Bill Offers Term Limits Compromise Pair Bury Differences To Aid Local Officials

North Idaho Reps. Jeff Alltus and Jim Stoicheff completely disagree on term limits, but they’re co-sponsoring a bill to change Idaho’s term limits law.

“I am totally opposed to term limits, and Alltus is unalterably in favor of them,” said Stoicheff, a Sandpoint Democrat. “But we both think that bill we put through last year including legislators doomed the local officials. This is an effort to get the local officials off the hook.”

The pair’s bill, HB 77, would allow voters in cities, counties or school districts to vote to remove the limits from their local elected officials.

“There’s a move in the Senate to just totally do away with term limits,” said Alltus, a Hayden Republican. “I’ve probably heard from five senators that that’s what they’re kind of working on. I say if you’re going to throw out term limits, then you’d just as well change the Constitution and do away with the initiative.”

Idaho voters imposed term limits on all elected officials, from local school boards up to Congress, in a 1994 initiative. The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the congressional part, leaving the state with limits only on state and local elected officials.

Last year, Alltus pushed a bill similar to this year’s, but it lost out to a legislative leadership proposal for a statewide advisory vote in November on whether or not to keep all of Idaho’s term limits.

Voters split, with a 53.3 percent majority opting for keeping the limits.

Some legislators have been saying that wasn’t a strong mandate and the Legislature should revisit the issue. Laws set by initiative can be changed by passing a new law.

Alltus and Stoicheff maintain that the advisory vote was flawed because it included state legislators along with local school trustees, mayors and sheriffs.

“We really hung the locals out to dry in terms of putting our posts in with them,” Stoicheff said.

He and Alltus had the bill introduced as a personal bill, rather than asking a committee to introduce it. There was a reason: “We wanted it to be right on the front of it that it’s a bipartisan bill,” Alltus said.

A personal bill shows the sponsors’ names on the front, rather than the name of the committee where it originated.

On Friday, Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, introduced a personal bill in the Senate to eliminate term limits for school board members.

Donna Weaver, chairwoman of Hayden Lake-based Citizens for Term Limits, has endorsed the Alltus-Stoicheff bill.

Stoicheff said he’s glad he’s working with Alltus on their term limits bill. “It’s an odd combination because Alltus really believes in them and I think it’s stupid, it’s stupid for everybody.”

However, Stoicheff said, “This is an effort get the local officials off the hook.”