82R3918 BPG-D
By: Hunter H.C.R. No. 97
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Our nation's founders well understood the
importance of maintaining a close connection between government and
the people it serves, and therefore favored the concept of term
limits, then known as "rotation in office"; and
WHEREAS, In the First Continental Congress, Thomas Jefferson
proposed limiting congressional tenure "to prevent every danger
which might arise to American freedom by continuing too long in
office the members of the Continental Congress," a principle
supported by Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, John Adams, and
others; accordingly, Article V of the Articles of Confederation
limited each delegate to no more than three years in office in any
six-year period, and George Washington enshrined this principle by
serving only two terms as president; with the concept of rotation in
office already becoming well-established among members of
Congress, mention of term limits was omitted in the United States
Constitution; and
WHEREAS, Most members of Congress served but one or two terms
until after the Civil War; by the time of the New Deal, only about a
quarter of incoming members of any Congress were freshmen, and in
the past decade, reelection rates in the house have hovered at
around 96 percent; and
WHEREAS, In 1951, the United States Constitution was amended
to limit presidents to two terms; many political scientists have
since observed that the institution of congressional term limits
could cure the resulting imbalance between these two branches of
federal government, and the American public has expressed wide
support for such limits; voters in almost two dozen states approved
term limits for their officials during the 1990s, and in a recent
poll by a prominent news organization, almost 8 in 10 registered
voters expressed support for a cap on tenure by their congressional
representatives; other polls have expressed similar
dissatisfaction with the status quo; and
WHEREAS, The institution of term limits will ensure
competitive elections and bring new ideas and fresh perspectives to
a Congress that is made up of citizen legislators rather than career
politicians; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas
respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to propose and
submit to the states for ratification an amendment to the United
States Constitution to impose a limit of four two-year terms on
members of the House of Representatives; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the president of the Senate and speaker of the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.