People above the age of 45 will be able to volunteer for the state militia if a bill passed by the Arizona Senate becomes law.

Gov. Jan Brewer forcefully declared that her proposal to expand the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System to hundreds of thousands of new patients is a pro-life plan. As a pro-life governor, she said, she will not sit idly by while people suffer. Since then, opponents of her plan have taken up the pro-life mantle in the Legislature.

A bill to scrap the requirement that high school students pass the AIMS test is heading to the governor’s desk after being approved by the House on Tuesday during a heated debate.

A new voting bloc is emerging in the state House consisting of seven conservative Republicans who have voted against more GOP-sponsored bills on the floor than some Democrats have, though for entirely different reasons.

Saying the American Dream is on life support and in need of help, Republican Rep. Tom Forese of Chandler beat back bipartisan opposition to his bill allowing a new type of corporation — a benefit corporation.

As fewer candidates choose to run for office using Arizona’s Clean Elections system, lawmakers are sensing the system’s vulnerability and are preparing to deal a death blow.

A state lawmaker wants to remove the age limit of 45 for serving in the state militia, allowing older Arizonans to volunteer for the force designed to be mustered in emergencies but never used in modern memory.

Requiring Arizonans to have their signatures notarized to get on the permanent early ballot list or to receive early ballots would help prevent voter fraud, a state lawmaker contends.

It's early on in the Arizona legislative session, but so far the proposals described by one top Republican as "esoteric" and criticized by Democrats as unconstitutional have dominated the headlines — despite promises from GOP leaders to focus on top-tier issues such as balancing the state budget and improving education.

When Gov. Jan Brewer announced her proposal to expand Medicaid to the full amount advocated by the federal health care law, Republican leadership in the House and Senate received a fight they didn’t ask for, and one they didn’t know was coming.