By Carmen Forman and Ben Giles | Arizona Capitol Times
Gov. Doug Ducey’s push to repeal legislative immunity this session is likely dead.
Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers has no intention of letting proposed legislation to repeal the legislative privilege move through the House, Bowers’ spokesman told the Arizona Capitol Times on Friday.
HCR2008, proposed by Rep. T.J. Shope, was never assigned to a committee by Bowers, a move that effectively shelves the proposal.
February 22 is the deadline for House bills to be vetted in House committees. Without a committee assignment, it’s now assured that the bill won’t advance.
Shope did not immediately return a call for comment Friday.
Like many lawmakers, Bowers bristled at the portion of Ducey’s State of the State speech where the governor called for a repeal of legislative immunity. Bowers previously indicated he thought legislative immunity was put in Arizona’s Constitution by voters for a reason.
In his address, Ducey called for a repeal of Arizona’s unnecessary laws and labeled legislative immunity the “most unnecessary law of them all.”
