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

I was a social worker and I was working with people who didn’t know how to stick up for themselves. And I realized that people need champions.

As a renewed effort to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Arizona ramps up, substantial issues identified by state auditors still hover over the existing Medical Marijuana Program and solutions aren’t quite as clear as some might suggest.

Arizona kicked off the holiday weekend with a fight with Nike that put the governor in the national spotlight. Was that the intent all along, and what might that signal for Gov. Doug Ducey’s future plans?

Affordable housing advocates scored a win this legislative session after lawmakers voted to reverse a decade-long trend of capping the state Housing Trust Fund’s budget.

Days after an unflattering performance audit found the state Department of Health Services had misallocated money from the Medical Marijuana Fund, the agency’s director said she will ensure requests for those dollars will face more scrutiny.

The state Department of Health Services has misallocated nearly $1 million meant to operate the Medical Marijuana Program that serves nearly 200,000 patients, according to a state audit.

The 2019 legislative session is finally behind us. Or is it?

House Minority Leader Charlene Fernandez came into the 2019 legislative session hopeful that the 31-29 split in the chamber would lead to more opportunities for her Democratic colleagues.

Even after a taxing 134-day session, House Speaker Rusty Bowers remains patently himself when he sits down with the Arizona Capitol Times – reflective, resolute and ready with a story, which this time was about the day his brother shot himself in the foot.

The state House of Representatives is notoriously cantankerous, but this legislative session was more confrontational than anyone remembers. Some felt it more than others, but the consensus is the 2019 legislative session was different.