PHOENIX — Arizona lawmakers might ask you to yank their “get out of jail free” card.
Gov. Doug Ducey announced Monday he will ask the legislature to let Arizona voters decide whether they should get “legislative immunity” from prosecution for offenses such as speeding tickets or DUIs.
The so-called “Leadfoot Lawmaker,” then-State Rep. Paul Mosley, invoked legislative immunity before he got a warning for driving 97 in a 55-mph zone. Mosley bragged to a trooper that he sometimes goes 140 mph.
The legislative immunity provision in the state constition says legislators can't face civil processes during the legislative session or 15 days before its start.
Republican State Rep. David Cook didn’t invoke legislative immunity recent on a charge of extreme DUI. But Cook did make a veiled threat to one of the troopers arresting him, suggesting the trooper was tangling with the wrong guy.
“I’m challenging this legislature: let’s chop the stacks and stacks of statutes down, so that the laws make sense and are relevant to the Arizona of today,” Ducey said.
“And how about we start with eliminating the most unnecessary law of them all: legislative immunity. We are a nation of laws, not men. No one -- not me, nor you -- is above the law.”
Since legislative immunity is embedded in the Arizona Constitution, it can only be eliminated by voters.
If it agrees with Ducey, the legislature would refer the matter to the state ballot, most likely in 2020.