The effort to keep our roadways safe from speeding legislators met a sad end last week, when HCR 2053 died without a vote in the Senate Public Safety Committee. The bill would have given Arizona voters the chance to repeal legislative immunity at the ballot box in 2026.
Safe to say, the measure would have passed in a landslide, given the long history of state legislators rocketing along safe from the prospect of getting traffic tickets like the rest of unprivileged wretches.
Over the past year, three sitting state legislators have been pulled over for speeding, with each doing at least 18 miles an hour over the limit. One – since defeated Sen. Justine Wadsack – even managed to do 71 in a 35 on a Friday night in Tucson, which is impressive given the traffic on Speedway Boulevard.
Still, that’s not good enough to earn the official Arizona Legislature record for stupidity, currently held by former Rep. Paul Mosley from Lake Havasu City.
Mosley got pulled over in 2018 for weaving his Lexus in and out of traffic on State Road 95. Clocked going 97 mph in a 55, Mosley cited the immunity provision in the state Constitution. He was then caught on police body camera bragging, “Yeah, I go 130, 140, 120. I come down I-10, I was going 120 almost, you know, if there was no traffic.”
Legislative immunity is such a well-known fact, I would encourage all Arizona voters to apply it to another bill making its way through the process this session: SCR 1003, which would give voters the chance to raise legislators’ $24,000 annual salary in 2026.
The measure is pretty ingenious, actually.
It would take the legislative salary last approved by voters – $24,000 in 1998 – and adjust it up or down “for inflation or deflation pursuant to the Consumer Price Index.” Because the measure is retroactive, the proposal would give lawmakers one helluva raise.
The CPI stood at 163 in 1998. It’s 319 currently. So earning $24,000 in 1998 translates to $47,000 today.
I used to feel much sorrier for legislators until I read an excellent story in the Arizona Mirror detailing how much lawmakers earned in meal money and mileage in 2023.
Between per diem “subsistence payments” and travel reimbursements, 35 lawmakers took home more than $40,000 in gravy pay that year, with 10 electeds earning more than 60 grand – on top of their $24,000 salary.
State voters have rejected legislative pay raise proposals six times since 2000. The last vote was in 2014, when a measure to bump legislators’ salary to $36,000 a year failed 68%-32%. Given that, SCR 1003 looks like a sore loser.
Unless …
There’s a saying at the Capitol: “No bill is dead until the Legislature adjourns sine die” – Latin for “to drive away with a death wish.”
If our lawmakers revive the repeal of legislative immunity, then we, the people, should reconsider their plea for a 96% pay hike.
The rising cost of living is a thing, after all, and no Arizonan is immune from the sting of inflation – just like no Arizonan ought to be immune from the speed limit.
Think about it in terms of the Arizona Constitution, which our legislators are fond of quoting when they require immunity in the face of a traffic violation.
Article II, Section 13: “No law shall be enacted granting to any citizen … privileges or immunities which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens or corporations.”
Here in Arizona, we’re all equal under the law. Unless you’re immune from the speed limit. Then – because fair’s fair – you should be immune from inflation, too.
