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

The Goldwater Institute wants to make it easier for Arizonans to challenge licensing requirements that the conservative organization views as unnecessary or unduly burdensome and protectionist.

As the mad scramble to craft the state’s spending plan begins, policymakers are quickly realizing that they have precious little money – an estimated $24 million – to spend, and not nearly enough even for their highest priorities.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich named Dominic Draye to the post on Wednesday.

More than 4,000 licensed veterinarians in Arizona don’t have to participate in the state’s Controlled Substances Prescription Monitoring Program.

State officials said federal funding has helped jump start awareness campaigns and drug monitoring efforts to combat the prescription drug epidemic in six of Arizona’s 15 counties.

The financial fallout from repealing Obamacare without replacing it will make everything else Arizona’s policymakers have so far worried about look like small potatoes.

The Department of Economic Security has a $9 million shortfall in its child support division caused by repeated limits to TANF, according to a budget request it sent to the Governor’s Office. Without the backfill of funds, DES says its services, like finding child support scofflaws, could be hobbled.

Officials at the Department of Economic Security didn’t always follow agency policy or state law requiring human resources staffers review all firings of government workers.

Department of Economic Security officials never processed a personnel form that stated an employee who was fired had instead requested to retire because the agency lacked evidence to support that claim.

The new Arizona Office of Film and Media is expected to help promote and attract film and media industry projects into the state.