Ending it all

So when is it time to vote the rascals out?  If the bill that just passed out of the Senate is successful in the House, and then goes to the Texas voters as a Constitutional amendment, those elected to statewide office may find time is running out. Term limits— the statutory limits on the number of terms an official may serve—are popular because it restricts politicians from accumulating power.  Such laws limit the incumbency effect (the tendency of those already holding office to win reelection over and over again) and prevent politicians from becoming omnipotent.  While there are term limits in place for governors in 38 states, state laws vary widely about whether other statewide office holders are subject to term limits.  Even in those states that have gubernatorial term limits, if the governor is out of office for at least one or more terms, they can technically be re-elected again. The proposed law would allow officeholders to eventually run again after an intervening term of office has occurred (candidates have to sit it out for one election cycle).

The provision has the greatest impact on Governor Rick Perry who has served an unprecedented three terms in office (after finishing Governor George W. Bush’s term when he was elected to President in 2000).  Perry has indicated he will announce by June whether he intends to seek a fourth term.  The current law has a “grandfather clause” allowing current office holders an exemption from immediate application–Perry could still run for another two terms after the law comes into effect.

So are legislators targeting Perry?

They argue that’s not the case, but that they want greater government accountability. Still some politicians, including Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst whose own job would be affected, question whether the law was needed.

After all, we have term limits, they are called elections–you might want to check ‘em out.

And speaking of termination, pro-life bills introduced in the Texas Senate target doctors’ medical treatment in making end of life decisions by giving patients and their surrogates greater discretion under Texas’s existing advance directives law (set of written instructions specifying what actions are to be taken if the person is ill or incapacitated).  Physicians frequently make the final medical  judgments about ending treatment—especially to the elderly and terminally ill.   Both bills give patients and their surrogates more discretion to challenge doctors’ ability to make the final determination about end-of-life treatment  (e.g. feeding and hydration tubes keeping the patient alive so terminating such treatment often results in the patient’s eventual death).

Guess the Texas legislature is really dealing with life and death issues this go round.  I wonder who (and what legislation) will survive.