The U.S. Senate healthcare bill is expected to provide medical coverage for as many as 1 million uninsured Arizonans, but it would leave the state scrambling to come up with an estimated $3.8 billion to pay for it.

The Tucson Fire Association, Tucson Fire Company and Tucson Hook and Ladder Company formed the first Tucson fire department under the fumes of cigar smoke in the Gem Saloon on Congress Street in the early 1880s.

While the volunteers had the will to fight fires, technology and city support still needed to catch up.

“I keep thinking, Oh, my gosh! The time before we have to go back there is getting less and less!” – Sen. Linda Lopez, a Democrat from Tucson, on the approaching regular session. Lawmakers return to the Capitol Jan. 11 for the 2010 session.

Voters may get a chance to rethink the massive expansion of AHCCCS they approved in 2000, a move that could strip thousands of low-income Arizonans of healthcare coverage and provide an infusion of cash for the deficit-wracked state.

Gov. Brewer is on the right track in looking for ways to save money by establishing her Privatization Commission (announced Dec. 21). I hope that the targets for this commission will not be limited, since there is virtually no function of state government that cannot be privatized. We may choose to keep the courts and police as government employees, but even they could be private, albeit as a government granted monopoly.

One lesson the state can take away from the ongoing financial crisis is that the state needs to be better prepared to handle plummeting tax revenue in the future – and that may require a return to the past.

This year’s budget problems might just become next year’s nightmare.

Lawmakers hacked $650 million from the state’s deficit during the final two months of 2009, but the shortfall still tops $1.4 billion.

The Arizona House of Representatives held 382 floor votes during the 2009 regular session, which stretched into July as lawmakers struggled with the budget deficit. Rep. Rich Crandall, a Mesa Republican, didn’t participate in 254 of them, nearly two-thirds of the total.

A table of all votes missed by legislators during the 2009 Regular Session.

LAKE HAVASU CITY – The Lake Havasu City manager has asked the Arizona State Parks Board to let the city take operational control of Lake Havasu State Park if state budget cuts force state parks to close.

City Manager Charlie Cassens sent the request in a letter to the parks board, the governor’s office, the governor’s task force and others, informing state officials the city wants to keep the park open.