San Diego may eliminate a loophole in its term limits law.

The change would prohibit council members from serving longer than eight years even if they shift districts.

Voters would need to approve the change as a city charter amendment in November.

San Diego officials may ask voters to eliminate a term limits loophole that allows some City Council members to serve longer than the eight-year maximum that voters approved in 1992.

If the proposed change was already in place, Councilwoman Lorie Zapf would not be eligible for the third consecutive four-year council term she is seeking this year.

In addition, former Councilwoman Marti Emerald would not have been eligible in 2016 for a third term, which she ultimately chose not to seek partly because of health problems.

The loophole made Zapf and Emerald eligible for third terms because the geographic council districts they represented shifted while they were in office. The idea is, being the District 6 council member is a different office than being the District 2 council member, for example, starting the term limits clock over.


The proposed change, which the council’s Rules Committee unanimously approved last week, would prohibit council members from serving longer than eight years even if they shift districts.

The Rules Committee voted to have the city attorney write an amendment to the city charter that the full council could decide this summer to place on the November ballot for voter approval.

Councilwoman Barbara Bry of La Jolla said it’s clear the loophole contradicts what voters intended when they approved term limits 26 years ago.

“The language, for whatever reason, was unclear at that time, and it is just our intent to clear it up,” she said.


Councilman Chris Ward of University Heights said the loophole has created an uneven playing field.

“This affords a special opportunity for some, but not other, council members to qualify for additional terms,” Ward said.

Zapf is eligible for a third term this year because her Bay Ho home shifted from District 6 to District 2 during her first term in office in 2011, when boundary lines were re-drawn – something that happens every 10 years with a new census.

Zapf served four years in District 6, is now serving her fourth year in District 2 and is seeking another four-year term in District 2.


Emerald served four years in District 7, then moved from Tierrasanta to College Area in the newly created District 9 in 2011 and served four years in that district.

She was expected in 2016 to seek a third term — her second in District 9 – but decided instead to retire and was ultimately replaced by Georgette Gomez of City Heights.

Term limits have created opportunities for the emergence of new leaders that might not have happened otherwise. No incumbent council member has lost a re-election bid in the city in more than 25 years.

The first election affected by the change would be in 2020.


david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick