TALLAHASSEE—A proposed amendment to the Florida constitution shortening term limits for lawmakers passed its first committee on Monday, prompted by the state elections office attempting to disqualify a 17-year-legislator from the ballot.
Filed by Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, the proposal would create a cumulative cap of 16 years for state senators' and representatives' time in office. And though current law limits time served to eight consecutive years in one office, it's traditionally allowed legislators to "ping-pong" between chambers to serve in different offices for far longer than eight years.
This amendment is a direct response to Republican Rep. Debbie Mayfield, who filed suit against the Department of State last month to be reinstated on the special election ballot in hopes of serving out her seventeenth year in office. This follows her serving two terms in the House, two terms in the Senate, a year in the House, and then pursuing another term in the Senate.
"It's pretty simple: the amendment creates a cap on time served in the Legislature with a total of 16 years, eight years in the House max and eight years max in the Senate," Ingoglia said in the Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections. "It also creates a carve-out for those currently in office."
Ingoglia filed his measure—which would require a three-fifths vote of approval in both chambers and then 60 percent of "yes" votes from Floridians to edit the constitution—the same day that Mayfield sued the DOS for disqualifying her from a special election ballot.
Mayfield, who represented Senate District 19 for eight years before winning election to House District 32 in November, filed to run for her old seat after its lawmaker, Sen. Randy Fine, announced his resignation to pursue a congressional seat.
The DOS claimed she violated term limits, though she proved in the state Supreme Court that the constitution explicitly bans consecutive years in office—it says nothing about taking a break in between.
Sen. Jennifer Bradley, a Republican, attempted to amend the bill to allow for a maximum of 12 years in the Senate and 12 years in the House, or a cumulative of 24 years in office. The amendment died on a 3 to 3 tie, with Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia and Democrat Sen. Darryl Rousson joining her, and Democrat Sen. Mack Bernard and Republican Sen. Don Gaetz and Republican Bryan Avila against her.
"My issue with this is it's a lifetime ban," said Bradley, noting that a lawmaker could max out their time served in their 30s, have another career, and then be unable to serve again decades later. "I think that if you serve and years later you want to come back...that's the most American thing you can do."
Nonetheless, the measure passed the committee 5 to 1, with Bradley as the sole "no" vote. A similar proposed measure imposing term limits for local governments similarly passed the Ethics committee in a 7-2 vote from Bradley and Republican Sen. Erin Grall.
