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

Crime in Arizona has dramatically declined this decade, but the number of Arizonans in prison continues to climb and has grown by nearly 50 percent since 2002, thanks in part to the creation of new crimes and tougher sentencing guidelines. Supporters of the tough-on-crime approach say the figures show that the laws are doing what is intended: making Arizona safer by keeping dangerous criminals behind bars. But critics say that idea defies research and the state can't afford to continue the trajectory, especially in a time of fiscal crisis.

The top press aide for the House Republican caucus has announced she will resign at the end of this week. Becky Blackburn spent less than a year as communications director for the House of Representatives. In an e-mail to House majority members, staff and the media, she announced Dec. 4 would be her final day.

Salt River Project and a pair of Arizona municipalities will face off in court over a public records dispute in February. A Maricopa County judge on Dec. 2 set a hearing date of Feb. 17. The two sides will debate whether the quasi-governmental utility company is subject to the state's public records law. Prescott and Prescott Valley have filed two public records requests with SRP, and the utility has refused to turn over the documents.

State tax collections continued their downward slide in October, with revenues for the month coming in more than $140 million below forecast and the state slipping deeper into a sea of red ink.

When House Speaker Kirk Adams banged the gavel at 3:33 p.m. on Nov. 23 and closed the fourth special session of the 49th Legislature, he also may have brought the end of the final floor session for Norman Moore. Moore has served as chief clerk in the House of Representatives since 1992, when his predecessor Jane Richards retired. The chief clerk is responsible for supervising the bill process and floor proceedings.

The nation's third-largest public power utility and one of the state's largest water suppliers avoided a ruling earlier this year that would have determined whether it was subject to Arizona public records law. But now the Salt River Project is again bracing against claims that its quasi-governmental status requires it to maintain and provide access to documents.

While the Senate barely said a word about the budget bills, the House spent more than an hour debating their merits when they came up for a vote Nov. 23. It was a strikingly partisan debate on spending cuts to education and social services. At times it was adversarial. At other times it was just strange.

A pair of political committees created by top legislative Republicans will raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend in next year's elections, which is causing some to wonder if it's appropriate for them to wield that kind of power.

A House panel followed the Senate's lead, quickly approving a series of budget bills aimed at chipping away at the state's massive deficit. The bills include $300 million in cuts to social programs and state aid for education.

Two municipalities are challenging the authority of one of the state's largest utilities and are now asking a Maricopa County court to order Salt River Project (SRP) to turn over records under the state's public records law.