Some legislators said the term limits -- which were adopted in 1992 in a constitutional amendment -- have made legislators more partisan and less willing to compromise.

Western Missouri Senator Luann Ridgeway said that term limits give legislators a deadline, forcing them to move quickly if they want their ideas put into action.

Another Republican, Columbia Senator Kurt Schaefer, agreed.

He said that term limits have lessened the importance of seniority.  As a freshman senator, he said he can accomplish more early on than he would have been able to if there were no term limits.

Schaefer said Democratic Governor Jay Nixon told lawmakers when he was a freshman legislator, he wasn't allowed to speak for the first two years.

Out of all of the current legislators Democratic Representative Chris Kelly of Columbia has served the longest. He was first a member of the House back in the early 1980s before term limits were instituted. He ran again last year.

He says that term limits have made some less concerned with being legislators and more concerned with being Democrats or Republicans.

One senator said it is unlikely for term limits to get taken off the books because the voters like them.

When the voters approved term limits in 1992, they voted for them with a 75 percent margin.

However, if some of the legislators could have their way, they'd do away with term limits or lengthen the time given.