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

By giving every Arizona student – not just those in the right school district – access to a high quality education, we are giving them the foundation they need for economic independence and to pursue their dreams.

Cases of melanoma have steadily increased over the last 30 years due, in part, to the prevalence of indoor tanning use by teens. Life-threatening melanoma is now the fourth most common cancer among 15-29 year olds and has one of the highest years of potential life loss.

Achieving excellence in education is possible, and essential. There are schools in Arizona, both charter and district, that are closing the achievement gap for students. We must invest in these proof points and this budget is the first step.

Increased energy costs, recreational marijuana use and sales, taxpayer-financed political campaigns to chill free speech and barriers on attracting and retaining top health care leadership talent could have been the new norm for Arizonans as a result of the 2016 election.

Arizona’s challenges with illegal immigration have been well documented through the years. In Arizona, like many states, you cannot separate our economy from immigration, nor the politics that goes with it.

Electricity-generation markets across the U.S. are changing, which is to say they are modernizing. Our research shows time and again that coal-fired generation plants are no longer the viable business propositions they used to be.

It is clear that there is a distorted picture of NAFTA in our nation’s capital. Rather than losing jobs due to a trade deficit, per the Mexico Institute, more than 4.9 million jobs in the U.S. are tied to trade with Mexico.

For centuries, Native Americans – just like my fellow farmers – have called upon the land they call home to make their way in the world.

The energy landscape is rapidly changing, however, and we are very possibly in the midst of writing a new energy chapter for Arizona.

Arizona is reaching the 20-year anniversary of the passage of the Clean Elections Act, and with each passing day, it becomes apparent that the program has entered a death spiral.