Delaware bill to implement term limits killed in committee

DOVER, Del. – A Delaware bill that would have implemented term limits across state government was killed in committee.

Senate Bill 79 would have created term limits for not only legislators but also the Attorney General, Insurance Commissioner, State Auditor, and State Treasurer.

The legislation was heard Wednesday in the Senate Executive Committee where it did not receive enough support to move forward for a vote.

The bill would have prevented a person from being elected to be the Attorney General, Insurance Commissioner, Auditor of Accounts, or State Treasurer more than two times, a Senator more than four times, or a Representative more than seven times.

State Senator Eric Buckson, the bill’s primary sponsor, introduced the legislation after the notion was well received by the people he met over the course of his campaign.

“I do not believe that democracy is best served by elected officials remaining in seats for decades,” Senator Buckson said. “It was amazing the amount of support I had, and it was on my mailers, everything I ran on, a multitude of things, one of those first being term limits, and very little pushback and an extreme amount of saying ‘heck yes!’.”

We reached out to Senate leadership who issued a brief statement on why the measure did not move forward. “The sponsor failed to convince his colleagues that the bill is worth signing out of committee,” State Senate Director of Communications, Scott Goss explained.

The bill was sponsored by several Republicans but did not receive any support from Democrats prior to its consideration in committee.