Former and current Florida legislators talk term limits at Tampa political forum

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Over 30 years ago, Florida voters amended the state’s constitution to limit legislators’ terms to eight years.

At the Tampa Tiger Bay Club Friday, political leaders favored overturning term limits. 

Former state legislators Bob Henriquez and Tom Lee, current State Senator Darryl Rouson, and lobbyist Ron Pierce spoke at the forum.

All were in favor of abolishing term limits – including Rouson, who’s served for the last 17 years in Tallahassee. 

“Big issues like transportation, like housing, don’t lend themselves to an eight-year time frame, so when you come in, you’ve got to hit the ground running and try to get big policy stuff done in very short order,” Rouson said.

But panelists like Henriquez, who is the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser, say it might be a hard sell to voters. 

“That’s a hard discussion – trying to explain to the general public, if you’re already unsatisfied with what is happening, potentially at the local level or the state level, trying to explain to them ‘we’re going to change it so the people you already maybe have questions about” can serve longer,” Henriquez said.

Panelists also said the most likely way for term limits to be dismantled would be through a citizen-led ballot initiative- something Ron DeSantis has made harder through a new law signed this year.