Small-group discussions have begun on the state budget, offering rank- and-file lawmakers their first chance to give input on next year’s spending plan, and nearly everyone has a pet priority they want funded.

When discussing the progress made in budget negotiations so far this year, Senate President Andy Biggs reminded the Arizona Capitol Times that patience is a virtue.

Despite weeks of budget discussions, the governor and Republican lawmakers still haven’t agreed on how much the state will get in revenues over the next three years.

Arizona’s struggling child-welfare agency faces a continuing increase in its backload of cases while the number of caseworkers remains short of the state’s own standards.

Once again, Randy Pullen is coming to Gov. Jan Brewer’s defense at a time when she needs allies on the right.Pullen, the former chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, penned a letter urging Republicans to support Brewer’s plan to expand Medicaid coverage in accordance with President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled that a law reducing pension benefits for members of the judiciary violates the Arizona Constitution, but only for those who were on the bench before 2000.

Gov. Jan Brewer and some Arizona lawmakers are determined to pass her plan to simplify the state’s tax code this year, but municipalities are just as determined to delay at least one portion of the governor’s proposal that they argue could do irreparable harm to their finances.

The Legislature is well past the midway point of an ideal 100-day session. But with several big issues still hanging in the air, and not even a legislative budget proposal drafted, finishing the session promises to be anything but quick and easy.

The director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday defended his agency’s decision to release more than 2,000 illegal immigrants last month, saying it was necessary to keep the agency within its budget.

An appellate court panel has upheld Arizona’s use of part of a multistate foreclosure settlement to help balance the state budget.