State legislatures with term limits

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
SLP badge.png
State Legislatures with Term Limits
Lifetime versus consecutive
States with legislative limits
Limits overturned
Impact on elections
Features of State Legislatures
Length of terms: Representatives • Senators
How vacancies are filled in state legislatures
States with a full-time legislature
Legislatures with multi-member districts
Comparison of state legislative salaries
When legislators assume office?
State constitutions
State legislative sessions
Candidate requirements by state
Resign-to-run laws
Minority and coalition control of state legislative chambers, 1994-Present
Veto overrides in state legislatures
Voting on
Term Limits
Term limits.jpg
Ballot Measures
By state
By year
Not on ballot

State legislative
term limits

Gubernatorial
term limits
Lieutenant Governors
term limits
Secretaries of State
term limits
Attorneys General
term limits
State executive
term limits

In 16 state legislatures, state legislators are subject to term limits. Voters in six additional states voted to have term limits, only to have those votes nullified. In two cases, the state legislature voted to nullify the limits imposed by voters, while in four other states, courts nullified the voter-imposed limits, primarily for technical reasons.

In the United States, there are 1,973 state senate seats and 5,413 state house seats. Of the 1,973 senate seats, 609 seats (30.9%) are subject to term limits. Of the 5,413 house seats, 1,460 seats (27.0%) are subject to term limits. Of the total 7,386 state legislative seats, 2,069 (28.0%) are limited.

Lifetime versus consecutive

Legislative term limits can be either lifetime or consecutive. In the ten states where the limits are consecutive, once a state legislator has served the maximum number of terms in office, he or she, if eligible, can run for office for the state's other legislative chamber, or leave the legislature. These states are Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, and South Dakota. After a period of time no longer in office in a particular legislative chamber, however, the legislator is allowed to run again for office in that legislative chamber. The period of time that a legislator must be out of office before being able to run again is usually two years.

In six of the 16 states with limits on state legislators, the limit is a lifetime limit. These states are California, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, and Oklahoma. In these states, once a legislator has served the maximum allowable number of terms in a particular legislative chamber, they may never again run for or hold office in that particular chamber.[1][2]

States with legislative limits

States with legislative limits
Legislature Limits in effect Year limits imposed Year limits took effect
Arizona Legislature H: 4 terms (8 years)
S: 4 terms (8 years) 		1992 H: 2000
S: 2000
Arkansas Legislature 12 consecutive years; can return after a four-year break 1992, 2014, modified 2020 H: 1998
S: 2000
California Legislature 12 year cumulative total, in either or both 1990, modified 2012 A: 1996
S: 1998
Colorado Legislature H: 4 terms (8 years)
S: 2 terms (8 years) 		1990 H: 1998
S: 1998
Florida Legislature H: 4 terms (8 years)
S: 2 terms (8 years) 		1992 H: 2000
S: 2000
Louisiana Legislature H: 3 terms (12 years)
S: 3 terms (12 years) 		1995 H: 2007
S: 2007
Maine Legislature H: 4 terms (8 years)
S: 4 terms (8 years) 		1993 H: 1996
S: 1996
Michigan Legislature 12 year cumulative total, in either or both 1992, modified 2022 H: 1998
S: 2002
Missouri Legislature H: 4 terms (8 years)
S: 2 terms (8 years) 		Amendment 13 (1992)
(also see: Amendment 3 (2002) 		H: 2002
S: 2002
Montana Legislature H: 4 terms (8 years)
S: 2 terms (8 years) 		1992 H: 2000
S: 2000
Nebraska Unicameral S: 2 terms (8 years) 2000 S: 2008
Nevada Legislature A: 6 terms (12 years)
S: 3 terms (12 years) 		Initiative passed in 1996, took effect with those elected in 1998 A: 2010
S: 2010
North Dakota Legislature H: 2 terms (8 years)
S: 2 terms (8 years) 		2022 H: 2023
S: 2023
Ohio Legislature H: 4 terms (8 years)
S: 2 terms (8 years) 		1992 H: 2000
S: 2000
Oklahoma Legislature 12 year cumulative total, in either or both 1990 H: 2004
S: 2004
South Dakota Legislature H: 4 terms (8 years)
S: 4 terms (8 years) 		1992 H: 2000
S: 2000

Limits overturned

By legislature

By courts

Impact of term limits on state legislative elections

The table below shows term-limited state legislators by year from 2010 to 2025. Between those years, 2,125 state legislators were term-limited. Republicans had 294 more term-limited legislators than Democrats.

  • Democratic legislators term-limited: 875
  • Republican legislators term-limited: 1,169
  • Nonpartisan legislators term-limited: 81
Term-limited state legislators by year
Year Democratic Party Dem. senators Republican Party Rep. senators Independent Nonpartisan sentators Democratic Party Dem. representatives Republican Party Rep. representatives Independent Nonpartisan representatives Total term-limited
2025 - - - - - - -
2024 27 37 13 39 63 0 179
2023 2 5 0 4 11 0 22
2022 28 47 11 58 108 0 252
2021 - - - - - - -
2020 21 33 6 61 89 1 211
2019 4 12 0 13 17 1 47
2018 28 62 6 58 115 2 271
2017 - - - - - - -
2016 29 26 12 84 102 0 253
2015 3 4 0 7 7 0 21
2014 22 24 17 73 87 0 223
2013 - - - - - - -
2012 35 40 8 87 85 0 255
2011 5 1 0 5 4 1 16
2010 54 66 1 128 124 2 375
Total 258 357 74 617 812 7 2,125

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "The Term-Limited States," accessed Jan. 17, 2023
  2. ↑ U.S. Term Limits, "U.S Term Limits Praises North Dakota Voters for Passing Term Limits Amendment for State Offices," Nov. 9, 2022
  3. ↑ Nebraska senators are officially nonpartisan. Five Nebraska senators term-limited in 2018 were affiliated with the Republican Party, while the other was affiliated with the Democratic Party.
  4. ↑ Google Spreadsheet, "Post-election term limits results, 2018," accessed April 25, 2019
  5. ↑ Nebraska senators are officially nonpartisan. Five Nebraska senators term-limited in 2018 were affiliated with the Republican Party, while the other was affiliated with the Democratic Party. The Nebraska senators were counted as major party incumbents in the post-election results.
v • e
State legislatures
Legislatures
Alabama (H, S) · Alaska (H, S) · Arizona (H, S) · Arkansas (H, S) · California (A, S) · Colorado (H, S) · Connecticut (H, S) · Delaware (H, S) · Florida (H, S) · Georgia (H, S) · Hawaii (H, S) · Idaho (H, S) · Illinois (H, S) · Indiana (H, S) · Iowa (H, S) · Kansas (H, S) · Kentucky (H, S) · Louisiana (H, S) · Maine (H, S) · Maryland (H, S) · Massachusetts (H, S) · Michigan (H, S) · Minnesota (H, S) · Mississippi (H, S) · Missouri (H, S) · Montana (H, S) · Nebraska · Nevada (A, S) · New Hampshire (H, S) · New Jersey (GA, S) · New Mexico (H, S) · New York (A, S) · North Carolina (H, S) · North Dakota (H, S) · Ohio (H, S) · Oklahoma (H, S) · Oregon (H, S) · Pennsylvania (H, S) · Rhode Island (H, S) · South Carolina (H, S) · South Dakota (H, S) · Tennessee (H, S) · Texas (H, S) · Utah (H, S) · Vermont (H, S) · Virginia (H, S) · Washington (H, S) · West Virginia (H, S) · Wisconsin (A, S) · Wyoming (H, S)
SLP badge.png
2025
2024
2023
Historical elections
2022 •  2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010 • 2009 • 2008 • 2007 • 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002 • 2001 • 2000
Features of
state legislatures
State senates
State houses
Leadership positions
v • e
Ballotpedia
About
Editorial Content
Geoff Pallay, Director of Editorial Content and Editor-in-Chief • Ken Carbullido, Vice President of Election Product and Technology Strategy • Norm Leahy, Senior Editor • Daniel Anderson, Managing Editor • Ryan Byrne, Managing Editor • Cory Eucalitto, Managing Editor • Mandy McConnell, Managing Editor • Doug Kronaizl, Local Elections Project Manager • Jaclyn Beran • Marielle Bricker • Joseph Brusgard • Emma Burlingame • Kelly Coyle • Thomas Ellis • Frank Festa • Nicole Fisher • Brianna Hosea • Joseph Greaney • Thomas Grobben • Jaime Healy-Plotkin • Tyler King • Glorie Martinez • Nathan Maxwell • Ellie Mikus • Jackie Mitchell • Ellen Morrissey • Mackenzie Murphy • Kaley Platek • Samantha Post • Adam Powell • Ethan Rice • Spencer Richardson • Victoria Rose • Briana Ryan • Myj Saintyl • Maddy Salucka • Maddie Sinclair Johnson • Abbey Smith • Alexis Thacker • Janie Valentine • Joel Williams • Samuel Wonacott • Trenton Woodcox
Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=State_legislatures_with_term_limits&oldid=10278348"