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Court OKs term limitsBob EgelkoAssociated PressSAN FRANCISCO — Bolstering a nationwide anti-incumbent movement and severely wounding the Legislature, the state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld legislative term limits approved by California voters last November.In a 6-1 ruling, the court said restrictions on the right of legislators to seek office — and of voters to elect the candidates of their choice were outweighed by “the state's strong interests inReaction mixed A10protecting against an entrenched, dynastic legislative bureaucracy.”Proposition 140 limits state Assembly members to three two-year terms in office and state senators to two four-year terms, starting with the terms that began this January. It also sets two-term limits for statewide office-holders and cuts the Legislature’s operating budget by $70 million, or .18 percent.One other provision, abolishingthe Legislature’s pension system, was struck down by the court as a violation of the pension rights of lawmakers now in office.Although the budget cuts were blocked by the court earlier this year while it considered the case, more than 640 legislative staffers have already quit or been laid off in anticipation of the spending reductions.Unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, they will be followed out the door in the next eight years by all 120 legislators, including the two most prominenttargets of the initiative campaign. Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, D-San Francisco, and Senate President Pro Tern David Roberti, D-Los Angeles, both in their third decade in the Legislature.A ballot argument by sponsors of the measure called Brow n and Roberti “legislative dictators.”The campaign also blamed career politicians for the soaring cost of legislative campaigns and the corruption manifested in an FBI undercover operation that has resulted in the convictions of two former state senators .
Newspaper Details
Anaheim Bulletin
Anaheim, California, US
Fri, Oct 11, 1991
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Abby W.
USA 26 Feb 2024
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