Philip Blumel: South Dakota officially calls for the Term Limits Convention. Boom. Hi, I’m Philip Blumel. Welcome to No Uncertain Terms, the official podcast of the Term Limits movement. This is episode number 259, published on March 10, 2025.
Stacey Selleck: Your sanctuary from partisan politics.
Philip Blumel: That’s right, on March 4, in another bipartisan vote of 25 to 10, the South Dakota Senate passed HJR 5002, making South Dakota the 10th state to officially apply for a term limits convention, the South Dakota House having already passed the resolution earlier this year. South Dakota is the first state in 2025 in which the resolution has passed. We were hoping to get the vote on Term Limits Day, right on Term Limits Day, February 27, but we’ll take this. No complaints.
Philip Blumel: The statewide effort was led by Prime Senate sponsor Senator Casey Crabtree and 13 state senators who co-sponsored the resolution. Congratulations, also, to the Prime House sponsor, Representative Taylor Rae Rehfeldt, and 21 House co-sponsors. And to add some icing to the cake, the very next day, the South Carolina House passed the resolution, an uncontroversial voice vote. The team tells me we’re in very good shape in the SC Senate as well. Could South Carolina be state number 11?
Philip Blumel: As you know, if you listen to this podcast, Article 5 of the US Constitution provides states the authority to impose term limits on Congress without congressional approval. But for the term limits amendment proposing convention to be called, a total of 34 states must pass similar resolutions. Once a term limits amendment is proposed, then of course it would have to be ratified by 38 states for it to be added to the US Constitution. This process allows the states to completely bypass Congress. That’s… Well, that’s if Congress doesn’t see the writing on the wall and pass the amendment itself when we get close to the magic 34 states. Historically speaking, that’s a much more likely result.
Philip Blumel: Besides the South Carolina House, a single chamber in three other states have also applied for the convention this year: Georgia Senate, Indiana Senate, and Arizona House. In total, the resolution is working its way through 12 additional chambers right now, and one of these is the Indiana House. Since it already passed in the Indiana Senate, passage in the Indiana House would make Indiana the 11th state to officially apply for the term limits convention. Keep your fingers crossed. Its prospects look good. Mike Speedy, a former member of the Indiana House and the Indiana State Chair of US Term limits, was asked about it by WRTV, the ABC affiliate in Indianapolis last week.
Speaker 3: Term limits for members of Congress don’t currently exist. But a joint resolution just passed out of the Indiana Senate this week, encourages Congress to create them, a measure most Americans also support.
Speaker 4: Something I agree with.
Speaker 5: Yes, I do. Because I think there needs to be a change every once in a while, for people with new ideas and fresh ideas.
Speaker 6: I do support it.
Speaker 3: These opinions track with polling numbers. According to Pew Research, 87% of Americans, regardless of political affiliation, support the idea of term limits. That’s why the Indiana General assembly is working to pass Senate Joint Resolution 21.
Speaker 7: The Joint Resolution 21, will put Indiana on the list of states calling for a Article 5 convention to consider US term limits for Congress.
Philip Blumel: Next, let’s switch gears. Around the virtual office, we often refer to Florida as the term limits state. After all, no state has more term limits on the books, and the state was the very first to pass the term limits convention bill. Its governor, Ron DeSantis, has even traveled to other states, including Indiana, to push the TLC, as we like to call it.
Philip Blumel: Okay, anyway, Florida is at it again today. The Florida Senate Ethics and Elections Committee will be voting on two term limits bills today, Monday, March 10. These are state level term limits bills that have nothing to do with our Congressional term limits project. SJR 536, would put an eight-year term limit on members of all school boards and county commissions, which do not already have one. Many do. The second bill, SJR 802, would restrict state lawmakers to an eight-year, lifetime term limit. Right now, the limit is only consecutive. Wow, these folks are hardcore. But then again, Florida is exhibit A for the success of term limits on a state legislature.
Philip Blumel: US Term Limits executive director, Nick Tomboulides, lives in Florida; and I do too. He’s in Cocoa and I’m down in West Palm. Anyway, Nick made the case for tighter term limits, March 3, in the Tampa Bay Times. Here it is, read by the author.
Nick Tomboulides: Between 1983 and 2021, Michael Madigan spent 36 years as Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. After being found guilty in Federal Court on 10 counts of corruption, Madigan is about to serve a different kind of term, one where the only votes that matter are for who gets the top bunk. As Madigan packs for prison, he should be a cautionary tale for those who still whine about Florida’s term limits law. While Illinois has never had term limits, the Florida Constitution limits members of our state House and state Senate, to no more than eight consecutive years in office. This law was adopted in 1992, directly by our people, not the politicians, with 77% of the vote. It protects us from career politicians like Madigan who, if handed long tenure, become drunk on power and start abusing it for personal gain. Madigan is not some anomaly either. In 2016, Sheldon Silver, the 21 year speaker of New York State, was imprisoned for pocketing more than $5 million in a complex bribery scheme. Earlier this year, long serving New Jersey Senator, Bob Menendez, was given an 11 year prison sentence for accepting gold bars in exchange for improper aid to foreign governments. Careerism and corruption have always gone hand in hand.
Nick Tomboulides: Due to term limits, scandals of this magnitude and complexity just don’t happen in Florida. Of course, we aren’t corruption free; that would require reinventing human nature. But we use term limits to place a check on the tenure and arrogance that allow for corruption to flourish. Since Speakers of the Florida House only wield power for two years, we deprive them of the chance to build empires. Since legislators only hold office for eight years, we return them to the private sector before a rottenness can creep into their conduct. Now, in the upcoming legislative session in Tallahassee, our lawmakers have a chance to make our good term limits law even better. Senate Joint Resolution 536, introduced by Senator Blaise Ingoglia, would replace the consecutive eight-year limit, with a lifetime eight-year limit.
Nick Tomboulides: Currently, Florida’s state representatives and senators are forced to leave after eight years, but they can take a break and come back. Sometimes, this break is pathetically short. For example, this year, State Senator, Debbie Mayfield, is again running for the Senate after being term limited in November. Back in 2015, Tampa Rep., Jamie Grant, bizarrely claimed his term limits clock had been reset after sitting out for just 169 days. If the term limits law has loopholes, power seekers like Mayfield and Grant will try to take advantage.
Nick Tomboulides: To their great credit, Governor Ron DeSantis and Secretary of State Cord Byrd, recently took this fight to the State Supreme Court, arguing that the term limits law as written, should still bar overly ambitious politicians like Mayfield and Grant. Unfortunately, the court disagreed. This is exactly why we need to pass SJR 536. It would curb these abuses, while creating a legislature that truly works for the people. This bill might as well be called, “The Ending Career-Politicians Act,” because it gets rid of the bums for good.
Philip Blumel: Thanks, Nick. But there’s a dark underside to this story. Naturally, many state legislators in Florida, like everywhere else, chafe under the rules that citizens placed on them with 77% of the vote back in 1992. One such miscreant is Senator Erin Grall of Vero Beach. At the last minute, Senator Grall has introduced an amendment to SJR 536, Senator Blaise Ingoglia’s bill to create an eight-year, lifetime limit in each house of Legislature. Her amendment would give her an extra term, and a maximum limit of 24 years in the Legislature. Of course, that’s not a term limit at all; which is the point of her amendment. The vote is scheduled for Monday, March 10, at 1:30pm Eastern Standard Time. But who knows? These schedules are very flexible. Nick will be in Tallahassee testifying. Please help him out.
Philip Blumel: You could do this by contacting the relevant legislators in the state, and let them know that you support these two pro Term Limits bills, and are opposed to Senator Grall’s self-interested amendment. Go to termlimits.com/2025florida, no space between 2025 and Florida. That’s termlimits.com/2025florida, all lowercase Florida.
Philip Blumel: I’ll let you know how it worked out in the next episode. Until then.
Stacey Selleck: Like the show? You can help by subscribing and leaving a five-star review on both Apple and Spotify. It’s free.
Philip Blumel: Thanks for joining us for another episode of No Uncertain Terms. The Term Limits Convention bills are moving through the state legislatures. This could be a breakthrough year for the Term Limits movement. To check on the status of the Tournaments Convention Resolution in your state, go to termlimits.com/takeaction. There you will see if it has been introduced, and where it stands in the committee process on its way to the floor vote. If there’s action to take, you’ll see a Take Action button by your state. Click it. This will give you the opportunity to send a message to the most relevant legislators, urging them to support the legislation. They have to know you are watching. That’s termlimits.com/takeaction. If your state has already passed the Term Limits Convention Resolution, or the bill’s not been introduced in your state, you can still help. Please consider making a contribution to US Term Limits. It is our aim to hit the reset button on the US Congress, and you can help. Go to termlimits.com/donate, termlimits.com/donate. Thanks. We’ll be back next week.
Stacey Selleck: Find us on most social media @USTermLimits. Like us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and now, LinkedIn.