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"It's definitely an uphill battle because everybody voting on it is potentially voting themselves out of a job," Rep. Brad Roae (R-Crawford), a cosponsor of HB 2500, told The Bulletin.
Proponents of the measure believe that extending a state representative's term from two to four years and a state senator's term from four to six years would allow the lawmakers more time to focus on their policy work, while limiting the number of years they could serve consecutively (12 years in each case) would reduce the accumulation of power over time.
"The idea is to depoliticize the governing process," Mr. Gibbons said.
Nathan Benefield, director of policy research at the Commonwealth Foundation, concurred that term limits will provide for a cleaner political system.
"It'll reduce some of the corruption that comes with being in the same position over and over," Mr. Benefield said. "Too often it just seems that legislators are working to stay in office."
He dismissed the suggestion that term limits' limitations upon majority rule negate the virtues of the bill. He also noted that a host of provisions - such as the free-speech provision of the U.S. Constitution, the prohibition on electing felons to office and minimum ages for political candidates - also restrict decisions that can be made democratically but are nonetheless broadly popular and arguably valuable.
Mr. Gibbons said that his measure will probably have to wait beyond the near term for success.
"I think, as with many of the various reform measures that have been proposed, it's going to take a while to get these things accomplished," he said. "These are new ideas that go against the traditional system. I don't know that the support's there right now, but I will continue pushing the issue."
Bradley Vasoli can be reached at bvasoli@thebulletin.us.
