Wheeler files legislation supporting term limits
State Representative David Wheeler, R-Vestavia Hills, pre-filed a bill on Feb. 27 to enact term limits for members of the state House of Representatives and state Senate.
“I have been a long-time supporter of term limits,” Wheeler said in a news release. ”It was one of the issues I was most asked about during the last campaign. Poll after poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly support them. I think this measure addresses that desire, without penalizing incumbents who have selflessly served our great state.”
The bill proposes an amendment to the state constitution, placing a two-term limit on members of the state legislature, and allows anyone who filled a mid-term vacancy an additional two years of service, meaning the years spent filling a vacant seat would not count toward the limit. The law would take effect after the 2022 election.
Wheeler said it’s important for new legislators and new ideas to come to Montgomery, and having term limits would also keep legislators from having to focus so much on getting re-elected year after year.
While the bill would also apply to incumbents running for re-election in that election cycle, their previous years of service would not be counted against them, Wheeler said in the release. The bill also allows members to serve two terms in both the state House and the state Senate, if they so choose, allowing for eight total years of service plus any time spent filling a vacancy.
If passed by both houses, the measure must then be approved by voters in the November 2020 general election.
Similar bills haven’t made it too far in the past, Wheeler said, but he’s hopeful his bill will succeed. The 2019 legislative session begins March 5 at noon.
Wheeler serves the people of House District 47, which includes portions of Vestavia Hills and Hoover, and has just begun his first term after winning the seat in the November 2018 election.
Wheeler filed the bill on National Term Limits Day, which is held in honor of the ratification of the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution in 1951, which imposed term limits on the presidency.