Majority leader takes the heat for sponsoring Medicaid amendment
Quiet about his thoughts on Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid proposal for most of the session, Senate Majority Leader John McComish emerged late as a key player in the push for AHCCCS expansion in the Senate.
Lawmakers achieved election reform, tax reform and tort reform
I commend the governor and the Legislature for enduring the stress of a lengthy session and passing some much-needed legislation that will have a positive effect on our state for a very long time.
Legislative session featured rare political courage
Historians will determine the just-completed Arizona legislative session as the most significant in memory. An unlikely coalition, which included a hard-nosed, conservative and partisan governor, teamed together to pass Medicaid expansion.
Livingston scores a perfect legislative batting average
The award for best legislative batting average for the session — the calculation of bills introduced versus bills signed into law — goes to Rep. David Livingston, a freshman Republican lawmaker from Peoria who has been vocally critical of the governor.
Top Quotes of the 2013 Session
The most outstanding quips, gibes and utterances from the 2013 Legislative Session.
Moratorium leads to near-record number of Brewer vetoes
The bill moratorium that rankled lawmakers as Gov. Jan Brewer started applying pressure to pass her Medicaid expansion plan helped push her to a near-record number of vetoes in 2013.
Brewer vetoed 26 bills this year, the second highest total of her career, behind the 29 she rejected in 2011.
Portable shelters couldn’t save 19 Arizona firefighters
Trapped by a wildfire that exploded tenfold in a matter of hours, a crack team of firefighting "Hotshots" broke out their portable emergency shelters and rushed to climb into the foil-lined, heat-resistant bags before the flames swept over them.
Election bill foes join forces, eye referendum
There’s plenty for a broad array of opponents to hate in an omnibus election bill passed at the end of the session, and a diverse coalition is now banding together for a probable citizen referendum drive against HB2305.
Brewer vetoes Tobin’s R&D tax credit bill
Gov. Jan Brewer acted on the last three remaining bills of the 2013 legislative session, including a veto of one of House Speaker Andy Tobin’s top priorities.
Crandall named head of Wyoming Department of Education
Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead has named Arizona Sen. Rich Crandall the new head of the state’s Department of Education, the governor announced Wednesday afternoon.
Brewer signs sales tax reform bill
Gov. Jan Brewer signed her sales tax reform bill, bringing closure to an issue that has lingered since the governor’s days in the Legislature nearly two decades ago.
Rally kicks off Medicaid referendum drive
The push to refer Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid expansion plan to the ballot began in earnest as opponents of the bill rallied at the Capitol before fanning out across the Valley to collect signatures.