Term Limit Law Follow Up
Following up yesterday’s post on term limit laws for New York City, the New York Sun has some further interesting insight into the current law in the books and the proposed changes. According to the Sun voters in New York City have not once, but twice voted on term limits of city officials that would only give them two terms. Here are some of the key bits of information from the very informative article:
As a legal matter, there is little doubt that Mr. Bloomberg can have his way. In 1993, New York City voters first approved a ballot initiative to impose a two-term limit on all local elected offices. Then, in 1998, they rejected a ballot initiative to overturn those limits. The fact that term limits were born at the ballot box does not mean, though, that they remain the exclusive province of the voters.
Under New York law, the city’s charter can be changed by legislation, even after voter ratification, with one exception. The city’s charter cannot be changed by legislation if the amendment in question alters the powers of an elective office or the “term of office.” Here’s the catch: New York courts have interpreted “term in office” to mean only the number of years in a single term, not the number of terms of an elected office.
So Mr. Bloomberg could legally seek legislation to permit him to run for a third term. And the City Council would undoubtedly accommodate him — as long as councilmembers got the same deal for themselves.
The rest of the article, titled “Bloomberg’s Choice”, has interesting legal opinion on the matter from Randy Mastro. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
