Term limits, designed to limit the power of incumbents, have instead created a churn of inexperienced legislators and increased the influence of lobbyists and state agency staff. Also, term limits have done nothing to deal with the powerful influence of money in politics. Term limits should concern anyone with a stake in Oregon's budget. That means all of us. Planning Oregon's budget is not a simple matter of making credits equal debits, and it is certainly more difficult than balancing a checkbook.
New legislators begin their first session only eight weeks following election.
They are required to make decisions about agency budgets much larger than most Oregon businesses. These long-serving legislators had institutional memory, knew well how the policy process worked, and had no tolerance for those trying to misdirect or deceive. Without institutional memory, legislators must depend on lobbyists and state agency staff for most of their issue education. Term limits deprive our citizen Legislature of the experience and depth it needs to do its work well. Supporters argue that term limits make legislators focus on issues rather than fundraising, yet term limits have not addressed the powerful influence money has on elections.