Did You Know: Term Limits

On Nov. 3, 1992, Missouri voters approved by a margin of 75 percent an amendment to the state’s constitution (Article III, Section 8) limiting the years a legislator may serve in the General Assembly. Prior to this provision, Missouri had no legislative term limits.

As originally adopted, the amendment limited the service of individuals elected to the General Assembly to a maximum of eight years in the Missouri House of Representatives and eight years in the Missouri Senate. The amendment also excluded from term-limit calculations any legislative service initiated from elections held prior to the original term limits effective date of December 3, 1992.

In 2002, voters amended the term limit provision (Article III, Section 8) to allow those filling seats vacated after a term’s midpoint the opportunity to subsequently run for up to four complete two-year House terms and/or up to two complete four-year Senate terms. Prior to this provision, any partial service counted as a full term, effectively becoming the first of four possible two-year House terms and/or the first of two possible four-year Senate terms.

Lawmakers completing unexpired terms at the time of the partial service provision’s 2002 passage would still have to count their partial service as full terms in term-limit calculations.

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