Baltimore
The headline reads, “Councilman Ryan Dorsey will introduce a charter amendment to repeal voter approved term limits.” What couldn’t fit in the title is that he brazenly did so immediately after the voters passed Question K just weeks earlier.
Voters overwhelmingly supported implementing term limits for leaders in Baltimore City along with independence and accountability on Election Day 2022.
Question K was approved by more than 70% of Baltimore voters. Under the plan, the mayor, comptroller, city council president and city council members are limited to two terms in a 12-year period.
The good thing is that when measures are voted on by the people, it nearly always means the people must also vote to remove or modify them. However, it is much easier for unhappy lawmakers to put questions to a vote of the people than it is for the citizens to do so, if even possible at all.
The earliest this initiative can be on the ballot is November 2024. As long as the ballot language is clear, and the sleazy politicians like Dorsey do not use deceptive tactics, we are sure Baltimore will reject the gutting of term limits on elected officials in the city.
North Dakota
Coming off the heels of a major term limits win in North Dakota in November, state lawmakers are already laying the ground to repeal a portion of the amendment that would make it easier for legislators to gut term limits.
North Dakota state House Concurrent Resolution No. 3019, seeks to remove the newly codified provision stating that modifying constitutional measures initiated by the voters may only be placed on the ballot for changes if initiated by the citizens. “Far too often, lawmakers seek to undo what the citizens fought hard to achieve,” says Scott Tillman, National Director for USTL. He added, “This is a blatant attempt to undo all the hard work, time and money it took for the citizens to pass the ballot measure. It is much easier for the legislature to put amendments on the ballot than it is for the people.”
What this resolution seeks to do is make it easier for lawmakers to deceive voters by allowing the state legislature to easily place amendments on the ballot.