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Section 8. Limitations on Terms of Office. (1) The Secretary of State or other authorized official shall not certify a candidate's nomination or election to, or print or cause to be printed on any ballot the name of a candidate for, one of the following offices if, at the end of the current term of that office, the candidate will have served in that office or had he not resigned or been recalled would have served in that office:
(a) 8 or more years in any 16-year period as governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, attorney general, or superintendent of public instruction;
(b) 8 or more years in any 16-year period as a state representative;
(c) 8 or more years in any 16-year period as a state senator;
(d) 6 or more years in any 12-year period as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives; and
(e) 12 or more years in any 24-year period as a member of the U.S. senate.
(2) When computing time served for purposed of subsection (1), the provisions of subsection (1) do not apply to time served in terms that end during or prior to January 1993.
(3) Nothing contained herein shall preclude an otherwise qualified candidate from being certified as nominated or elected by virtue of write-in votes cast for said candidate.¹

History

1884 Proposed Montana Constitution

There was no article defining the Limitations on Terms of Office, nor was there any mention of such limits in the 1884 Proposed Montana Constitution.²

1889 Montana Constitution

There was no article defining the Limitations on Terms of Office, nor was there any mention of such limits in the 1889 Montana Constitution. ³

Drafting

Constitutional Initiative 64

This section of the Montana Constitution wasn't voted on until 1992, after being proposed as a Constitutional Amendment via initiative petition. The 1990 Official Voter Guide had a description of what was being changed, as well as arguments for and against the change.

Arguments For Constitutional Initiative 64. Prepared by Representative Fred Thomas, Ron Oberlander, and Scott Chatham: By implementing term limits, citizens would be encouraged to run for office because holding public office would be considered a "time of service, not a career." Without limitations, citizens are cut out of the political system because of the "good old boy" network and game playing associated with long-term political careers. The limitations will help break the cycle of career politicians and encourage more choices for voters.⁴

Arguments Against Constitutional Initiative 64. Prepared by Senator Chet Blaylock, Representative Sheila Rice, Rick Bartos, Donald Judge, and Senator Bob Brown: From 1940-1990, no Montana Governor had served more than two terms and from 1981-1991 both the Montana State House of Representatives and the Montana State Senate saw significant turnover. Mandatory term limits would cause unnecessary clutter to Montana laws and the term limits for federal offices were unconstitutional and illegal. Opponents believed that term limits would "prohibit full and free democracy" because voters would be denied the right to continuously reelect incumbents who were doing a good job. Opponents also stated that term limits would turn control of the government over to "non-elected bureaucrats and paid lobbyists."⁴

Ratification

Montanans voted to approve the constitutional amendment during the November 3, 1992 elections. The amendment passed with 264,174 Montanans (66.90%) voting for it and 130,695 Montanans (33.10%) voting against it.

References

1: https://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/title_0000/article_0040/part_0010/section_0080/0000-0040-0010-0080.html

2: https://www.umt.edu/media/law/library/MontanaConstitution/Miscellaneous%20Documents/1884_const.pdf

3: https://www.umt.edu/media/law/library/MontanaConstitution/Miscellaneous%20Documents/1889_const.pdf

4: https://archive.org/details/montanavotersgui1992montrich/page/18/mode/2up (Page 17-20)