Term-limit movement is running out of steam: the popularity of term limits has peaked, and in fact is reversing course at the state level.

Just as Wyoming's term-limit law would claim its first victims this year, two 12-year veterans of the Legislature are suing to challenge the constitutionality of the state law that would force them out of office.

If they prevail, Wyoming would become the sixth of 21 states that adopted the popular government reform in the 1990s to reverse course and rescind term limits. The action in Wyoming is the latest sign that the drive to use term limits to try to break the grip of special interests and entrenched lawmakers has peaked and, in fact, is reversing course at the state level.

Already, term limits adopted in Idaho, Massachusetts, Oregon, Utah and Washington have been repealed or thrown out by courts as a result of vigorous resistance by the term-limited lawmakers. "In virtually every state that has term limits, the legislature has at least attempted to eliminate of alter them," said Gary Moncrief, political science professor at Boise State University in Idaho.

Although term limits were rejected by voters in Mississippi and North Dakota, they are often supported by a majority of voters. Moncrief said, however, the drive to restrict legislators' terms has run its course. That is largely because it was a voter-driven movement whose success was confined to states where voters could bypass the legislature and put the issue directly on the ballot, he says.

Of the 21 states that adopted term limits, all but two passed them through the public ballot initiative process, which exists in only 25 states. Utah lawmakers imposed term limits on themselves in 1994 in an effort to head off a more restrictive ballot initiative.

Because the law was statutory and not in the constitution like in most states, the Legislature was able to repeal it in 2003. Louisiana legislators voluntarily imposed term limits on themselves in 1995 during a widespread corruption scandal. Term limits were passed there after several lawmakers were videotaped receiving casino-related payoffs on the floor of the Legislature. Louisiana tried and failed to rescind its term limits last year.

WYOMING STATUTE DIFFICULT TO DEFEND

Wyoming's law, adopted in 1992, limits lawmakers to 12 years of service: three terms in the Senate of six terms in the House. Term-limited lawmakers can be returned to office after a four-year break.

"We don't think it's constitutional to take away our constituents' right to decide who serves them and how long," said Wyoming Representative Rodney "Pete" Anderson, who filed the lawsuit against the state with Senator Rich Cathcart and two of their constituents.

One of the plaintiffs, rancher Scott Zimmerman of Laramie County, said he voted for term limits in 1992, but now opposes them.

"In a rural state like Wyoming, I question whether we need term limits because it seems to me it gives special interest groups and government bureaucrats a lot more power than the Legislature," Zimmerman said. Wyoming's citizen legislature comes into session only 20 days in even years and 40 days in odd, leaving lawmakers little time to gain experience, he said.

The lawsuit argues that the state constitution clearly defines the qualifications to run for office, and that term limits can be added only by amendment to the constitution, not by statute. Lawmakers are seeking a decision by the May 28 deadline for candidates to file for the 2004 elections.

It falls on Wyoming Secretary of State Joseph Meyer to defend the term-limits statute, which he says he will do to the best of his ability. But Meyer said he thinks that the term-limits law is vulnerable to a constitutional challenge.

Anticipating that one of the nine lawmakers facing term limits this year would challenge the statute, Meyer asked the state attorney general last year to investigate the constitutionality of the law. "The attorney general concluded that the term-limits statute would be very difficult to defend," Meyer said.

So far, term limits have taken effect in 11 states, beginning with California and Maine in 1996. 2000 saw the largest turnover with 380 legislators tossed out of office.

Michigan has been hardest hit with 71 percent of its legislators forced out of office in 2002. Nearly 30 percent of the House of Representatives will be term-limited this year, including Speaker Rick Johnson. Michigan lawmakers say that the high turnover has left a leadership vacuum in the statehouse and that they plan to ask voters to extend their term limits to 14 years. Currently, the limit is six years in the House and eight in the Senate.

Since limits started going into effect in 1996, lawmakers in the 16 states that still have term limits have been looking for ways to loosen or repeal them. Besides Wyoming, term-limited states are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Although term limits have been popular among voters who view career politicians with suspicion, elected officials almost universally oppose them. State attempts to limit the terms of congressmen were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1995. At the local level, though, use of term limits is still expanding. Thirty-six governors are subject to term limits, most of which have been in effect for decades.

"Most people see term limits as a good way to clean up corruption and get some new blood in their legislative bodies," said Paul Jacob, director of U.S. Term Limits, a national group that backs public initiatives to pass term limits.

LIMITS SHIFT POWER TO GOVERNOR

A 2002 survey of 3,500 legislators by the Joint Project on Term Limits concluded that the key effect of term limits was a shift of power from the legislative branch to the executive branch. The survey, conducted by a collaboration of political scientists, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Council of State Governments and the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, found that term limits have had no impact on the type of person elected to state office, despite arguments that term limits would shake up and diversify legislative bodies.

"Legislators in term-limited states find governors a whole lot more powerful," said Dartmouth College Professor John Carey, one of the authors of the survey. At the same time, the power of party leaders--legislative speakers and committee chairs--was significantly reduced, making it more difficult for legislators to challenge a governor's agenda or override his veto, he said.

Agreeing with this assessment, Wyoming Representative Anderson said, "If indeed term limits go into effect, our lobbyists and governor will just about run the show."

Along with Michigan, Arkansas and Montana are proposing amendments this year to try to extend their term limits. In California, lawmakers considered a proposal last fall that would have allowed lawmakers to serve past their term limit if they collected enough signatures. The proposal was dropped after receiving negative publicity.

"California lawmakers tried a very sneakily worded ballot initiative last fall that appeared to uphold term limits, but in fact allowed lawmakers to get signatures to get out of term limits," said Jacob, whose group helped call attention to California's proposal.

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Kavan Peterson is a staff writer for Stateline.org. Reprinted with permission.