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.

WASHINGTON – A House committee Wednesday approved a bill to require that every business in the country use the E-Verify system to determine if prospective hires are authorized workers or undocumented immigrants.

Slumping housing prices and the prevelance of service-industry jobs contributed to Phoenix and Tucson trailing the rest of the Intermountain West in economic recovery during the second quarter, according to a Brookings Institution report.

Dollars spent with local businesses have a far greater impact on Arizona’s economy, tax revenues and jobs, and that applies even when state government puts out contracts for bid, the head of a small-business group said Friday.

Arizona has weathered its share of economic storms in recent years. Stopgap measures, a temporary tax increase and incessant budget slashing allowed the state to precariously stay afloat.

But the horizon promises no relief yet. In fact, many budget decisions drawn up by state leaders have actually put Arizona on a course toward troubled waters.

For a state that has been grappling with a multibillion-dollar deficit for four years, news of a potential revenue surplus is like a few drops of rain after a long drought.

In the week following a string of Washington and Wall Street theatrics, experts are saying that Arizona’s recovery will be slowed as consumer and investor confidence dwindles.

The debt-ceiling debate, the downgrading of the U.S. debt and the market mini-crash this week have exacted a steep toll on Arizona’s stock market investments.

California’s loss could be Arizona’s gain, if some legislators have any say about it.

With the outcry from some businesses about the Golden State’s newly-passed “nexus tax” on some online retailers, Rep. Tom Forese, R-Gilbert, has proposed that Arizona take advantage of the discontent and try to recruit the angry businesses to Arizona, which has no such tax.

Weakness in government employment and several private sectors of the economy is pushing Arizona’s unemployment rate upward.