Lassen County Board of Supervisors Term Limits, Measure Z (November 2014)

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A Lassen County Board of Supervisors Term Limits, Measure Z ballot question was on the November 4, 2014 election ballot for voters in Lassen County, California. It was approved.

Measure Z was designed to limit county supervisors to a total of three four-year terms. The measure will take effect for all supervisor terms starting on January 1, 2015. The measure applied to all terms, whether they were consecutive or not. For example, if a supervisor were to serve two terms and then take eight years off before running again for county supervisor, he or she can only serve one more term.

The measure did not, however, apply retroactively. So any supervisor that already served several terms in office, at the time of Measure Z's approval, is eligible for three more.

Without Measure Z, there would be no limitation on the number of terms a county supervisor can serve in office.

Election results

Lassen County, Measure Z
Result		Votes	Percentage
a Yes		4,845	71.87%
No		1,896	28.13%

Election results via: Lassen County Registrar of Voters

Text of measure

Ballot title

The official ballot title for Measure Z read as follows:

“

AN ORDINANCE OF THE LASSEN COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS REGARDING TERM  LIMITS FOR MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

”

Impartial analysis

The following impartial analysis was prepared for Measure Z:

“	Under current California law, there is no limitation on how many terms an individual  may serve as a member of the Lassen County Board of Supervisors. This ordinance would  impose a limit of three. That is, if the ordinance is approved by a majority of the votes cast, no  person may serve more than three terms in his or her lifetime as a member of the Lassen  County Board of Supervisors. There is no requirement that these three terms be served  consecutively for the limitation to apply. This ordinance would only apply prospectively to  terms commencing on or after January 1, 2015. In other words, no term of office for which a  member of the Lassen County Board of Supervisors has been sworn in before January 1, 2015  will be counted towards the three term limitation. Likewise, a member who serves a partial  term, by appointment or election, of more than two years, will constitute a full four year term  in calculating how many terms that member has served.  The only anticipated cost associated with the implementation of the measure, if  approved, is the cost incurred by having an election on the issue.   A “Yes” vote on this measure will be a vote in favor of term limits.   A “No” vote on this measure will be a vote against term limits.	”
—Bob Burns  Lassen County Counsel

Support

Supporters

Larry Wosick signed the official arguments in favor of Measure Z.

Arguments in favor

The following was submitted as the official arguments in favor of Measure Z:

“	Term limits have been overwhelmingly supported by voters when given the opportunity. Politicians who oppose term limits will argue voters have the ability to term limit by electing a challenger. The risk of unlimited terms is that those choosing to make a career of politics often base their decisions on what’s best to build their power base and remain in politics rather than do what’s best for the constituents they represent. The other common argument opposing term limits is that the framers of our constitution did not include term limits. Term limits in that era were most probably not a consideration. Politicians of that era served for a short time and then went back to the private sector. The arguments for and against could go on for 1,000 pages, however the concept is simple. Measure Z will limit a Board of Supervisors to 3 terms (12 years) that’s sufficient time to contribute to one’s community. Please vote yes on Measure Z.	”
—Larry Wosick

Opposition

Opponents

Jim Chapman signed the official arguments in opposition to Measure Z.

Arguments against

The following was submitted as the official arguments in opposition to Measure Z:

“	Why would you, the Voter, want to limit your power to choose who represents you on the Board of Supervisors? Term Limits is like Gun Control, a limitation on your right to decide what is best for you. The proponents advance the argument that we need Term Limits to guarantee that we have “new ideas” in our local elected bodies. I would suggest to you that the elections that determine who our representatives are should be about which candidate have the “right ideas”. In the past 40 years we have had 52 regular elections and 4 recall elections to choose the members of the Board of Supervisors. Those elections have elected 27 different people to advance the “right ideas”. The Voters have imposed their own limits on service by denying incumbents another term on 11 occasions, plus cut short the terms of 4 members of the board under “voter imposed term limits.” The current proposal of limiting service on the board to three terms would only have affected three of the 27 members who have served in the past 40 years. We don’t need term limits, the voters are very capable to decide who should represent them and for how long. Vote NO on Measure Z.	”
—Jim Chapman

See also

• Local term limits on the ballot
• Lassen County, California ballot measures
• November 4, 2014 ballot measures in California

External links

Suggest a link

• Lassen County Elections Office website