Finally, a plan to force Arizona lawmakers to pay their speeding tickets | Opinion

Finally, a bill to end legislative immunity for Arizona’s lead foot lawmakers. But why should legislators remain immune from other laws?

• Arizona legislators currently have immunity from traffic violations while the Legislature is in session.
• Arizona House Judiciary Chairman Quang Nguyen has introduced a resolution to end this immunity.
• Nguyen’s resolution would allow voters to decide if lawmakers should face the same traffic laws as everyone else.

Once again, Arizona’s legislators have the opportunity to bring an end to the outrageous practice of holding themselves above the law.

Well, traffic laws, at least.

House Judiciary Chairman Quang Nguyen on Friday introduced a resolution aimed at ending legislative immunity for speeding tickets.

“Elected officials should not have special privileges that allow them to break the law without accountability,” Nguyen said in announcing his bill.

“The people we serve are expected to follow traffic laws, and legislators should be no different. If a lawmaker is caught speeding, running a red light, or committing any other traffic violation, they should face the same consequences as everyone else.”

Nguyen’s bill comes after Sen. Mark Finchem, R-Prescott, became the latest lawmaker to invoke legislative immunity to wiggle out of a traffic ticket.

Finchem dodged a ticket, claiming immunity

Finchem was nailed near midnight on Jan. 25, clocked doing 48 mph in a 30 mph zone in Prescott.

Two days later, Prescott Police Chief Amy Bonney got a letter from the senator on Arizona Senate letterhead, demanding that the ticket “be voided and stricken from the record.”

The ticket was dismissed on Feb. 4.

Nice dodge if you can manage it. And Finchem adeptly managed it, as have a number of our esteemed leaders through the years. (See: ex-Sen. Justine Wadsack, R-71 mph in a 35 mph zone.)

That’s because the state constitution says legislators “shall be privileged from arrest in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace and they shall not be subject to any civil process” while the Legislature is in session.

The legislative immunity clause was put into place during early statehood out of fear that rogue cops would pull over and detain legislators for bogus reasons, preventing them from reaching the state Capitol to vote.

Multiple lawmakers have used law to duck charges

So, now instead we have rogue legislators, careening down Arizona’s highways and byways at high speeds, unworried about limits that apply to us regular schmucks.

Immunity also has been used to duck a misdemeanor domestic violence arrest or an order of protection.

Gov. Doug Ducey asked the Legislature to put a repeal of legislative immunity on the 2020 ballot after a legislator claimed the privilege once being pulled over for doing more than 40 mph over the speed limit.

The Legislature wasn’t interested.

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Now comes Nguyen’s House Concurrent Resolution 2053, asking voters to do away with immunity for lead foot lawmakers.

“No one should be above the rules of the road,” Nguyen said. “Lawmakers should follow the same laws they create and enforce. We are lawmakers, not lawbreakers.”

Well, most of you are, anyway.

Arizona voters should have their say on this

Finchem seems to think he’s entitled to break the law, telling Arizona Republic reporter Ray Stern the ticket “shouldn’t have been written in the first place.”

Not only should it have been written, but the ticket should be written again once the Legislature adjourns and there’s no danger that citing him at near midnight on a Friday in Prescott would prevent him from casting a vote at the closed-for-the-weekend Capitol in Phoenix.

Nguyen’s bill applies only to traffic offenses. No word on why legislators who commit misdemeanors outside their cars should be immune from following the law while the Legislature is in session. Still, Nguyen’s proposal is a welcome and long-overdue start.

Lawmakers should embrace their inner Finchem, put the pedal to the metal and drive that sucker right onto the 2026 ballot.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz, on Threads at @LaurieRobertsaz and on BlueSky at @laurieroberts.bsky.social.

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