ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV

A provision in the Arizona Constitution protects lawmakers from arrest while the Legislature is in session and for 15 days before they convene each January. There already are exceptions allowing lawmakers to be arrested in cases of treason, felonies and breach of the peace.

And now, on the heels of Sen. Mark Finchem seeking to avoid being cited for speeding, fellow Republican Rep. Quang Nguyen wants to add “all traffic violations’’ to that list.

The hurdles he faces are significant.

First he needs to get the approval of a majority of lawmakers themselves. And prior efforts to scrap or alter the immunity provision — even after a plea in 2019 from then-Gov. Doug Ducey — have failed to convince legislators to give up the protection.

And if it somehow survives that hurdle, he still would have to get voters to go along by putting it on the 2026 ballot.

The timing is not exactly random.

comes on the heels of efforts by two lawmakers to claim immunity when they were stopped for speeding.

Last year, then Sen. Justine Wadsack tried to play the immunity card to get out of a citation saying the Tucson Republican was driving 71 miles an hour in a 35 mph zone. While police agreed not to give her a ticket immediately, she eventually was cited and ultimately agreed to go to traffic school to erase the violation from her record.

More recently, Finchem was pulled over by Prescott police for going 18 miles an hour over the 30 mph limit. Finchem responded by giving the officer his license, registration — and Senate identification badge.

The officer, unfazed, still issued the ticket, resulting in Finchem writing to the police chief and citing the immunity clause. — but reserved for themselves the option of refiling it after this year’s legislative session is over.

But there is a list of public officials who have tried the same tactic, something that would no longer be an option if Nguyen can get his measure on the ballot and approved by voters.

“Elected officials should not have special privileges that allow them to break the law without accountability,’’ Nguyen said.

“The people who serve are expected to follow traffic laws, and legislators should be no different,’’ he said. “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 told Capitol Media Services he understands that, strictly speaking, the constitutional provision does not provide absolute immunity.

What it actually says is that lawmakers cannot be arrested during the legislative session or in the 15 days leading up to the session unless they are charged with treason, a felony or “breach of the peace.’’ Nothing immunizes them from being arrested and prosecuted after the session is over.

The same provision also says lawmakers are not subject to “civil process’’ during the same period, a protection from being served with lawsuits.

But Nguyen said that every time some legislator cites immunity it ends up with a video of that traffic stop on TV and a series of news stories about not just the incident but why a lawmaker gets to make that claim. And each time that happens, he said, it creates a stir and undermines public confidence.

“If we can just remove that section, we would not have a conversation between you and me right now regarding Finchem,’’ he said.

Still, Nguyen said his measure isn’t specifically about Finchem, who represents the same legislative district.

“This is about the institution that I love so much, that I care about,’’ he said. “And I don’t want to draw any more attention to the House of Representatives, or the Legislature.’’

Finchem — the lawmaker whose most recent incident appears to have prompted this — did not return messages seeking comment.

At least part of what is behind the grant of immunity — or at least the freedom from arrest during session — is to prevent a police officer or sheriff’s deputy from detaining a lawmaker, whether inadvertently or purposely, to keep them from getting to the Capitol to vote on a measure.

“Maybe there was a legitimate reason back then,’’ Nguyen acknowledged. But what’s different now is technology.

Specifically, he said a lawmaker held up because of a citation or arrest can call the office of House speaker and ask that a vote on a bill be delayed.

Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, the longest continually serving lawmaker at the Capitol, said he has no problem with what Nguyen wants to do. But he questioned whether it would survive the legislative process given the number of hurdles it would have to overcome.

History seems to agree.

Consider the exhortation to lawmakers by Ducey in his 2019 State of the State address.

“Let’s show the people of Arizona that their elected leaders will live under the same laws as every man and woman in this state,’’ the governor told lawmakers.

That occurred after a video went viral showing state Rep. Paul Moseley from Lake Havasu City claiming legislative immunity when he was stopped outside Parker for driving 97 miles an hour in a 55 mph zone — and then bragging to a sheriff’s deputy that he drives as fast as 140 miles per hour.

But Ducey got no love as not a single legislator from either party introduced the measure for consideration. Even House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican like the governor — and like Moseley — said he saw no reason to repeal the protection simply because some lawmakers have acted badly and then sought to escape being held accountable.

But the issue comes up just often enough to focus the public on the constitutional protection.

In 2018, Rep. David Cook, R-Globe, stopped for drunk driving, gave police his House ID card rather than his driver’s license. But there is no indication that Cook claimed he could not be arrested.

Cook later apologized on his Facebook page. And Bowers sanctioned him by abolishing the newly created County Infrastructure Committee that Cook was to chair.

In 2012, Rep. Daniel Patterson, D-Tucson, claimed legislative immunity to avoid facing charges of domestic violence. He ended up resigning as it appeared his colleagues were going to have him ousted.

A year earlier, Scott Bundgaard, then a Republican state senator from Glendale, was seen by police fighting with his girlfriend alongside a Phoenix freeway. When police sought to arrest both, Bundgaard claimed legislative immunity from arrest, allowing him to avoid being immediately hauled off to jail. His companion was locked up for 14 hours.

Before she was governor, Jan Brewer, a state lawmaker at the time, escaped being charged with drunk driving in 1988 after the vehicle she was driving rear-ended a van on the freeway. While police reports said she failed the field sobriety test, she was not given a breath test after a DPS officer concluded she was entitled to immunity.

In 1995, then-state Rep. Phil Hubbard, D-Tucson, argued he was entitled not to be ticketed for driving 14 miles per hour over the speed limit on Interstate 10 because he was en route to a legislative hearing.

And eight years earlier, then-Rep. Bill English, R-Sierra Vista, was arrested on a charge of drunken driving. English initially claimed immunity but eventually dropped that defense, was convicted, and paid a $373 fine.

An aide to current Gov. Katie Hobbs said she hasn’t reviewed the resolution. And there’s no reason for her to do so since lawmakers do not need her permission to put it on the ballot.

“But the governor doesn’t think politicians should get special treatment,’’ said spokesman Christian Slater. “She believes they should be held to the same standards as everyday Arizonans.’’