A01=Kathryn A. DePalo
age
amendment
Author_Kathryn A. DePalo
campaign
campaign committees
career
Category=JPH
citizen legislators
David Colburn
demographics
electoral competition
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Florida
Florida Government and Politics
government
governor
incumbency
incumbency advantage
institutional memory
Kathryn DePalo
leadership
leadership selection
legislative process
legislative professionalization
legislators
lobbyists
minorities
political ambition
political science
Republican Party
Senate President
speaker
staff
state Constitution
state legislature
Susan MacManus
tenure
term limits
The Failure of Term Limits in Florida
turnover
women
Product details
- ISBN 9780813060484
- Weight: 485g
- Dimensions: 154 x 228mm
- Publication Date: 31 Jan 2015
- Publisher: University Press of Florida
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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In 1992, Florida voters approved an amendment to the state’s Constitution creating eight-year term limits for legislators—making Florida the second-largest state, after California, to implement such a law. Eight years later, sixty-eight term-limited senators and representatives were forced to retire, and the state saw the highest number of freshman legislators since the first legislative session in 1845.
Proponents view term limits as part of a battle against the rising political class and argue that limits will foster a more honest and creative body with ideal “citizen” legislators. However, in this comprehensive twenty-year study, the first of its kind to examine the effects of term limits in Florida, Kathryn DePalo shows nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, these limits created a more powerful governor, legislative staffers, and lobbyists. Because incumbency is now certain, leadership races—especially for Speaker—are sometimes completed before members have even cast a single vote. Furthermore, legislators rarely leave public office; they simply return to local offices, where they continue to exert influence. The Failure of Term Limits in Florida is a tour de force examination of the unintended and surprising consequences of the new incumbency advantage in the Sunshine State.
Proponents view term limits as part of a battle against the rising political class and argue that limits will foster a more honest and creative body with ideal “citizen” legislators. However, in this comprehensive twenty-year study, the first of its kind to examine the effects of term limits in Florida, Kathryn DePalo shows nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, these limits created a more powerful governor, legislative staffers, and lobbyists. Because incumbency is now certain, leadership races—especially for Speaker—are sometimes completed before members have even cast a single vote. Furthermore, legislators rarely leave public office; they simply return to local offices, where they continue to exert influence. The Failure of Term Limits in Florida is a tour de force examination of the unintended and surprising consequences of the new incumbency advantage in the Sunshine State.
Kathryn A. DePalo is senior instructor at Florida International University, USA.
