Hoping to resurrect an idea voters rejected in last year's special election, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to offer lawmakers a deal: He'll support an easing of term limits if they'll agree to change the way California draws voting districts.
Schwarzenegger said in an interview Thursday he does not believe term limits have improved Sacramento's political culture. Allowing legislators to stay in office longer would be worthwhile, he said, if it induced them to put a proposal on the ballot that would strip them of the power to carve political boundaries.
The governor reasons that lawmakers may not want to change voting districts, most of which favor incumbents, but they dislike term limits even more. One idea already under consideration in the Legislature would double the number of years members could serve in the Assembly — to 12 from six — provided they not run for the Senate when their term is up. Senators' maximum service could be extended to 12 years from eight.
Schwarzenegger says that he wants to make California elections more competitive, and that a new method of redistricting would help. He is backing a measure by Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) that would transfer political map-making powers to a panel of 11 citizens, chosen by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and judges, and take effect after the 2010 census. [(LA Times
7/14/06) http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-arnold14jul14,1,4608230.story?coll=la-headlines-california]
The law will have to be passed in two separate initiatives to pass constitutional muster, but I think both are good ideas. The hopping back and forth of Senators and Assemblymen doesn't allow them to fully learn the pace of each body. And redistricting done right could be a good thing for both the Democrats and the State.
Getting people to vote to extend term limits might not be such an easy task though. A redistricting initiative without all the baggage of a mid-decade redraw and Tom Delay will do far better than last year's ill-fated Prop 77.
