Recent Articles from Luige del Puerto and Caitlin Coakley Beckner
GOP lawmakers create panel to scrutinize redistricting maps
House and Senate Republican leaders announced this evening that they have each appointed three lawmakers to a committee charged with scrutinizing the maps created by the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission.
Unemployment benefits special session: No vote today
Arizona lawmakers have convened a special session to address extending unemployment benefits for those who have been out of work for more than a year, but there won’t be a vote today.
UpClose with Chad Campbell: House Dems strive for transparency, cite ‘broken’ budget process
With a mere third of the House of Representatives being Democrats, Minority Leader Chad Campbell knew it was going to be an uphill battle trying to put a dent in the Republicans’ agenda this past session.
Predictably, the Democrats couldn’t get their proposals for tax reforms into the budget, nor could they stop a torrent of conservative legislation. But Campbell said that they did [...]
Budget-cutting Legislature wraps up session
Conservative lawmakers who rose to power following the last election set the tone for this session and left significant marks on major pieces of legislation that have come to define the achievements and failures of Arizona’s 50th Legislature, which wrapped up the annual legislative session just as the sun was rising this morning.
Legislators making last-ditch pitch for ‘going home’ bills
With the budget out of the way, many legislators are getting anxious to wrap up their work and get back to their districts. For some, however, their focus turns to getting serious consideration for their own legislation before the session ends. Traditionally, these remaining measures are referred to as “going-home” bills.
GOP leaders: Budget negotiations going well
Legislative leaders said they are making strides in their talks with the governor over a budget proposal that would solve more than $540 million in deficit this year and another $1.2 billion in the next fiscal year.
Senate budget: A bargaining chip?
Despite all the raw emotions it stirred and all the opposition it encountered, the Senate’s budget-slashing and gimmicks-busting proposal isn’t going to be state’s final spending plan.
Its most contentious aspects, more likely than not, will be softened and its most ragged edges smoothed out before it wins support in the House of Representatives and with Gov. Jan Brewer.
Jobs bill: smooth start, feisty middle, undramatic passage — like a budget plan
The day-by-day, play-by-play account of how one of the most sweeping tax cut packages was passed.
Despite strong criticism, jobs bill passes
The jobs bill, announced on Monday and debated fiercely since, has passed the Arizona House and the Senate, even as many legislators acknowledged its flaws.