On Thursday evening, USU Eastern’s board room played host to a public hearing hosted for the Unite for Term Limits Statewide Initiative.
Hillary Sterling, vice chair of the United Utah Party and one of the six sponsors for the initiative, spearheaded the public hearing. She began by stating that the meeting was required by state statute and dove into a small amount of personal history, citing Pleasant Grove as her hometown.
Following that, Sterling jumped into a brief presentation on the initiative, stating that it seeks to officially establish term limits for state government officials in the executive and legislative branches. This would create a limit of eight consecutive years to serve for the executive branch and 12 consecutive years for the legislative. Currently, neither branch has a limit.
This would affect the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state treasurer and state auditor as well as 29 state senators and 75 members of the House of Representatives.
Federal office holders, such as senators and the U.S. House of Representatives, would not be affected by the initiative. County and city mayors, executives, council members and commissioners would also not be impacted. Sterling stressed that the Unite for Term Limits does not impose a lifetime ban, but is rather more of a time-out. She continued by stating that if the initiative does make the ballot and is approved, it will take affect beginning in 2020.
Sterling also informed all in attendance that the initiative is revenue neutral. Currently, only 14 states have no term limits of the executive branch of state governments. In the Utah Senate and House of Representatives, 97% are re-elected in the general election.
Following her presentation, Sterling opened the floor for questions. One participant questioned what will keep the legislature from meddling with the initiative to undo it if it passes, citing what they believe has happened with other ballot initiatives. Sterling replied with two answers: the first being that going in, the Unite for Terms has had tremendous support based on polling. That kind of unified, strong voice at the ballot box historically makes legislators listen. She also stated that they are keeping open the option of running an initiative on initiatives to protect them from meddling in the future.
Another participant questioned how it would affect the ongoing benefits to legislatures, such as insurance. Sterling informed the attendee that the answer was beyond the scope of what was written as far as the term limit.
She was then asked what happened with the initiative next. Sterling answered that they are at step four or five and well on their way. Once the hearings have completed, the next step is for the Lieutenant Governor’s office to make sure that they have met requirements. Following, they will print signature packets and are hoping to have them ready by the first week of September. A total of over 15,000 signatures are needed for the initiative to proceed.
