ANNAPOLIS – The Senate Economic and Environmental Affairs Committee Monday killed a bill that would have limited the terms of state lawmakers.
“I’ll keep bringing it back,” vowed the sponsor, Sen. Timothy R. Ferguson, R-Carroll, who is serving his first term.
Under the proposed constitutional amendment, legislators who had served three consecutive terms, or 12 years, would have had to leave their respective houses for four years before returning. Lawmakers who had served a total of six full terms, or 24 years, consecutively or not, would have had to leave for good. Testimony during a Jan. 18 hearing characterized the bill as an attempt by Ferguson and his Republican colleagues to undermine the Legislature’s Democratic majority by tying the hands of incumbents. But the 8-3 committee vote did not split along party lines. -30-