Protesters rallied outside House Speaker Rusty Bowers’ home December 8 and a self-declared candidate for Arizona governor threatened to remove Gov. Doug Ducey through non-legal means this week as intraparty Republican conflict reached new heights of intimidation and innuendo. The ...
Read More »GOP divide spurs call to arms, doxing
Good revenues belie looming budget uncertainty 
With COVID-19 again on the rise in Arizona and the next legislative session looming, some in the Legislature are coming around to the idea of passing a so-called “skinny budget” that retains baseline spending levels from the previous fiscal year and ducking out early, just as lawmakers did last session.
Read More »Bowers, Fann retain leadership posts; Dems choose Bolding, Rios 
Legislative Republican and Democratic caucuses met separately this and last week to select leadership following a topsy-turvy election that saw statewide Democrats succeed but the party’s legislative candidates flounder under the weight of expectation. The GOP kept its top lawmakers ...
Read More »From luaus to private parties, fundraising persists despite COVID 
With the election drawing near, lawmakers are ramping up efforts to fundraise. For some, this means hosting or attending parties – even as the COVID-19 pandemic, though subdued in Arizona since its mid-summer peak, continues to kill dozens in the state each day.
Read More »Toma, Kavanagh, Kern gunning for House majority leader 
A trio of Republicans are jostling to lead the GOP House majority next year – should a GOP House majority still exist, that is.
Read More »Special session push exposes legislative discord 
An outgoing House Republican’s effort to call the Legislature into a special session is driving a wedge in an already factional caucus.
Read More »Democratic jobless plan emerges to dormant Legislature 
A Democratic proposal to bolster the state’s unemployment benefit system is taking shape. It’s the product of a consortium of lawmakers and left-leaning think-tanks who fear that the expiration of federal benefit supplements at the end of July could spell ...
Read More »Legislature on track to adjourn May 1 
The Arizona Legislature will end its session next week, killing hundreds of outstanding bills and giving lawmakers several months to hunker down and prepare to come back in the summer -- by which time a clearer picture will emerge of the state’s financial and physical health.
Read More »Spending 2020: From $1B windfall to survival
When they returned to work in January, Arizona lawmakers faced a financial situation colleagues everywhere would envy: an extra, unbudgeted $1 billion.
Read More »Players in movement to remake Arizona’s criminal justice system 
Since conservatives got on board with revamping Arizona’s sentencing laws, bills to do that no longer lay unheard, not considered. And as the movement has taken hold over the past few years, a host of groups and people have made their presence known at the Legislature. Following are some of them.
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