states

The Term Limited States

Updated February, 2006

This list represents the 15 states that currently have term limits for legislators. They are ordered by the year of term limits' impact--the first year in which incumbents who were serving when the term limits measure was passed are no longer eligible to run for re-election.

To view a table of states that had term limits in the past but no longer do (due to legislative or court action), click here.

		House		Senate
State	Year Enacted	Limit	Year of Impact	Limit	Year of Impact	% Voted Yes
MAINE	1993	8	1996	8	1996	67.6
CALIFORNIA	1990	6	1996	8	1998	52.2
COLORADO	1990	8	1998	8	1998	71
ARKANSAS	1992	6	1998	8	2000	59.9
MICHIGAN	1992	6	1998	8	2002	58.8
FLORIDA	1992	8	2000	8	2000	76.8
OHIO	1992	8	2000	8	2000	68.4
SOUTH DAKOTA	1992	8	2000	8	2000	63.5
MONTANA	1992	8	2000	8	2000	67
ARIZONA	1992	8	2000	8	2000	74.2
* MISSOURI	1992	8	2002	8	2002	75
OKLAHOMA	1990	12	2004	12	2004	67.3
NEBRASKA	2000	n/a	n/a	8	2006	56
LOUISIANA	1995	12	2007	12	2007	76
**NEVADA	1996	12	2010	12	2010	70.4

* Because of special elections, term limits were effective in 2000 for eight current members of the House and one Senator in 1998.
**The Nevada Legislative Council and Attorney General have ruled that Nevada's term limits cannot be applied to those legislators elected in the same year term limits were passed (1996). They first apply to persons elected in 1998.

Source: National Conference of State Legislatures

Consecutive vs. Lifetime Limits

Term limits may be divided into two broad categories: consecutive and lifetime. With consecutive term limits, a legislator is limited to serving a particular number of years in a chamber. Upon hitting the limit in one chamber, a legislator may run for election to the other chamber or leave the legislature. After a set period of time (usually two years), the clock resets on the limit, and the legislator may run for election to his/her original seat and serve up to the limit again.

With lifetime limits, on the other hand, once a legislator has served up to the limit, she/he may never again run for election to that office. Lifetime limits are much more restrictive than consecutive limits.

Limit in Years	Consecutive	Lifetime Ban
6 house / 8 senate		AR, CA, MI
8 total	NE
8 house / 8 senate	AZ, CO, FL, ME, MT, OH, SD	MO
12 total		OK
12 house / 12 senate	LA	NV

Source: National Conference of State Legislatures

Term Limits Repeals

In six states, term limits have been repealed by the legislature or by court action.

State	Year Repealed	Year Enacted	Who Repealed?
IDAHO	2002	1994	Legislature
MASSACHUSETTS	1997	1994	State Supreme Court
OREGON	2002	1992	State Supreme Court
UTAH	2003	1994	Legislature
WASHINGTON	1998	1992	State Supreme Court
WYOMING	2004	1992	State Supreme Court

For More Information on Term Limits

Jennie Drage Bowser tracks term limits, and may be reached at 303-364-7700 or elections-info@ncsl.org.