SALEM Veteran legislators got a new lease on political life Friday when the Oregon Supreme Court declared the state’s voter-approved term limits law unconstitutional.

The long-awaited decision clears the way for re-election campaigns for dozens of previous and sitting lawmakers including Rep. Ben Westlund, R-Tumalo who had reached their maximum allowed tenures in the state House or Senate.

But it also promises to spark a new effort to cap legislators’ terms in Oregon, one of 19 states with some form of term limits.

The now-overturned Oregon limits were the most restrictive in the country.

”We feel very strongly that politicians shouldn’t be able to undo the will of the people,” said Stacie Remnap, executive director of the national organization U.S. Term Limits. ”We’re considering several options.”

Language for a possible new term limits measure has already been filed with the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office.

House Speaker Mark Simmons, R-Elgin, who initially voted in favor of the Oregon term limits law but now opposes it, said Friday’s ruling gives voters the option they should have had all along: the ability to choose whom they think is best to represent them in Salem.

He believes the law drained much-needed institutional memory from the Capitol and created a ”dysfunctional Legislature.”

The 1992 ballot measure, which earned 70 percent of the vote and was the first Oregon initiative to receive more than a million ”yes” votes, was deemed invalid because it violates the state’s ”single subject” rule for constitutional changes, the justices wrote in a unanimous decision.

”Because Measure 3 was not adopted in compliance with (that standard), we hold that it is void in its entirety,” the ruling says.

Measure 3 also capped congressional terms, but a federal court later overturned the states’ ability to limit federal terms of office.

Under Measure 3, state lawmakers were restricted to 12 years of lifetime service, with a maximum of six years in the House and eight in the Senate.

The lawsuit was filed by two lawmakers who were prevented from seeking re-election, former Reps. Mike Lehman, D-Coos Bay, and Bill Markham, R-Riddle.

”It was a bad law,” according to Lehman, a corporate lawyer who said Friday that he has no intention of running for a fourth two-year term in the Oregon House.

Lehman said too many voters thought they were approving caps on the terms of federal lawmakers but ended up with limits on the state Legislature.

In 1992, voters were told that term limits would bring new faces and new ideas to government, would rein in runaway campaign spending and would reduce the influence of entrenched lobbyists and bureaucrats. But none of that happened, said Westlund, who was first elected in 1996 and had been barred from seeking a fourth term in the Oregon House.

”Personally, I’m pleased with the decision,” he said. ”But this is about more than just one legislator. This is about the viability of the institution.”

Westlund, who is co-chairman of the influential budget-drafting committee, said he’s considered an elder statesman at the Capitol even though he’s logged just three terms in the House. That’s not nearly enough time to know the intricacies of the process, he said.

Jim Moore, a Portland political analyst, said the repeal could send ripples across state government, and not just because lawmakers will be allowed to gain more seniority. Many other ballot measures may be overturned using the same legal rationale, he said, including the one that created the state lottery.

In addition, contests for the Legislature promise to be crowded this year, he said. Incumbents and former lawmakers who are free to file again will face off against newcomers who thought they’d be running for an open seat.

”I think we’ll see a lot of action between now and the filing deadline in two months,” he said.

Term limits won’t disappear from the Oregon political landscape, however.

Lawmakers are likely to consider a revised term limits law that would be referred to voters, said Rep. Bob Jenson, R-Pendleton, who also has served three terms and intends to seek a fourth. One possibility would be a 12-year cap on service in either the House or Senate a change lawmakers suggested in 2001.

Simmons said the Legislature could consider term limits when it convenes in a special session in February to re-balance the state budget.

He said he’s unsure yet whether he’ll seek re-election. ”I was leaning toward not coming back,” he said. ”But it’s also important that rural Oregon be represented well.”

James Sinks can be reached at 503-566-2839 or jamess@cyberis.net.