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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.
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.
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... […]
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.
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.
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.
Push to remake criminal justice laws hits snag in House
Several bills to revamp criminal justice in Arizona appear to be on life support after the Republican House Judiciary chair decided to hold a trio of bills in retaliation to his own bill being held.
Ducey goes partisan in 2020 State of the State Address
As Gov. Doug Ducey welcomed in a new decade with his address to the joint session of the Legislature on January 13, it became clear that he left the Era of Good Feelings behind in 2019.
Legislature 2020: How to spend surplus of money
State lawmakers return to the Capitol Monday to deal with something they appear to have plenty: Money and who gets it.
Panel recommends less prison time for low-level offenders
A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to give people serving time for low-level felonies the opportunity to reduce their sentences by up to 60 percent, but selling the rest of their colleagues on the idea could be tough.
Blackman relaunches effort to release prisoners early
A 2020 legislative effort to expand early release opportunities for prisoners kicked off Monday morning with exhortations from advocates to think beyond incremental steps and warnings from the Arizona Department of Corrections that it doesn’t have the budget or staff to handle big changes.
Committee chairs seek balance between gatekeeper and ‘God’
The first major hurdle every piece of legislation faces in the House or Senate is a committee leader with the ability to unilaterally kill bills, and some chairs are more willing to do it than others.
