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

The Senate has passed a bill that would extend the deadline for individuals to contribute to groups that provide scholarships to charter schools.

Lawmakers March 29 convened a special session designed to give Gov. Jan Brewer clear authority to sue the federal government over the recently enacted health care reform legislation on the grounds that it violates Arizona's sovereignty.

Four bills were proposed by Democrats during the 2010 legislative session that would have revised energy-reduction deadlines and created new standards for energy consumption in state buildings, but none of them have received committee approval and appear dead for now.

Back in 2003, lawmakers passed a law that required state agencies and universities to reduce their energy consumption by 10 percent by the end of 2008. The legislation had overwhelming bipartisan support, but the results were disappointing.

The Arizona Legislature has redirected money away from the education department's school accountability program, a move that potentially guts what a ranking Republican senator called the "spinal cord" of the education system.

Representatives Chad Campbell and John McComish joined Mesa lobbyist John MacDonald and Phoenix Councilman Claude Mattox March 26 for an hour-long debate hosted by the Valley Citizens League at the Irish Cultural Center. Sitting at a table with peanuts and Cracker Jacks, the four talked about possible solutions to keeping the Chicago Cubs in Mesa without making fans of other teams in the Cactus League pay an unfair amount to keep them here.

A defiant Gov. Jan Brewer today issued a call for a special session to secure the authority to sue the federal government over the health care law passed earlier this week. The special session is set for March 29.

Rallies for and against Proposition 100 set up at the Capitol on Friday, chanting at each other across the mall and showing their support for the cameras.

Ask any politician if they promote family values, and you'll get the answer you'd expect. Ask a group of politicians to define family values, though, and you'll likely get completely different, perhaps conflicting answers.

Most Americans won't see any real impact from the new federal health care law for several years, but the effects will be immediate for the hundreds of thousands of Arizonans who were about to lose Medicaid coverage.