Sign In
Free Newsletter
Kavanagh finally wins crusade to significantly alter 9/11 monument
Five years after it became a political football in a gubernatorial race and four years after it was initially altered, the state’s Sept. 11 monument was once again the target of a Republican lawmaker with a personal connection to the terrorist attacks.
Republican lawmakers eager to take on merit system
While the battles Wisconsin Republicans waged against their state’s teachers unions dominated news coverage in a made-for-television drama, their legislative counterparts in Arizona moved against government employees with far less fanfare.
IRC picks former chairman nominee Bladine as executive director
Ray Bladine wasn’t selected to be the chairman of the Independent Redistricting Commission, but he’ll still get to play a critical role in drawing up new political lines for the state – and now he’ll get paid for his work.
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.
JP prepares for his own redistricting process
Judges in the state’s justice courts are redrawing their precinct boundaries, a process that attracts little public attention but carries a full measure of political drama and intensity.
And Justice of the Peace Lester Pearce oversees the politically-partisan process of redrawing Maricopa County’s justice court districts.
Bowled over: Fiesta fallout may claim elected officials
As near-daily revelations pour out of the Fiesta Bowl investigation, allegations that lawmakers benefitted from the besmirched bowl game’s largesse may come back to haunt their campaigns.
Among the allegations in a 276-page report — the result of an investigation commissioned by the Fiesta Bowl board of directors — were claims that bowl lobbyists illegally gave football tickets to[...]
A balanced budget… for now: Threat of lawsuits could undo spending cuts
Fiscally conservative Republicans won the argument when the governor agreed to forego borrowing and other budget gimmicks to help shore up the state’s sagging revenues, and the budget-slashing proposal was also a vindication for legislators who saw themselves as lone voices in the wilderness, warning for many years that politicians’ appetite for spending would one day come back to haunt them. [...]
Efforts underway to revive ‘omnibus’ immigration bill
A senior House Republican is working to revive one of the five immigration bills that the Senate killed last month.
Budget language sparks confusion, accusations over transplant coverage
Confusing and roundabout language in the 2012 budget led to several days of Democratic sniping at Gov. Jan Brewer, who said the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System is on its way to restoring transplant coverage that was eliminated last year.
Final plans reflects conservatives’ clout at the Capitol
The tentative budget agreement legislative leaders and Gov. Jan Brewer reached late Wednesday night slashes $1.14 billion from the budget and more forcefully reflects the ascent of fiscally conservative Republicans at the Capitol.
House plans to hear Senate budget bills this afternoon
The House this morning pushed back a long-awaited hearing of Senate budget bills passed earlier this month, but the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee said the spending plan will definitely be considered later today.
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.
