The governor accomplished nearly all of his legislative goals this session, from various steps related to education to a measure that restores benefits to some needy families.

In the first week of the 2017 legislative session, lawmakers have already introduced hundreds of bills on topics ranging from the mundane to the life-or-death.

Gov. Doug Ducey sees new opportunities for Arizona as he enters the second half of his term.

Senate President Steve Yarbrough takes the helm of the Senate this session, culminating 14 years of service in the Arizona Legislature.

House Speaker J.D. Mesnard sat down for his first interview with the Arizona Capitol Times since being elected to the chamber’s top post to talk about Gov. Doug Ducey’s State of the State address and his own priorities for the House this year.

House Minority Leader Rebecca Rios praised Gov. Doug Ducey’s State of the State speech, saying it was what she would hope to hear from a Democratic governor.

Entering her third year as minority leader, Sen. Katie Hobbs must juggle something new — Senate President Steve Yarbrough, the first new leader of the chamber in four years — with something old — the same 13-vote minority that Democrats have held for three of the past four years.

With JLBC projecting a “structural” surplus of only $24 million in FY18, there won’t be much money to go around this session. And those who want a slice of that pie will likely have to line up behind K-12 education, the governor’s priority.

The 2016 election re-shuffled the deck at the Capitol, and when the Legislature reconvenes in January it will be full of new faces.