Report Says Term Limits Erode Effectiveness Of State Legislatures

Tuesday, August 15th 2006, 1:22 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A report on the effect of term limits says the law is leading to inexperienced lawmakers and is polarizing legislatures in Oklahoma and the 14 other states where it exists.

The report by the National Conference of State Legislatures says term limits have failed to bring about changes promised by supporters.

Those promises included more diversity with minorities and women being elected but the report says the result of term limits is more political division and more power governors. The report also says states with term limits have less civility and more conflict in their legislatures.

Oklahoma was one of the first states to approve term limits when the proposal received 67 percent of the vote in 1990. The law limits lawmakers to a total of 12 years in the Legislature and first began forcing lawmakers out of office in 2004.