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

Cities, counties and other governmental entities would be forbidden from restricting people's use of knives under a bill winding its way through the legislative process.

Arizona lawmakers wrapped up their seventh special session March 16 but not before stripping a voter-approved program aimed at expanding education and health services for children.

A Senate committee dealt the payday loan industry what might be a fatal blow, rejecting a bill to save the short-term lenders and finishing the job voters started in 2008.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors has selected Ted Vogt to fill a vacancy in the Arizona House of Representatives.

The payday loan industry is getting another chance to keep its doors open in Arizona. The Senate Appropriations Committee today will hear a proposed striker amendment on H2370 that would essentially revive a bill that Rep. Andy Tobin withdrew in January due to a lack of support. The bill would implement new regulations on payday lenders and allow the businesses to continue operating past a July 1 sunset date.

The Arizona House skipped a planned vote on a bill that could derail plans by a southern Arizona Indian tribe to build a casino in suburban Phoenix.

A state lawmaker wants to create an institute that would recommend whether online courses offered by private companies meet state standards before public schools decide whether to use them.

The state agency that deals with environmental quality would be barred from enforcing any regional or state program that regulates greenhouse gas emissions under a measure that received committee approval in the Senate on March 15.

The Senate gaveled in and out of special session March 15 without any action on two budget measures that senators skipped voting on last week.

After accomplishing 10 of its 13 goals in 2009, the Center for Arizona Policy has a new set of priorities for this year's legislative session. Many of the bills have been passed by either the House or the Senate.