Elected officials in Wisconsin’s statewide offices could face term limits within five years under a bill proposed in the state Assembly that is currently circulating for co-sponsors.
The bill would begin the constitutional amendment process to limit legislators to 12 years of public service and keep governors and lieutenant governors to a maximum of eight years in each office. If it passed both houses of the state Legislature, it would require public approval by referendum and second passage in each house before the amendment can be implemented.
Freshman state Rep. Bob Gannon, R-Slinger, authored the bill. He said the proposal would bring diversity to the state Capitol by discouraging career politicians.
“Creating a limit on the number of terms a legislator can serve allows for positive turnover and for new citizen legislators to serve their state,” Gannon said in a statement. “These new citizen legislators would bring innovative ideas to the capitol, in the process creating a stronger connection to the private sector and the ‘real-world’ solutions that need to take a more prominent role in public policy discussions.”
The proposal would put Wisconsin among 15 other states that have some form of term limits.
The bill was not formally introduced before the holiday weekend, but state Rep. Romaine Quinn, R-Rice Lake, pledged support to Gannon’s proposal in a statement Tuesday.
“It is high time for this common-sense, practical solution to be enshrined as law in our state,”
Quinn said in the statement. “I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will sign on to this important cause.”
