Sponsors of a North Dakota initiative to create term limits for the governor and state legislators submitted 46,000 signatures on Feb. 15, 2022. To qualify for the ballot, 31,164 valid signatures are required. The Secretary of State has until March 22, 2022, to certify whether the measure will appear on the November 8 ballot.
The measure would amend the state constitution to limit the governor to serving two terms. It would limit state legislators to serving eight years in the state House and eight years in the state Senate. A member of the House or Senate would not be able to serve a term or remaining portion of a term if it would cause the legislator to have served a cumulative time of more than eight years in the chamber. The measure would only apply to individuals elected after the amendment is approved. The initiative would only allow provisions of the amendment to be amended through citizen initiative petitions and not through legislatively referred constitutional amendments.
Fifteen states have term limits for state legislators. Six other states had term limits which were later overturned by state supreme courts in four of the states and repealed by state legislatures in two of the states.
