Voter-approved rules now allow a lawmaker to spend 12 years in office, and the entire time may be spent in one house. The earlier rules, approved in 1990, allowed more time in Sacramento – 14 years – but required that no more than six years be spent in the Assembly and eight years in the Senate.
“It would really be inconceivable that two sitting Assembly members would risk running in a competitive race against each other when it doesn’t add to the number of years they can serve and probably only reduce the number of years they could serve,” Paul Mitchell said.
http://capitolweekly.net/impacts-felt-term-limits-top-two-primary/