One of Rowan County’s legislators is a primary sponsor and the creator of a bill that would shake-up the state’s constitution, extending term lengths for state senators and house representatives.

Introduced in early March, a bill sponsored by Rep. Harry Warren, R-77, would change the terms of both senators and representatives from two to four years. It would also prevent the speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives and president pro tem of the senate from serving more than two consecutive terms in the role. The change would start in 2020 for all state legislators and has already garnered significant support, with more than 30 sponsors or co-sponsors.

The term length change still has a long path to becoming law as North Carolina voters would have to approve the measure. The bill proposes that the measure be placed on ballots for voters to approve in Nov. 2016.

Warren, who drafted the law, mentioned the current two-year term as a factor that limits the governing ability of legislators.

“You’re in position for maybe 11 calendar months and you’re already filing to run again,” Warren said. “Your legislators are spending a good part of their second year in office trying to legislate at the same time they’re running for re-election.”

Knowledge of the general assembly’s operations takes time to accrue, he said. Likewise, complicated legislations — Warren used regulatory reform as an example — takes time to pass.

Warren’s bill on March 10 was assigned to the committee on elections.

A similar bill has been introduced in the state senate, but it’s got one major difference. Unlike Warren’s proposal, the senate bill would stagger terms. As a result, the senate’s President Pro Tem Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore would choose a subset of legislators in their respective houses to remain in office for an additional two years without going through the election process. Legislators who aren’t chosen by leadership to remain in office would need to be re-elected in 2016 to a four year term, according to the senate bill.

State Sen. Andrew Brock R-34, isn’t a sponsor of the senate bill and said he’d prefer if terms remained as is.

“I would vote against that,” Brock said about the senate bill. “The thing about a two-year term is that it allows for more frequent elections and allow for legislators to keep their pulse on the public — what legislation they want and what legislation they don’t want. A two-year term forces us to stay engaged with the public.”

He said legislators shouldn’t be worried about taking on complicated issues or making controversial votes.

“Good policy equals good politics,” he said. “To me, I think good service to the people is almost more effective than a television ad. For me, you have to do your job as an elected official and you won’t have to worry about whether you get re-elected.”

Brock said the constitutional amendment to extend term lengths, regardless of how differences between the house and senate bill are merged, wouldn’t get enough voter support to pass.

The four-year term would essentially mean serving two sessions for state legislators. The general assembly meets for a long session immediately following an election and for a short session during an election year.

Catawba Politics Professor Michael Bitzer said an advantage to the term extension could be the ability to take on more complicated legislation, but there’s not enough polling data to determine whether voters would support the measure or not.

“I’m not sure how it would do,” Bitzer said. “That’s a pretty significant change. I’m not sure voters would be supportive.”

He said the start time for the house bill — 2020 — would allow for a greater turnout, as 2020 is a presidential election year.

“Electorates are very different depending on whether its a presidential or midterm election year,” Bitzer said. “You get two very distinct and very different sets of voters.”

Midterm years often mean a larger portion of voters being registered to a party and, perhaps, partisan. Presidential years usually mean more unaffiliated voters, Bitzer said.

Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246.