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Recent Articles from Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
Elimination of car registration decals can save state $1.8 million, lawmaker says
Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita is proposing to eliminate one of the things police can use as an excuse to stop and question motorists: those metallic tags affixed to license plates that show whether a vehicle's registration is expired.
Border Patrol must provide mats for detainees to rest, 9th Circuit rules
A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a bid by Border Patrol to avoid having to provide mats and blankets to migrants they detain in holding cells in Arizona for more than 12 hours.
Bipartisan effort to ‘reform’ sentencing underway
Two state lawmakers hope to do what has proven politically impossible for decades: Convince colleagues to consider sentencing reform.
Jobless rate drops, signs abound of continued improvement
Overall, Arizona added 28,100 private sector jobs last month. That was enough to drop the state's seasonally adjusted jobless rate for November two-tenths of a point from October, to 4.3 percent.
State population grows on wave of newcomers
Arizona added enough residents in the 12 months ending July 1 to rank its growth the fifth highest in the nation.
Report shows lots of teaching job vacancies, uncertified teachers
A new report shows that nearly 2,000 teaching positions in Arizona remain vacant four months into the school year. And 866 have quit since August or just never showed up. […]
Burns, APS argue to judge over opening utility’s books
The question of whether utility regulator Bob Burns gets to grill the top executive at Arizona Public Service and review the company's political spending could turn on what a judge decides is the meaning of the word "and.''
State has new form for taxpayers to comply with little known law
The new fill-in-the-blanks form created by the Department of Revenue lets shoppers put in how much they spent and then compute what they owe the state by multiplying that by 5.6 percent.
Dem leader says new Senate harassment policy doesn’t go far enough
A move by Senate leadership to update the chamber's harassment policy is provoking some criticism over what is not included.
Court of Appeals sides with Pima County, no bid necessary for project
The state Court of Appeals on Thursday said competitive bidding laws do not apply when counties are trying to lure a specific company to the area.
Plan to place education tax increase on ballot could spark battle
A plan by business leaders to ask voters for a 1.5-cent sales tax hike for education at the 2020 ballot could set the stage for a possibly expensive battle with Gov. Doug Ducey and his Koch brothers allies -- assuming Ducey is still in office at that point.
GOP lawmaker seeks to ban billboards advertising medical marijuana
The way Sen. David Farnsworth sees it, the decision by voters to legalize the sale of marijuana for medical uses does not mean they get to promote it.
