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Implementing Term Limits: The Case of the Michigan Legislature. By Sarbaugh-Thompson Marjorie. and Thompson Lyke. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2017. 346p. $85.00 cloth, $44.95 paper.
We are now in our third decade since the first adoption of term limits for state legislatures in 1990. Although the number of states with term limits has dwindled to 15, they remain highly popular with the general public. However, nearly thirty years of research on term limits has generally not demonstrated the effects and outcomes that advocates of term limits sought. One shortcoming of this research, however, has been that much of it has been conducted in the two early phases of term limits implementation, anticipation and transition, which does not provide the full picture of their overall impact. Anticipation is the period just after their adoption, but before implementation, while transition focuses on the effects from the initial wave of legislators termed out. Much less recent research explores the equilibrium phase, which captures the long-term effects and impact of term limits after their full implementation.
Margaret Sarbaugh-Thompson and Lyke Thompson have dedicated much of their careers to investigating the impact of term limits in Michigan’s state legislature. Their earlier work covered the anticipation and transition phases of Michigan’s term limits, while their latest work, Implementing Term Limits: The Case of the Michigan Legislature, seeks to encompass all three phases of this far-reaching and consequential reform. The authors’ latest effort represents over 13 years of research into the inner workings of Michigan’s state legislature and how term limits have altered many aspects of legislative behavior and the institution itself. Sarbaugh-Thompson and Thompson rely mainly on data from 460 interviews with state legislators conducted both before and after term limits adoption and supplement it with roll-call votes, district characteristics, campaign finance activity, and election results. Collectively, the book represents the most comprehensive investigation of...