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2012 Montana Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (2012)

handle is hein.sag/sagmt0022 and id is 1 raw text is: VOLUME NO. 54 CONSTITUTION - Rules of construction for constitutional language; ELECTIONS - Meaning of the phrase current term in Article IV, section 8; ELECTIONS - Term limits for statewide elected officials and legislators; LEGISLATURE - Term limits for legislators; MONTANA CODE ANNOTATED - Sections 1-2-107, 1-3-223, -232, 2-16-214, 13-10- 201, (8), (a), (b), (c); MONTANA CONSTITUTION OF 1972 - Article IV, section 8, (1), (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (2), (3); OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL - 47 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 9 (1997). HELD: Pursuant to section 13-10-201, the phrase current term in article IV, section 8, means the term served after regular election to a full term of office. Based upon that definition, a candidate may file for office if, at the time the candidate begins to serve in that office, he or she will have had an 8-year break in service over a 16-year period of time. January 11, 2012 Ms. Linda McCulloch Secretary of State Montana State Capitol P.O. Box 202801 Helena, MT 59620-2801 Dear Secretary McCulloch: [P1] You have requested my opinion on the question of whether Senate Bill 311, enacted by the 2011 Legislature, fulfills its intent which was to clarify the way term limits are calculated under Montana law. It is my opinion that SB 311 does fulfill its intended purpose and that term limits should now be calculated based upon the statutory definition of current term provided in the bill. In order to explain my conclusion, I provide the following background. OPINION NO. 4