Arizona Four-Year Terms for State Senators Amendment (2018)
| Arizona Four-Year Terms for State Senators Amendment | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 6, 2018 | |
| Topic State legislatures measures | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
The Arizona Four-Year Terms for State Senators Amendment was not on the ballot in Arizona as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 6, 2018.
The measure would have increased the length of a term for members of the Arizona Senate from two years to four years. The measure would have kept existing term limits for state senators at eight years, as existing law prescribed term limits of four terms and the amendment proposed term limits of two terms. The four-year term would have first applied to senators elected at the general election in 2022.[1]
Text of measure
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article 4, Arizona Constitution
The measure would have amended Section 21 of Article 4 of the Arizona Constitution. The following underlined text would have been added and struck-through text would have been deleted:[1]
Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.
A. The members of the first legislature shall hold office until the first Monday in January, 1913. Through the fifty-fifth legislature, the terms of office of the members of succeeding legislatures the House of Representatives and the members of the Senate shall be two years. No state senator shall serve more than four consecutive terms in that office, nor shall any state representative serve more than four consecutive terms in that office. This limitation on the number of terms of consecutive service shall apply to terms of office beginning on or after January 1, 1993. Beginning with the fifty-sixth legislature in 2023, the terms of office of the members of the senate shall be four years and the terms of office for the members of the house of representatives remain at two years. Beginning with the fifty-sixth legislature in 2023, a state senator shall not serve more than two consecutive terms in that office, and a state representative continues to be limited to four consecutive terms in that office. This limitation to two consecutive terms of service for state senators applies to terms of office that begin on or after January 1, 2023.
B. No legislator, after serving the maximum number of terms, which shall include any part of a term served, may serve in the same office until he the legislator has been out of office for no less than one full term.
C. The increase to a four-year term for state senators beginning with the fifty-sixth legislature in 2023 shall apply as follows:
- 1. A state senator who serves three consecutive terms in the senate and whose first term began in January, 2017 is eligible to serve one additional consecutive term in the senate that begins in January, 2023 and is not eligible for a fifth consecutive term in the senate.
- 2. A state senator who serves two consecutive terms in the senate and whose first term began in January, 2019 is eligible to serve one additional consecutive term in the senate that begins in January, 2023 and is not eligible for a fourth consecutive term in the senate.
- 3. A state senator who serves one term in the senate and whose first term began in January, 2021 without prior consecutive service in the senate is eligible to serve two additional consecutive terms in the senate that begin in January, 2023 and January, 2027.[2]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the Arizona Constitution
In Arizona, a constitutional amendment must be passed by a simple majority vote in each house of the state legislature during one legislative session.
Senate President Steven B. Yarbrough (R-17) introduced the amendment as Senate Concurrent Resolution 1027. The measure was approved by the Arizona Senate, 19 to 11, on February 27, 2017. The Arizona House of Representatives did not vote on the bill before the 2017 legislative session adjourned on May 10, 2017.[3]
Senate vote
February 27, 2017[3]
| Arizona SCR 1027 Senate Vote | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 Yes | 19 | 63.33% | ||
| No | 11 | 36.67% | ||
| Partisan breakdown of Senate votes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party Affiliation | Yes | No | Abstain | Total |
| Democrat | 4 | 9 | 0 | 13 |
| Republican | 15 | 2 | 0 | 17 |
| Total | 19 | 11 | 0 | 30 |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Arizona Legislature, "Senate Concurrent Resolution 1027," accessed February 27, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Arizona Legislature, "Bill History for SCR1027," accessed February 27, 2017
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