Is eight years enough? For Hialeah Sen. Rene Garcia, a Republican, and West Palm Beach Rep. Mark Pafford, a Democrat, the answer is “no” — if Floridians want to diminish the influence of special interests in the Legislature. Rep. Mark Pafford, shown speaking to reporters during the 2015 AP Florida Legislative Planning Session in October, is a sponsor of a bill that would extend term limits to 12 years from 8.
Republican Sen. Rene Garcia of Hialeah, right, is a sponsor of a bill that would extend term limits to 12 years from 8. Rep. Mark Pafford, shown speaking to reporters during the 2015 AP Florida Legislative Planning Session in October, is a sponsor of a bill that would extend term limits to 12 years from 8. “We are a representative democracy and we should be making sure that it is the elected officials who move agendas forward, and not the lobbyists,” said Garcia, who was elected to the Senate unopposed in 2010 and 2012 after serving eight years in the House.
The two lawmakers have proposed a bill that expands Florida’s eight-year term limits on legislators to 12 years, beginning in 2016. If they can persuade enough of their colleagues to place the constitutional amendment (HJR 711 and SJR 902) on the ballot, it would apply only to newly elected senators and representatives.
But the measure will be a tough sell. The anti-incumbency movement that swept the country in the 1990s and was added to the Florida Constitution by 77 percent of the vote in 1992 also ushered in most of those elected to the Legislature today.
The first wave of newcomers came in 2000, when a record 83 legislators who were in office in 1992 were forced to retire. Since then, dozens of the 120-member House and 40-member Senate leave because of term limits each year.
Full Article: Florida legislators propose increasing term limits | Miami Herald.