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Question: Does Massachusetts have term limits for local officials?

Answer: The Bay State does not regulate term limits at the local level, nor does it collect data on existing municipal term limits. Cities and towns that have term limits for their elected officials include Methuen and Provincetown. The Merrimack Valley city limits its mayor, city councilors, school committee and housing authority members to no more than three consecutive terms. In the Cape Cod community, town board members also may serve for only three consecutive terms.

In order to mandate term limits, municipal officials and citizens have to revise their locality’s charter. In Boston, former city councilor Maura Hennigan, who lost her bid to unseat Mayor Thomas Menino, proposed limiting mayors to two four-year terms. The city council did not act on the measure, which Hennigan wanted to see on the November 2005 ballot, before the election. First elected in November 1993, Mayor Menino is now in his 4th term.

There are no term limits on state or federal legislators. In July 1997, the Supreme Judicial Court in its League of Women Voters and others vs. Secretary of the Commonwealth decision struck down a term limits for state lawmakers and constitutional officers which had been approved by voters in 1994, ruling that the only way to regulate to limit terms on those offices is by amending the state constitution.

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