PHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs says Sen. Jake Hoffman was not entitled to legislative immunity to avoid being cited last month for driving 24 miles an hour over the speed limit.
Ditto, she said, of any other lawmaker stopped in the past or in the future by state troopers for going that fast.
The governor on Wednesday cited a 2018 executive order signed by Doug Ducey, her predecessor.
That order directs the Department of Public Safety to consider criminal speeding to be a “breach of the peace.’’ That offense is defined as driving more than 20 mph over the speed limit.
What makes that significant is that the constitutional provision that exempts lawmakers from arrest before and during each legislative session has three exceptions: treason, felony — and breach of the peace.
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Ducey’s order, issued in the wake of a lawmaker being stopped — but not ticketed because he claimed constitutional privilege — for driving 97 miles an hour in a 55 mph zone, applies only to police employed by the state. That includes both DPS and sworn officers of the Department of Transportation.
“It is clear in some recent cases that the peace has been breached, and we have a responsibility to enforce the law in these cases,’’ Ducey wrote.
Hobbs told Capitol Media Services that order remains in effect.

Sen. Jake Hoffman
“I think that Arizonans have a right to expect that their elected leaders are going to obey the laws,’’ she said.
The governor acknowledged that nothing in the 2018 order mandates that officers issue a citation, which is a form of an arrest, in every circumstance. The governor said she agrees with that.
“I’m not going to tell officers stopping folks on the highway how to do their job,’’ she said. “And I know that there’s a certain amount of discretion that’s used, regardless of who’s involved.’’
Nor would she say that the officer who pulled over Hoffman, a Queen Creek Republican, at 11:30 a.m. driving away from the Capitol on U.S. 60 at 89 miles an hour in his Tesla Cybertruck did anything improper in deciding to give Hoffman only a warning.
But Hobbs also said that immunity for traffic citations makes no sense. And she is backing a proposal to ask voters to amend the constitutional protection to strip lawmakers of the ability to avoid citations for any traffic violations at all, not just those issued by DPS but by any law enforcement agency pulls them over.
“I think our lawmakers, people that are elected to pass laws, should be held to (at) a minimum the same standards as everyone else, if not a higher standard,’’ she said.
A proposal to do exactly that cleared its first hurdle Wednesday as was approved by the House Judiciary Committee on 6-3 margin.
The proposal from Rep. Quang Nguyen, R-Prescott Valley, was introduced after state Sen. Mark Finchem, a Republican who represents the same district as Ngyuen, sought to have a ticket he was issued last month dismissed under the current constitutional provision. Finchem wrote to Prescott’s police chief after being ticketed for going 49 mph in a 30 mph zone asking for the ticket to be rescinded — and it was.
But it’s not just about Finchem.
Three days before Finchem was cited, Hoffman got out of a speeding ticket after a state trooper recognized him and decided not to issue a citation because he was a lawmaker. The Department of Public Safety said he was clocked traveling at 89 mph in a 65 mph zone on U.S. 60 in Mesa on Jan. 22.
And last year, then Sen. Justine Wadsack, a Tucson Republican, got police to not give her a citation after she was driving 71 in a 35 mph zone. But her relief was temporary as she was cited after the legislative session ended.
On Wednesday, both Republicans and Democrats on the committee that Ngyuen chairs backed his proposal and said there’s no justification for lawmakers to get blanket immunity from arrest — which includes traffic citations — just because of the office they hold.
Three Republicans voted against the measure, with Rep. Alexander Kolodin of Scottsdale arguing that the executive branch now, mainly controlled by Democrats, could use the change to harass lawmakers they don’t like.
Nguyen said he wasn’t sponsoring the measure to specifically go after any one lawmaker.
“This is about bringing back the integrity to the House of Representatives,’’ he said. “Every time we have a situation when someone is falsely or whatever it is, claiming immunity ... we don’t need the negative attention to be driven to the institution that I love so much.’’
And he pushed back at people who argued that the provision was in the state’s original 1912 constitution as a way to ensure legislators were not delayed as they traveled to the Capitol to vote on proposed laws.
“So there are a lot of questions about people saying, well, historically, you know, you put a fence up for a reason. Why take the fence down?’’ Ngyuen said. “The way I look at it is the dinosaurs are extinct so it’s time to take the fence down.’’
Hoffman pointed out — and the DPS does not dispute — that he never actually told the DPS officer he was entitled to legislative immunity to avoid getting a ticket.
“The trooper recognized and verified that Mr. Hoffman is an Arizona state senators and currently in legislative session,’’ according to the DPS statement. And it said that the officer did not issue a citation “in accordance with the Arizona Constitution, Article 4, Part 2, Section 6,’’ the section granting lawmakers privilege from arrest while the Legislature is in session and 15 days ahead of that.
Strictly speaking, that does not immunize lawmakers. They still can be cited after the session is over.
That’s what happened in Tucson with Wadsack. Her speeding ticket was dismissed after she attended traffic school.
And Prescott police say they have not yet decided whether to issue a citation to Finchem after the end of the session.
That, however, won’t happen with Hoffman. A DPS spokesman said the decision was made not to pursue the matter after the session.