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

Arizona authorities are accusing a major payday loan company of engaging in deceptive practices by filing collections lawsuits in courts far from where debtors live or took out the loans.

A critic says Gov. Jan Brewer's credibility is being undermined. But the governor says it's not inappropriate that some of her political associates are doing work for the payday loan industry that could result in legislation reaching her desk.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said on Oct. 26 those who want legal interpretations to view the U.S. Constitution through modern-day lenses are seeking "rigidity," not flexibility to fit contemporary times.

Arizona real-estate agents are sounding the alarm over recently enacted state legislation that sets new limits on longstanding protections for some owners of foreclosed homes, saying the law will weaken protection for borrowers and damage the struggling housing market.

Arizona's part-time legislators are on the job in midsummer after their inability to work out an on-time solution to the state's budget trouble led them to crack a barrier they hoped to avoid. The annual regular session starts in January and has adjourned in May or June in recent years. This year, it ran 71/2 hours into July 1 before lawmakers approved a new budget and finished action on other bills.

Key Arizona lawmakers are drafting emergency legislation that could be used to keep state government going temporarily even if a new budget isn't approved in time - but not for all of state government nor for very long.

Arizona's unemployment rate jumped by a half-percentage point in May as nearly all the state's economic sectors recorded job losses and many people left temporary positions in business and government, the Commerce Department reported June 18.

Lawmakers are trying to tap the state's main retirement system for public employees to replace state funding for research projects meant to help spur economic development.

A bill being considered by Arizona legislators is seen as pitting the rights of gun owners against the private property rights of businesses and others.