Congressional Term Limits Clear Senate Committee, House Vote Coming Soon

Arizona capitol

On a 4-3 vote, the Arizona Senate Government Committee passed SCR1025, which calls for Term Limits for members of Congress.  The measure now proceeds to the full State Senate for a vote.

In spite of Term Limits having high levels of supports from voters of every party as well as independent voters, Monday’s vote was a partisan affair, with all YES votes coming from Republicans and all of the NO votes coming from Democrats united in opposition to Congressional Term Limits.

According to Ron Hooper, who works with US Term Limits, polling in Arizona in 2020 showed support for term limits as high as 85%, with the largest increases in support coming from Democratic and Hispanic voters.  As Congress is increasingly seen as dysfunctional, support for limiting how long a member can stay in office is also increasing.  Polling shows Term Limits to be the most popular reform measure being proposed, although it has struggled to pass the Arizona Legislature as a standalone measure over the last couple of years.  Oddly enough, it was Republican Senate leadership that killed the measure the last three years, but proponents feel optimistic that they have answered any concerns opponents may have, and that 2021 is the year the voters finally get their way.

The State House is considering HCR2015, an identical measure, in the Government and Elections Committee on Wednesday.  A narrower Republican margin (7-6) there means that Democrats only need to find one Republican to vote with them to kill the House version, so supporters are not taking anything for granted and are encouraging voters to contact their House members and urge support.  Republicans on that committee are Rep John Kavanagh, Kevin Payne, Judy Burges, Frank Carroll, John Fillmore, Jake Hoffman, and Bret Roberts.  The Democrats are Kelli Butler, Jennifer Jermaine, Jennifer Pawlik, Athena Salman, Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, and Raquel Teran.

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