Nineteen years ago I stood in Jim Tobin’s Chicago office as we announced our candidacies for Governor and Lt. Governor on the Libertarian Party.

I rolled out the idea of Term Limits for Legislative Leaders with the sign seen above.

Yesterday, Democratic Party State Rep. Anthony DeLuca, Chief Sponsor of House Bill 642, got the idea out of the House Executive Committee.

Here is how the bill is described:

Synopsis As Introduced

Amends the General Assembly Operations Act. Provides that no person may serve more than 10 consecutive years in any of the following leadership roles:

• Speaker of the House of Representatives,
• President of the Senate,
• Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, and
• Minority Leader of the Senate.

Provides that the limitations imposed by the amendatory Act apply to service beginning on and after the second Wednesday in January of 2023.

House sponsors so far are

Rep. Anthony DeLuca – Tony McCombie – Curtis J. Tarver, II – La Shawn K. Ford – Michelle Mussman, Sam Yingling, Kelly M. Cassidy, Maurice A. West, II, Martin J. Moylan, Margaret Croke, Terra Costa Howard, Dagmara Avelar, Barbara Hernandez, Michael T. Marron, David A. Welter, Bradley Stephens, Amy Elik, Andrew S. Chesney, Jonathan Carroll, John C. D’Amico, Mark Batinick, Thomas Morrison, Keith R. Wheeler, Seth Lewis, Thomas M. Bennett, Robert Rita, C.D. Davidsmeyer, Joyce Mason, Patrick Windhorst, Dan Caulkins, Paul Jacobs, Avery Bourne, Amy Grant, Deanne M. Mazzochi, Tom Weber, Chris Bos, Tim Ozinga, Mike Murphy, Adam Niemerg, Brad Halbrook, Joe Sosnowski, Lindsey LaPointe, Dan Ugaste, Daniel Swanson, Blaine Wilhour, Martin McLaughlin, Robyn Gabel, Rita Mayfield, Jackie Haas, Tim Butler, Deb Conroy, Emanuel Chris Welch, Dan Brady, Elizabeth Hernandez, Jehan Gordon-Booth, Ryan Spain, Jaime M. Andrade, Jr. and Jim Durkin.

The legislation is certainly set for House passage, providing another example of how policy positions advanced by a Third Party candidate can be mainstreamed.