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

The final day of this year’s legislative session fit right in with the 169 that preceded it: Everything seemed to move at a snail’s pace and nothing – including drawing the session to a close – was done with any ...

Gov. Jan Brewer's office said it would make an announcement on whether the governor would sign or veto the budget bills transmitted to her this morning. If Brewer vetoes the bills it will lead to at least a partial shutdown of state government. The Arizona Department of Administration posted a notice on its Web site at 9:42 a.m. that the governor is reviewing the budget bills, and that all state employees should report to work as scheduled.

The Senate transmitted to the governor the 10 budget bills the Legislature had passed in early June, but missed the fiscal deadline by six hours. The Senate sent the bills to the governor’s desk shortly before 6 a.m. July 1, ...

Republican lawmakers have approved parts of a budget plan negotiated with the governor, but they did not consider a tax-increase component that may be the lynchpin of the deal.

The proposal for a flat individual income-tax rate is not going anywhere, one of its supporters in the Senate said.

The Senate Rules Committee finally approved a measure to allow voters to decide whether to increase the state sales tax by 1 cent.

Gov. Jan Brewer met with House Republican leadership and a revolving door of Democrats in a two-hour meeting this afternoon as she tried to find the votes needed to send a temporary sales-tax increase to the ballot in November.

With a shutdown of all non-essential state services only hours away, Republican leaders are still wondering where they will find support among the rank-and-file for a compromise budget agreement reached last week with the governor. “We’re still a few votes ...

The Senate Rules Committee has voted down a measure that would allow voters to decide whether to increase the state sales tax by 1 cent, while passing all 11 other budget bills.

The failure of the main budget bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee on June 29 signaled larger problems ahead for the state budget agreement reached last week by legislative leaders and the governor.