Arizona lawmakers have an extremely busy week ahead as they attempt to finish up the 2014 legislative session.

Senate President Andy Biggs said his chamber may not accept the changes to the budget made late Thursday by the House.

House Republican leaders late Monday gave up trying to corral the votes for a new budget, at least for now. House Speaker Andy Tobin stopped debate in the middle of a bill when it became clear he lacked the necessary votes for the spending plan.

The House Appropriations Committee today approved a package of House budget bills that were amended to directly mirror the spending proposal approved by the Senate last week.

Attorneys for charter schools will have their day in court Dec. 2 in an attempt to stop the state from taking almost $6 million from them.

WASHINGTON – The National Park Service is not interested in coming up with plans to let states pay to keep parks open should another government shutdown occur, a service official testified Thursday to a House subcommittee.

WASHINGTON – For every dollar the government spends preventing wildfire damage, it could save cash-strapped agencies like the Forest Service another $5 on fighting increasingly large fires, a Senate committee was told Tuesday.

When asked how his vote for Medicaid expansion could threaten his chances at another term in the Arizona Legislature, Senate Majority Leader John McComish points to an Arizona Capitol Times newspaper hanging in a frame behind his desk “The risk of defiance,” the headline reads. “What will GOP senators’ ‘no’ votes on immigration bills cost them?”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., urged the House Thursday to act on immigration reform, even if that means moving on its own piecemeal approach to the problem rather than the Senate’s comprehensive reform bill.

Arizona business leaders were in Washington to lobby the state’s congressional delegation on immigration reform Tuesday, just the latest in a string of groups trying to pressure Congress on the issue.