An independent expenditure committee backed by Gov. Jan Brewer and expected to benefit the Republican legislators who sided with her in last year’s Medicaid expansion fight has raised more than $600,000 so far.

To curtail the inappropriate influence of money in politics, Arizona law prohibits lobbyists from contributing to lawmakers’ campaign committees while the Legislature is in session.

California’s Fair Political Practices Commission has reached a settlement with two so-called “dark money” groups in Arizona that will see them pay a combined $1 million in fines.

Hoping to raise more cash, lawmakers instead face new limits

Thirteen people have applied to fill a vacant Democratic seat on the state’s five-person redistricting commission to replace a commissioner who suddenly resigned in May.