A proposal to impose eight-year term limits on Florida’s county commissioners and school board members is back this year. This time, the sponsors are looking to place the limits in the state Constitution.
Springhill Republican Senator Blaise Ingoglia has already tried to convince his colleagues to put term limits into state law. During the 2023 legislative session, the legislature imposed eight-year term limits on school board members, down from the previous 12. However, an effort to do the same for county commissioners hasn’t been as successful. Ingoglia says he’s now offering limitations as a constitutional amendment because the overwhelming majority of his voters want it.
“For clarification purposes, the proposed term limits in this joint resolution for county commissioners are prospective, and for the school board it is retrospective, because they already have term limits.”
Supporters say the proposal would bring fresh blood into local offices, while opponents say voters would lose representatives who know their jobs.
Representatives of the Florida Association of Counties and the Small Counties Coalition oppose the measure.
Wakulla County Commissioner Ralph Thomas says he’s not opposed to term limits -- if that’s what his constituents vote for -- but he’s got other objections.
“I’m here in opposition to this one-size-fits-all proposal that strips away the sacred right of local self-determination and imposes a uniform mandate on every county in our diverse state. This proposal flies in the face of principles upon which our nation and our republic were founded. The citizens of each county, who live with the consequences of their leaders’ decisions, should be the ones to decide what limits, if any, are best suited for their unique needs.”
Vero Beach Republican Senator Erin Grall opposes the measure, saying the institutional knowledge of an elected individual takes time to acquire.
“It’s the institutional knowledge of the elected official, not that that is conveyed to us by staff or by a lobbyist or somebody else that does not have the obligation and duty to tale the votes before them for our constituents.”
Grall says she’s never been a local elected official, but she knows it’s a matter of years to learn the issues and what’s been done before -- in order to take responsible votes.
“I don’t think it’s in the best interests of our constituents to lose the institutional knowledge of the person who’s willing to put their name on a ballot.”
The legislature itself is governed by 8-year term limits in both chambers.
Ingoglia says he understands the concerns raised by opponents of his proposal.
“Senator Grall, your assertion is that staff and lobbyists have too much control, and they wind up not doing what the voters want. Well, the first thing I would say is that about 80 percent of the voters want term limits, and they want it set at 8 years. And all we’re asking is to put it on the ballot. Let them answer the question.”
Ingoglia’s measure is now in the Senate Community Affairs Committee. The House companion has been approved by that chamber and is also now in the Senate. If the plan passes the legislature, it would appear before Florida voters on the November 2026 ballot.
