Arizona bill to place ‘legislative immunity’ in hands of voters clears hurdle
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Arizona voters could get a chance next year to decide if lawmakers should be lawbreakers.
On Tuesday, the House passed a measure to limit legislative immunity. This constitutional provision shields state elected leaders from citations and arrest in most criminal cases except treason, felonies, and breach of the peace.
Over the past year, three state lawmakers have tried to use that constitutional privilege to dodge speeding tickets.
“We should not be doing anything that we are not prepared to make our folks do, and our folks are constituents,” said Rep. Walt Blackman, a Republican from Snowflake. “They get stopped. They get tickets,”
Blackman was one of 37 representatives in the state House who voted in favor of HCR 2053, which got bipartisan support.
Still, 20 lawmakers voted to keep the 112-year-old constitutional provision intact.
Rachel Keshel, a Republican from Tucson, argued that unintended consequences could be weaponized against the public.
“I see this legislation as potentially being nanny-state legislation which is anti-freedom,” Keshel said before casting a vote against the measure.
The resolution now heads to the state Senate for passage. Lawmakers do not need the governor’s approval to place the measure on the 2026 ballot
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