Outgoing Arizona Commerce Authority President and CEO Don Cardon will give back the $50,000 signing bonus he received last year.

With old battles settled, business advocates are turning their attention to some of the more “niche” issues for the business community during the 2012 legislative session.

The law has been on the side of the Tohono O’odham Nation so far this year, but the core legal issue the tribe is relying on to build a casino on a plot of land in unincorporated Maricopa County near Glendale is still unsettled by the courts.

And an expert on Indian law and gaming law believes that the issue will eventually put an end to the planned casino.

A tattoo, tattooing and the business of tattooing are constitutionally protected speech, the Arizona Court of Appeals determined Thursday by ruling in favor of a couple that was denied a use permit to open a tattoo parlor in Mesa.

The court reversed a Maricopa County Superior Court decision in favor of the city and ordered the lower court to hold further proceedings.

After being in place for four months, the Arizona Commerce Authority Oct. 24 announced its first award from its $25 million deal-closing fund.

The Arizona Department of Corrections’ oversight of private prisons has improved since a deadly, July 2010 escape, but the Office of the Auditor General also found the state-run prisons have their own security problems.

With another election season fast approaching, border security remains a priority, but many lawmakers and political insiders say support for local immigration-enforcement measures appears to be waning.

The prevailing mood is that lawmakers might not have the appetite to wage emotionally draining battles over illegal immigration at a time when the state faces a more immediate menace — a sagging economy and the loss of 300,000 jobs during the recession.

Community college officials came in full force to the state Capitol earlier this year to outline the potential ramifications for the proposed steep cuts to their budgets. Yet at the time they made their case, most college districts were sitting atop millions of dollars in cash reserves.

The Solyndra collapse and its subsequent Washington investigation have re-ignited the national debate over whether the solar industry should be subsidized by the government, and some state legislators are calling for a re-examination of Arizona’s own solar incentives.

Advocates of an ill-fated tax cut proposal meant to spur small- business growth believe they’ve finally found the key to overcoming longstanding opposition and are rounding up early support to head off any problems as they prepare for the 2012 legislative session.