Term limits extension headed for voter referendum
Posted on August 12, 2010 by Ivan Pereira in City Council, City Offices, Mayor
The city’s Charter Revision Commission voted Wednesday to include a referendum on November’s general election ballot on whether to roll back the term limit extension enacted by the mayor and City Council in 2008, a spokesperson for the commission said.
In a controversial move nearly two years ago, the Council took up and approved Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal to extend the term limit for elected city officials from two terms to three. Bloomberg and several council members went on in November 2009 to win their reelection bids. The commission decided — in a nine-to-six vote, according to the Wall Street Journal — to give New York voters a chance to either affirm or overturn that change.
The referendum, if passed, would only affect future Council members, the Journal reported — currently sitting members, even those only in their first or second terms, would still be permitted to seek a third term under a so-called grandfather clause.
The commission has not yet released a transcript and streaming video of the meeting Wednesday, but it posts these materials to the city’s website here after each commission meeting.
