LONGEST TERMS IN OFFICE

In the first incarnation of term limits, which started in 1990, constitutional officers and State Senate members can hold an office for two four-year terms. In the State Assembly, the limit was three two-year terms. Under the new term limits, starting in 2012, members of the Legislature are now limited to a total of 12 years in office (no matter which house they are in when they serve those years).

Seats in the US House of Representatives and US Senate are not bound by term limits, and members may serve for as long as the voters in their districts reelect them. The current longest-serving member of the legislature is State Senator Jim Nielsen, who served twelve years in the Senate prior to term limits, four years in the Assembly under old term limits, and has served in the Senate since early 2013.

Also of note is Governor Jerry Brown, whose total service as Governor (13 years) has now broken the previous record set by Earl Warren in the 1950s.

As of January 1, 2014, the longest terms that California elected officials have held a single office is:

(1) Farr reached 20 years of service in Congress on June 17, 2013.
(2) Nielsen will reach 20 years of service in the State Senate on December 3, 2020 (in 2317 days).
(3) This officeholder has indicated that they will not seek reelection in 2014.