*WHAT IT WOULD DO: Lowers the number of years lawmakers can serve in the Legislature from 14 to 12, but lets them serve all that time in a single house. Lawmakers currently can serve three two-year terms in the Assembly and two four-year terms in the Senate. The initiative also would close a loophole that allows certain lawmakers to serve up to 17 years in the Legislature. This applies to those who begin their political careers by filling the remainder of a departing lawmaker's term, then run for the seat and serve full terms in the Assembly and Senate.

* SUPPORT: Good government groups, including the League of Women Voters and Common Cause, say the state needs to reduce the churn of lawmakers in the Capitol and give them time to tackle weighty policy matters without having to worry about finding their next job. Other supporters include the California Democratic Party, labor unions and several local chambers of commerce

*OPPOSE: Advocates of California's current term limits say the initiative will actually lengthen most lawmakers' time in office by relieving them of the need to win a seat in the opposite house. The California Republican Party and the California chairman of the Koch brothers' group Americans for Prosperity say the initiative dilutes the state's current law.

*CAMPAIGN DONATIONS: Groups supporting the initiative have raised more than $2 million, much of it from organized labor. Business organizations and individual companies also have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars. Opponents have raised $100,000 from the Liberty Initiative Fund, a Virginia-based conservative group, and $45,000 from East Coast developer Howard Rich.