Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business

As Arizona continues to grapple with declining government revenue, the state's farming and ranching communities are warning that the Arizona Department of Agriculture has stretched its dollars to the limit. And the situation could grow worse, as Gov. Jan Brewer in September ordered state agencies to draft plans that predict the immediate effects on departments if their budgets are cut another 15 percent.

Members of a Republican-led committee met for the first time on Oct. 14 to examine possible weaknesses of a state law designed to make private schools more accessible to children from low-income families. Most of the public testimony came from ...

The Legislature is getting sued, again, over fund sweeps initiated earlier this year to close the state budget gap. A commission charged with delivering water from the Colorado River to several Arizona counties and Native American tribes has filed a lawsuit with the Arizona Supreme Court to challenge the Legislature's decision to sweep millions of dollars held by the Arizona Water Banking Authority.

Critics of an injunction to stop a series of abortion restrictions from taking effect are questioning how and why the case was assigned to three Maricopa County Superior Court judges. The first two judges removed themselves from hearing the case – one was vacationing out of the country and the other gave no reason. The third judge, who came out of retirement to take the case, issued an injunction on Sept. 29 that put the laws on hold.

Attorney Tim Hogan will be delivering a message to Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard that boils down to this: If you don’t, then I will. Hogan, who leads the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, will be asking Goddard to file a lawsuit to stop the Arizona State Land Department from independently paying for the management of more than 9 million acres of state trust lands.

Within minutes of hearing discussions of residential private golf course memberships, hilltop views and the actual market value of luxury homes in north Scottsdale, a hearing officer with the Arizona State Board of Equalization reached a conclusion - the value of Dennis Grose's home had been overestimated by the office of Maricopa County Assessor Keith Russell by almost $250,000 dollars.

Having heard arguments over the legality of a multimillion dollar incentive package designed to lure the development of a large shopping mall in north Phoenix, the Arizona Supreme Court is poised to decide the extent of local governments' power to boost their economies and tax revenues.

The Arizona Supreme Court on Sept. 30 will weigh the fate of a tax rebate offered by the city of Phoenix to lure a developer that built a massive shopping mall in the northern outskirts of the city. The 1997 ...

The next state general election will not occur until November, but backers of a ballot proposal to legalize the use of medical marijuana in Arizona claim to be well on their way to qualifying the measure for the 2010 ballot.

It didn't take long for "Hillary: The Movie" to turn into Citizens United v. the Federal Elections Commission, and now Arizona's Capitol insiders are waiting to see how the U.S. Supreme Court will deal with a longstanding roadblock designed to limit the political activity of corporations and unions.