For immediate release
March 6th, 2020
Contact: Stacey Selleck
Phone: (202) 261-3532
SSelleck@termlimits.org
U.S. Term Limits to FL Senate Dems: Listen to Your Party Base
Tallahassee, FL – With news emerging that the Florida Senate Democratic Caucus may be opposing school board term limits (SJR 1216), the nation’s leading term limits group is delivering a powerful reminder: Democratic voters love term limits.
“According to polling, 80 percent of Democratic voters in Florida favor the constitutional amendment for school board term limits,” said Nick Tomboulides, Executive Director of Florida-based U.S. Term Limits. “If Senate Dems vote no, that will go down as one of the biggest political blunders in Florida history. Which is saying a lot, considering hanging chads call this state home.
Tomboulides is citing a poll from McLaughlin & Associates, which found that 82 percent of Florida voters favor a constitutional amendment placing 8-year term limits on school boards. That support includes 85 percent of Republicans, 82 percent of independents and 80 percent of Democrats. It is consistent with nationwide polling on term limits and hundreds of successful term limits referenda, which always pass with between 70 and 90 percent of the vote.
Support for the idea of term limits has historically been strong among Democrats, underscored by the support of former President Barack Obama. Obama has called term limits “a very useful thing” that allows for “new voices and new ideas to emerge.”
The identical House version of the bill, HJR 157, passed with a bipartisan vote on February 20th – earning support from many highly-respected Democrats.
The school board term limits proposed in SJR 1216 aren’t draconian at all; they wouldn’t term limit a single school board member until the year 2028, and even then, a member could simply sit out one term and run again. This would put school boards on the same term limit system as the State House and State Senate.
To write your state Senator for support on school board term limits click here.
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U.S. Term Limits is the oldest and largest grassroots term limits advocacy group in the country. We connect term limits supporters with their legislators and work to pass term limits on all elected officials, particularly on the U.S. Congress. Find out more at termlimits.org.