Friday, December 7, 2007

Part-time Legislature; would you like yours with or without term limits?

Since coming to Lansing, I have been a proponent of the Part-time Legislature (PTL). I introduced it as an amendment to the state Constitution in my first term and again this year. It is now finally starting to pick up momentum. In fact, there may be more than one option available.

Today, the Kalamazoo Chamber and the Home Builders Association of Kalamazoo announced a PTL effort. Meanwhile, Saginaw attorney Greg Schmid has submitted language for a PTL petition. The two measures are very similar except in one key respect: The Kalamazoo proposal calls for elimination of term limits. The Saginaw effort leaves term limits alone. It will be interesting to see which one gains more traction.

I have been a proponent of term limits from the start and still support them. I think it is unfair to put voters in a position to accept term limits with a PTL proposal. I may be wrong, but I believe voters would prefer to leave term limits as they are. Time will tell...

You can read a short story about the Kalamazoo effort here: http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-26/1197042604306480.xml&coll=7

Information about the PTL effort that leaves term limits intact is available at http://www.parttimelegislature.com/

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