwide poll on term limits conducted by McLaughlin & Associates in January 2018, the issue has bipartisin support, with over 82 percent of polled voters being in favor of term limits.
