Arizona can return more people to work by allowing firms to provide up to six weeks of training for those receiving unemployment assistance without having to add them to payrolls, a Tucson lawmaker contends.

During the past few years, Arizona has done more than any state to position itself for strong economic growth once the national economy recovers. In particular, the broad-based tax reforms and new economic development tools contained in last year’s competitiveness package laid a strong foundation on which to grow the state’s economy.

The proposal to require Amazon.com to collect taxes on goods it sells to Arizona residents failed anew during a second vote in the Senate today.

Environmentalists fear that the Arizona Corporation Commission may waive its stringent energy efficiency standards rather than approve a power-cutting plan submitted by Tucson Electric Power and scheduled for a vote Friday.

A state senator last week said she ignored a law that requires Arizonans to report taxes on their purchases from online retailers and other out-of-state businesses.

Theresa Mattern, a Glendale-based Realtor, listed a four bedroom single-family home for a client on a Friday in February for $95,000. Within 72 hours, she had seven offers and it sold for $109,000 cash.

“At the end of the weekend it sold for $14,000 over the asking price,” Mattern says.

Six years ago, it was common for buyers to wait in front of new home sales offices to see who would win the privilege of purchasing one of the several lots the builder had selected to release for sale that day.

A coalition aiming to bolster K-12, higher education, state infrastructure and children’s health care funding filed a ballot measure today for a new 1-cent sales tax hike that would go into effect as soon as Proposition 100 expires in 2013.

The initiative, filed by the group Quality Education and Jobs, would direct about 80 percent of the money it raises to education, with the overwhelming majority going to K-12 schools. The tax would raise about $1 billion a year.

Opponents of Proposition 100, who warned that the 1-cent sales tax increase wouldn’t truly be temporary, are watching their predictions come true.

Since the Arizona Commerce Authority officially launched on July 1, it has awarded $17.2 million in incentives to companies moving to or expanding in Arizona. But detailed information is available for less than half of that money.

That’s because $9.3 million has been awarded in the form of tax credits, which are defined in Arizona statute as confidential taxpayer information.