A proposed amendment to the Utah Consitution to limit gubernatorial terms, which is already supported by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., has received another important endorsement.

The Consitution Revision Commission, which includes lawyers, legislators, and judges from the Utah district and supreme courts, gave approval of SJR11, which would only permit a governor to serve two, four-year terms.

The resolution, which would need a favorable vote from at least two-thirds of the members in the House and Senate and would have to be approved by voters in the 2006 general election, is currently on the Senate's second reading calender.

Mike Lee, Huntsman's general counsel, said that the term limits would prevent a consolidation of power with one individual and would spur changes necessary for good government.

"Over time, that power starts to accumulate, as does the name recognition of that governor," Lee said. "We need to be cautious, for policy reasons and not punitive reasons, and put this prophylactic measure in place to protect our republican form of government."

Sponsoring Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Cottonwood Heights, said the biggest criticism she has heard is that legislators who have previously voted down attempts to place term limits on themselves would place them on the governor. The difference, she said, is legislators represent a much smaller constituency, do not have consolidated power, and are a self-correcting body which loses between a fifth and a third of its members every election cycle.

"With a part-time citizen legislature, we don't need term limits because we are close to our constituency," Walker said. The governor, however, "represents the entire state and is not close to that constituency."

The only real dissent on the commission was from three members who preferred to only prohibit three consecutive terms instead of the two terms per lifetime which the current resolution would allow.

"Every time you put a term limit in place, you take away a choice of voters," former Republican legislator Byron Harward said.

Along with SJR11, the commission was also scheduled to review five other proposed amendments ranging from requiring the state auditor to be a certified public accountant to a prohibition on assessing taxes on personal property, like furniture or vehicles. Almost all of the other amendments will be studied further before being placed on the ballot, which would not happen until the 2006 general election.

The commission is charged with reviewing consitutional amendments , although its approval is not necessary for an amendment to be put on the state-wide ballot. Last year, for example, the controversial Amendment 3, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, was not reviewed by the commission prior to its approval of the legislature.

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E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com