In what would be a rebuke to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, legislative committees in the State Senate and Assembly are poised to approve a bill that would effectively undo the law that allows the mayor to run for a third term this fall.

Supporters of the legislation, which would prevent city lawmakers across the state from revising term limits laws without a voter referendum, said Tuesday that they had the support they needed to advance the bills out of the appropriate committees in both houses.

The Assembly Committee on Election Law will vote on Wednesday morning. The Senate Elections Committee is scheduled to vote on March 10.

Three members of the Assembly committee, who spoke anonymously to avoid pre-empting their colleagues on the sensitive issue, said there were at least eight affirmative votes, the minimum needed to ensure approval.

The bill’s chief sponsor in the Senate, Kevin S. Parker of Brooklyn, said of the majority needed on the Elections Committee: “We have it.”

The bill would apply retroactively and require a referendum on term limits in New York City in May.

Still, the committees are only the first step toward approval in both chambers, and considerable questions remain about whether the measure will ever become law.

While the speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, and the Senate majority leader, Malcolm A. Smith, have both said they would allow the bills to advance through the legislative process, it is not clear if a broader appetite exists to take the issue on. Approval in the Senate will prove particularly difficult because Republicans, who occupy 30 of the 62 seats, have solidly backed the mayor in the past.

The legislation would also have to be signed by Gov. David A. Paterson, and Mr. Paterson has expressed support for Mr. Bloomberg’s efforts to run for a third term

And even if the proposal did become law, it would likely face a challenge in the courts and a review by the Justice Department, which must sign off on most city and state measures that revise election law.

(Source: NY Times)