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

When I ask people what they like most about living in Arizona, it’s unusual to get a response that doesn’t mention the environment. Sure, there’s always the “I don’t like to shovel," but more often I get “It’s a darn beautiful place,” “My wife and I, we like to hike” or “What’s wrong with you, haven’t you felt the sun and seen the mountains?”

We all agree, health care costs must be managed. But to overlook the word “health” in providing health care removes all purpose. Rep. Nancy Barto is sponsoring HB2410, which will establish transparency, efficiency and fairness in patient health care through necessary reforms to step therapy protocols.

I’d like to address the claims in Sen. Martha McSally’s recent op-ed on the “truth.” Ok. Let’s talk about the truth.

When I walk through our hospital’s emergency department, I’m reminded of the global outbreak we really should be worried about -- influenza.

It is time to move away from a polarized approach to renewable energy. Fortunately, Arizona businesses understand that a balanced approach to major policies facing the state is possible.

Hearing a mother with a child who has special needs rail against the Empowerment Scholarship Account program (hypocritically, the very program she uses to take $40,000 in education funding every year for her child) can not go unanswered by the thousands of us Mama Bears who also use ESAs and also have children with special needs.

There is a good reason to place our faith in engineers. They are designers. They take what hasn’t been done yet and turn imagination into something real. They are, in their own way, artists who see things most of us do not see and who have creative talents not everyone is so fortunate to possess.

There’s no doubt that our water challenges are myriad and addressing them will require a range of solutions. But funding the department, returning it to satisfactory staffing levels and providing competitive salaries for employee retention is an essential part of the path forward.

It is a shame that in the name of “school choice” public schools in Arizona have reversed decades worth of equality. For a state that has over a $1 billion in our rainy day fund and over $700 million in excess revenues, additional funding for schools based on poverty and special education, just like results-based funding, is critical. This additional funding will not reverse the troubling trend of segregation in our schools; however, it will provide hope and help to traditional public schools affected by this unfortunate trend.

In recent years, a number of states and the federal government have been working to increase the amount of renewable energy in America’s power grid. Unfortunately, progress has been slow. For example, when it comes to harnessing offshore wind power, only a single project off Rhode Island has been installed to date in U.S. coastal waters.