document: Two propositions on California 's Nov. 6 ballot would , among other things , limit the terms of statewide officeholders and state legislators . Proposition 131 would limit statewide elected officials to two consecutive four-year terms , state legislators to 12 consecutive years in office ; Proposition 140 would hold Assembly members to six years in office , state senators and statewide elected officials to eight . If either passes , or both do , what would state government be like by 1996 and thereafter ? Would passage of such measures be likely to spur similar legislation in other states , or at the federal level ? The Times asked six legislators and legislative specialists . Richard L. Mountjoy , member of the state Assembly -LRB- R-Monrovia -RRB- , first elected in 1978 , a former general contractor who has served as mayor and city councilman of Monrovia -LRB- 1968-76 -RRB- : By 1996 , there would be all new faces . The argument that the lobbyists would take advantage of them , I believe , is not valid . Term limits would give the people of California more control over the Legislature , and the Legislature would be less prone to special interests , because legislators would know they are going to be there for six years and they 're out . -LRB- Term limits -RRB- would stop -LRB- politics -RRB- from being a professional occupation . For many members , that 's all they 've ever done -- be in the Legislature , legislative staff . I think it will return the Legislature to more of a citizen-type legislator . The Legislature , right now , is controlled by those people who have a vested interest in legislation . I came to the Legislature after eight years on the -LRB- Monrovia -RRB- City Council . I knew the system there pretty well . I knew how to get things done . I think that the legislative committee hearings are nothing more than City Council meetings on different subject matters . I think that what would happen in the Legislature is more expertise coming out of the citizenry . I think there would be people from all walks of life . I think the age bracket would creep up a little more . Get people who have been in business . Folks who want to do it as a public service . At least it would not be dominated by professionals . Robert Presley , state senator -LRB- D-Riverside -RRB- since 1974 , formerly a member of the Riverside County Sheriff 's Department for 24 years , 12 of them as undersheriff : My guess is that in about 20 years , there would be another initiative to change -LRB- term limits -RRB- because we will have found that -LRB- they -RRB- did n't work . The lobbyists are there for a very long time , and they become very expert in their fields ... and will be even more influential , more powerful . They are not really accountable to anyone except their employers . It would become clear rather quickly that you have a bunch of elected amateurs trying to run a very complex , complicated system of state government . We are not a little backwater state , anymore . We have a population of about 30 million people . We are growing at the rate of three-quarters of a million people a year , and that , alone , is hard for people to comprehend . It is not just the numbers . It is the ethnic mix , the cultural diversity -- all of those things have to be cranked in . So , governing the state of California . . . is not as easy and simple as a lot of people would think . And the other thing a lot of people seem to think is that you the governor -- or you the legislator -- can get up there and solve these problems tomorrow . Well , there are some of them that are almost not solvable . You have to keep trying . Karl T. Kurtz , director of state services , National Conference of State Legislatures : The most negative and pernicious impact of term limitations will be on the leadership of the Legislature ... They need leaders who have a great deal of experience , skill and ability to lead and to get things done , so that they avoid the kind of stalemate we have had in Congress in recent years . But legislatures also need strong committee chairmen , and term limits mean that relatively inexperienced people are going to be in leadership and that they are -- by definition -- lame ducks from the very beginning . That is probably the most negative impact . There has been a national movement that started in California , 25 years ago , to really strengthen the role of legislatures and to make them co-equal branches of government ; things like term limitations , which would restrict the power and authority of legislatures , are a step backward in that movement . It would mean that , in relative terms , the legislatures would cede more power and authority to the executive branch , to lobbyists and to legislative staff . Mark P. Petracca , assistant professor of politics and society , UC Irvine : The national effect would be very impressive because , unlike Oklahoma -LRB- where voters recently approved a 12-year-limit on legislators -RRB- , which does not have a reputation for being in the vanguard of political change in America , California does . Because it is the largest political state in the country , a success for either proposition here is likely to have spinoff moves around the country ... . Since states do have the power to amend the Constitution on their own , although it is much harder to do it that way , it could very well be that the groundswell of support for -LRB- this -RRB- movement in some key industrial states would lead to , not only initiatives in those states to restrict their own state legislative terms , but also ... a demand for a constitutional amendment to do the same . As to what are the implications of term limitations in the state of California , a lot of people think that this is a partisan issue . I have tried to make the argument that it is not really partisan at all . The parties could be helped by this ... people would have to become more dependent on the party for funding and for guidance , and less dependent on the special interests . The big problem is that nationally -- or locally -- we do not have a culture that encourages and rewards public service for short periods of time . Democracy requires that , and yet we do not have it . That is why we created what , in effect , is a professional elite to govern us . Representation does not occur well then . Antonia Hernandez , president of the Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund : The Schabarum initiative -LRB- Proposition 140 , backed by Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum -RRB- , with a six-year limit -LRB- for Assembly members -RRB- , would have an adverse effect on the Latino community . We have begun to look at whether it would violate the Voting Rights Act . Running for election is a very expensive proposition . For minorities who do not have a financial base , it is usually extremely hard to raise the money ... well-financed , well-organized candidates who are supported by other communities will have a much better chance . It seems that as we -LRB- Latinos -RRB- begin to make entries into the political process , the rules are beginning to change . Elected officials are supposed to represent the people who elect them . If there are constant changes , the impact of term limits would be to empower the bureaucracy -- the people who are not elected -- and -LRB- they -RRB- would definitely empower the special interests who have the finances and the ability to assist the bureaucrats . Being an elected official takes experience . The first two years you are just finding your way around ; the second two you are just hitting your stride , and in the third two years , you are on your way out -LRB- if 40 passed -RRB- . It just does n't make sense . There are a lot of problems with our political process , but this is not the solution . There is some merit to term limits , but they have to be done in a way that does n't unduly strengthen the bureaucracy and others who are not elected . We should throw the rotten apples out , but not the whole system with it . Gary C. Jacobson , fellow , Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences , Stanford University ; professor of political science , UC San Diego : The standard argument is that the legislative branch would be weakened . Information will be held by bureaucrats , staff , special interests . I think that is true , but what we are overlooking are the perverse incentives we set up . Instead of worrying about what their constituents think , as it gets toward the end of their term , legislators are going to be worried about what their next employer thinks , possibly in the private sector , or in their next constituency , which will not necessarily share the same interests as the one that elected them . So what it will do is reverse the incentive . If you give someone a job , for instance , and tell them that no matter how well they do it , they will be fired , the incentive to do that job well is not there .
extractive_keyphrases: term limits term limitations california statewide officeholders state legislators professional occupation political process special interests negative impact political change
abstractive_keyphrases: consecutive four-year terms