JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The General Assembly approved one resolution during its 100th session to put before voters — and it’s about term limits.
Championed by Republican Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, SJR 14 (combined with SJR 9 in the General Assembly) seeks to impose term limits on all elected statewide offices. Missouri’s governor and treasurer are already term-limited offices.
If approved by voters, the constitutional amendment would prohibit anyone from being elected to governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer, or attorney general more than twice. Additionally, it would prohibit anyone who held the office for more than two years, but was not elected, to be elected to that position more than once.
The official ballot title reads:
“Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to extend the two term restriction that currently applies to the Governor and Treasurer to the Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor and the Attorney General?
State and local government entities estimate no costs or savings from this proposal.”
The fair ballot language is as follows:
“A ‘yes’ vote will amend the Missouri Constitution to impose a two term restriction on all statewide elected officials, which currently only applies to the Governor and Treasurer.
A ‘no’ vote will leave the terms that statewide elected officials may serve unchanged.
If passed, this measure will have no impact on taxes.”
Luetkemeyer said he pushed for the resolution in an effort to provide more consistency in Missouri’s government as well as to satisfy constituents who “don’t like people making a career out of politics.”
“It makes sure you’ve always got fresh ideas and perspectives coming in — people don’t get too entrenched in the system — and it makes sure you’ve always got fresh blood in those offices to ensure things don’t get stagnant,” Luetkemeyer told The Missouri Times.
Despite the General Assembly approving the constitutional amendment in May, it did receive some pushback from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
In the House, Democratic Rep. Brandon Ellington argued against the resolution on the floor, saying, “Term limits have proven to be a hindrance.” He said he used to be in favor of term limits but has since changed his mind because it paved the way for lobbyists to have the upper hand with “institutional knowledge.”
And in the Senate, Ed Emery also had qualms with the resolution.
“I haven’t seen that term limits have had a real positive effect in Missouri. I am not convinced they’ve accomplished the things supporters of term limits want them to accomplish,” Emery, a Republican, told The Missouri Times in a recent interview. “I wasn’t really enthused about putting term limits on the statewide office holders beyond what is already there.”
For some offices, such as the governor, Emery said he could see an argument for the term limits already imposed, comparing it to that of the presidency. But others, such as the auditor, are more technical and specialized “where experience has a great deal of value,” he said.
Additionally, Emery said he had constitutional concerns about term limits.
“Elections are the people’s term limits. Whenever you have a ‘government of the people, for the people, by the people,’ then you let that government tell me there are some people I can’t vote for, it’s not as much ‘of the people’ as it used to be,” Emery said. “That’s really what that’s doing: We’re going to tell you you can’t vote for these people no matter how much you liked their service in office.”
SJR 14 is the only ballot measure that has been submitted by the General Assembly for the 2020 ballot, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. The General Assembly has until the end of its session next year to pass additional resolutions to appear on the 2020 ballots.
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Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.
