The United Utah Party announced Monday they were filing a ballot initiative to impose term limits on members of the Utah legislature and statewide elected officials.
The proposal limits legislators to 12-years in office, which prevents state senators from serving more than three consecutive terms and caps House members at 6 terms in a row. They could run again for the legislature after a “time-out” period.
Statewide executive branch elected officials, which included the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state auditor and state treasurer, would be limited to just two consecutive terms in office.
Current officeholders and members of congress would be exempt from the term limits.
Richard Davis, chairman of the United Utah Party, said in a press release they want to discourage career politicians at the state level.
“The goal is to restore the idea of citizen service and discourage career politicians. What we are proposing is a reasonable term limit that still allows elected officials to serve long enough to make a difference, but no so long their career becomes more important than their constituents,” said Davis.
Lawmakers passed a term-limits law in 1994 to head off a proposed ballot initiative but repealed the measure in 2003 before it was set to take effect.
The UUP has launched a website – unite4termlimits.org – in conjunction with the term-limits initiative effort.
