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

As legislators were filing into their offices in January, preparing for the start of the 50th Legislature, Republican leaders set a lofty goal: to be finished in 100 days.

Justin Pierce remembers when the calls started coming in.

Former House Speaker Kirk Adams had officially announced his resignation and the precinct committeemen for Legislative District 19 were beginning their search for a replacement. Pierce, a labor attorney, son of Arizona Corporation commissioner and former state lawmaker Gary Pierce, a grassroots activist and generally affable guy, was on their list of people they’d like to see in the House seat.

The chorus of lawmakers calling for an overhaul of the Voter Protection Act quieted to a low murmur in 2011, but supporters say the dormant issue will be back on the Legislature’s agenda next year.

Several Republican legislators said they will revive their plans to change Proposition 105, the 1998 ballot measure that strictly limits the Legislature’s ability to tamper with voter-approved measures.

Lawmakers enjoyed the relative shortness of their 100-day session, but they may pay for the handful of issues they left unaddressed with one or more special sessions.

Unemployment benefits, tax code changes and Gov. Jan Brewer’s personnel reform plan could bring legislators back to the Capitol.

Rep. Justin Pierce, R-Mesa, was sworn in at the House of Representatives this morning.

Flanked by family, friends and new legislative colleagues, Pierce stood on the House floor and took the oath of office.

Attorney Tim Hogan on Monday filed a request for a special action with Arizona Supreme Court aimed at blocking cuts to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, a move that could unbalance the fiscal year 2012 budget by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Andy Tobin is gregarious, fiery, funny and, above all else, loyal to the core — attributes that all led to his ascension to speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives late last month.

Now, Tobin has been chosen by his caucus as speaker of the House, following the departure of former Speaker Kirk Adams.

The state's largest teachers union is mulling a lawsuit against a new state law it says unfairly restricts the way it can use union dues to communicate with members about political issues.

The effort to put a Clean Elections repeal on the ballot overshadowed two other legislative referendums this year, and it promises to be the most contentiously fought of the measures in the upcoming 2012 election.

The Senate minority announced an audacious goal this year — to put the spotlight on Republicans and their legislation. That task fell to a young father to articulate his party’s positions in a year when Republicans, who are control both chambers, don’t even need a single Democratic vote to pass emergency legislation.

The immediate challenge for Senate Minority Leader David Schapira, a Tempe Democrat, and his caucus was to avoid being relegated to irrelevance.