Last year, Sen. Jack Harper gave his word that he would vote for a bill to restrict notary publics from notarizing documents that would present a conflict of interest. He made good on his promise by voting for it in committee. But when the bill failed there, Harper said he was relieved that it didn't pass. The situation illustrates the fact that lawmakers sometimes vote for measures they don’t necessarily like.

A proposal to ask voters to overturn term limits has overcome the first of many hurdles after a Senate panel approved it on Jan. 19. The committee voted 4-2 to send the bill to the Senate floor for a vote by the entire body.

Democrats blasted Gov. Jan Brewer’s State of the State speech as campaign posturing, while Republicans said there is no choice but to follow up on some of the ideas she outlined.

A joint legislative panel approved a recommendation on Nov. 9 to extend the Department of Health Services, which was the subject of a sunset review, for another decade. That was the easy part.

Rep. Carl Seel may think that Sen. Carolyn Allen tried to run his fraud reduction scheme through the ringer last spring, but the Scottsdale Republican now says it was actually legislative leadership who put her up to the task.

"He just arrived, like a lot of freshmen, believing that he's going to save us from ourselves... He probably thinks he's going to work his way to the White House. And he's not alone in that." - Sen. Carolyn Allen, a Republican from Scottsdale, speaking Oct. 28 about the approach taken by Rep. Carl Seel and other new lawmakers in the 2009 legislative session.

A controversial constitutional amendment that limits the length of time that lawmakers can stay in office will force more than one-third of the senators out of their chamber by the end of next year, a massive revamp unprecedented in recent years.

Looking for supporters of term limits? Good luck finding any at the Capitol. Many who actively worked to change the state's Constitution nearly two decades ago say the rules harm the political process and need to be scrapped.

Perhaps not. All Dems present voted no as did three Republicans: Pamela Gorman, Ron Gould and Jim Waring. Some in the gallery thought that Waring was playing safety for the team, voting no to give Burns someone on the prevailing side to ask for reconsideration.

***UPDATED AT 4:15 P.M.*** Senators seemed poised to bring the budget bills to the floor on Aug. 11, but instead adjourned for the day after meeting for less than a half-hour.