SJR 1-LIMITING TERMS OF STATE LEGISLATORS    3:33:33 PM CHAIR OLSON announced the first order of business to come before the committee was SJR 1. SENATOR MENARD, sponsor of SJR 1, said the resolution seeks to put the question of term limits for legislators on the next general election ballot. She said she strongly believes this issue should be put to a vote of the people. According to SJR 1, representatives would be limited to four terms and senators to two terms, resulting in the ability for legislators to serve eight years in their respective body. He or she must wait until one complete term intervenes before running for office again. She stated that Alaska's legislature was created with the citizen legislator in mind and the state's founders never intended for citizens to become career politicians. By limiting the terms of law makers, other qualified persons in the state would have a better chance to use their skills for the betterment of Alaska. Typically, an incumbent in a House or Senate race has the upper hand and legislators should not think they are the only ones who can do the job. She said term limits would end the perpetual election cycle and allow legislators to concentrate on decisions that are best for the state as opposed to their reelection chances. If term limits were enacted by voters in the next general election, law makers elected before the 2010 election would be grandfathered in and their previous terms would not be counted against them. 3:36:16 PM SENATOR THOMAS said Senator Menard would get more support from the Senate if the term limit for senators was also four terms. SENATOR MENARD said she understood that. CHAIR OLSON asked how Senator Menard came up with two terms for the Senate and four terms for the House. SENATOR MENARD said she considered what would be fair. Term limits in place in 15 states and under consideration in 6 more states are "all over the board." A typical career is 20 years, or 10 years for younger people; in 2050, young people will have had four different careers. She said she had heard a lot of pushback, including the feeling that term limits are enforced by the polls already. She felt a career politician has become connected and networked and has an advantage over anyone trying to break through. She explained that corruption in a state triggers legislation, resolutions to reach voters and examination of career politicians. She said she serves with the best legislators she could hope for but she ran on the issue of term limits and is serious about it. 3:39:07 PM SENATOR FRENCH read from the resolution: "No person who has served as senator for two full or partial successive terms shall again be eligible to hold that office until one term has intervened." He said he assumed a full term is four years and a partial term is anything less. He said he ran right after a redistricting effort and was given a two-year term. Under the terms of SJR 1, he would have been limited to six years in the Senate. He asked Senator Menard if that was her understanding. SENATOR MENARD replied that was her understanding and said the appointment of a position like Senator Coghill's is another similar situation. SENATOR FRENCH asked if Senator Coghill would be limited to five years: his current one-year term and then the next four-year term. SENATOR MENARD replied that was correct. She noted that she had gone back and forth on that issue and it could be changed in the Judiciary Committee. CHAIR OLSON asked if a person could serve a term or two in the House and subsequently run for the Senate. CHAIR MENARD answered yes. She said a person could start in the House for six years and then move to the Senate for eight years. CHAIR OLSON noted that a learning curve exists for many legislators, including him, who had never been involved in any other office, such as a city council or school board. He asked if Senator Menard expected legislators to be productive during the first year or two while they get their feet on the ground. 3:41:53 PM SENATOR MENARD replied that helpful staff, with a lot of longevity, work with the legislators. She noted that the lobbyists are helpful as well. After one year, a legislator should be catching on. She said getting up to speed is not as difficult as the public had been told. SENATOR FRENCH encouraged Senator Menard to look at states with term limits to see if the public is happier with their legislators and if the term limits alleviate concerns about career politicians. He said a 2004 paper on term limits by the National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL) was referred to in the committee packet and he would like to look at it. SENATOR MENARD said she met Mr. Patrick Taylor's wife, of the Taylor Foundation in Louisiana, a state with term limits. She learned that some of the students that the Taylor Foundation had put through college are now legislators. She said those students would not have had that opportunity without term limits. She recognized that legislators are protective of their jobs and love what they do. She reiterated, however, that SJR 1 was spurred on by the recent corruption in the Legislature. 3:44:45 PM SENATOR THOMAS asked how long term limits have been in place in other states, about the history of term limits and about the results. MICHAEL ROVITO, staff to Senator Menard, replied that many states adopted term limits in the early 1990's, with Nebraska being the most recent to do so in 2000. All states enacted the term limits several years after adopting them. Voters in these states approved term limits overwhelmingly. SENATOR THOMAS said he was relatively new himself and thinks a learning curve exists; one feels better after the first year of dealing with the issues. He pointed out that the Legislature has huge issues to deal with and it is important that people have the ability to look back. He pointed out that getting up to speed on something like ACES would take a great deal of effort. He felt that even with helpful staff, if he had not sat through the 2007 ACES hearings himself, he would have little idea what is going on now and perhaps less interest. Long time legislators have built up historical knowledge. 3:47:12 PM CHAIR OLSON opened public testimony. DON BENSON, representing himself, Matanuska Valley, said term limits come into play after major cases of corruption and often would have curtailed some of the long-term relationships that possibly led to some corruption. He said the Constitution never intended for career politicians and we need new people and fresh ideas. He felt term limits do not keep citizens from returning to office, and after sitting out one term they can go back into office again. He pointed out that many offices only get eight years or less. Because the state is supposed to be run by and for the people, he urged the committee to let the people vote on term limits. 3:50:29 PM CHAIR OLSON closed public testimony and held SJR 1 in committee.