I support term limits. I also agree with the Montana voters’ decision to require them.
When I first entered the Montana Legislature, I was surprised to learn of the practice of legislators immediately rotating back and forth between the House of Representatives and Senate multiple times after serving an initial sixteen years in both chambers, with no break of service in the Legislature.
It was explained to me that an interpretation by Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock in 2012 allowed the practice of an elected official returning to a legislative chamber after their term limits, despite still being in the Legislature, as long as they have an eight-year break in service from a chamber.
Knowing that it was a Constitutional Initiative that put term limits in place, and knowing the language has not changed, I looked to understand what voters intended when they passed the Amendment in 1992.
The Constitutional language they approved states a candidate cannot appear on the ballot if, “at the end of the current term of that office,” that candidate will have served “8 or more years in any 16-year period” as a state senator, state representative, or in the covered statewide offices.
The words “current term” matter.
Montanans did not vote for perpetual rotating of chambers with no break in the Legislature. They agreed a candidate shall not be placed on a ballot for that office after serving eight or more years in any 16-year period. That means once a legislator has done eight consecutive years in one chamber and immediately completed eight consecutive years in the other chamber, they must sit out a term in the Legislature.
That is why I am pleased with Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s recent opinion putting the Constitution first and returning term limits to the will of the voters. Knudsen released a sixteen-page opinion restoring an original 1997 interpretation by Democratic Attorney General Joe Mazurek, which governed Montana elections for 15 years without the eight-year break clause before being changed in 2012. Knudsen’s opinion reaffirms what the Constitution says, that a break from the Legislature is required.
This is not a partisan question. Mazurek was a Democrat. Knudsen is a Republican. What matters is that the interpretation follows the words Montanans placed in their Constitution.
If Montanans want different term limits, they have the power to change them. Until they do, elected officials must respect what the voters adopted.
The Constitution belongs to the people. Our job is to follow it.
Ken Bogner is the Montana Senate President Pro Tempore.