Sen. Lori Klein said she doesn’t plan to move to a new legislative district after all, an idea she once considered to increase her chances of getting re-elected.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer says a contraception coverage bill now on her desk was improved in the time since she voiced reservations about an earlier version as being intrusive.

Add Mesnard to the list of House Republicans who are interested in Court’s majority leader position.

Lawmakers wrapped up their work at 8:25 p.m. on May 3 after nearly four months in session, having stashed away money for anticipated rainy days ahead, approved a sweeping measure that allows state workers to be more easily fired and fought on the unending battlefronts of abortion, taxation and border security.

And like the year before, lawmakers with conservative leanings shaped the agenda at the Capitol.

Talks on the budget may be on the verge of breaking down, as Gov. Jan Brewer today told Republican legislative leaders that she will not sign any more bills until the budget is done.

Republican lawmakers and Brewer have been at loggerheads over a budget deal all session. The governor called for increased spending in education and some social programs, but Republicans have said she wants to spend too much money.

Persuaded by a promise to substantially narrow the legislation, the Senate today passed a measure to allow employers with religious objections to not pay for their workers’ contraception coverage.

Southern Arizona Democrats’ hopes to have former Rep. Daniel Patterson replaced by one of their own were dashed today when the Secretary of State said the legislative seat will be filled by an independent.

After two hours of back-and-forth discussion, the House Ethics Committee today voted to recommend Rep. Daniel Patterson’s expulsion from the House of Representatives, and one committee member said to expect a full House vote on the recommendation later this afternoon.

Rep. Daniel Patterson today demanded that the House Ethics Committee give him an opportunity to testify before its members, cross-examine his accusers and address each incident of impropriety anonymously claimed against him.

Patterson said the ethics charges against him result from a group of lobbyists and lawmakers who sought a reason to have him kicked out of office, and one civil rights activist even said the Tucson lawmaker is being treated unfairly because he is white.

A conservative bill that aimed to limit birth control coverage and generated a heated political fight is being revived in the Arizona Legislature.