A massive personnel reform package pushed through the Legislature by Brewer in 2012 dramatically shifted the balance of power between the state and its employees. The law made most new employees at-large, or “uncovered,” and required covered employees to give up their merit protection in order to receive promotions or raises. Covered employees were offered bonuses to entice them to switch to uncovered status.

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge upheld former Gov. Jan Brewer’s 2013 Medicaid expansion plan, ruling that a hospital assessment that funds the program is not subject to a provision in the Arizona Constitution that requires a two-thirds vote in the Legislature for a tax increase.

One long-time Arizona politico will be watching tomorrow's Republican presidential debate with her checkbook in mind.

The question of whether a federal court allows the state to deny licenses to dreamers could depend on how hard the judges believe it is to get around Arizona without a car.

The debate over whether a hospital assessment that funds Arizona’s 2013 Medicaid expansion program should have needed a two-thirds vote in the Legislature hinged on not only whether it’s a tax or an assessment, but whether that even matters in determining if a legislative supermajority was required.

Conservative opponents of former Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid expansion plan will finally get their day in court. Judge Douglas Gerlach will hear arguments in the case in Maricopa County Superior Court at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

For about a day this week, Mark Brnovich was governor. Maybe. The attorney general discovered Tuesday that Doug Ducey was off on vacation with his family in California. And Secretary of State Michele Reagan left Tuesday morning for a conference.

On May 28, the director of the state Department of Child Safety acknowledged that backlogs are growing again at the agency. Greg McKay told a legislative oversight committee that the number of hotline reports the agency receives each month is greater than the number of reports the staff can close.

Saying the president acted illegally, an attorney for the state wants appellate judges to once again allow the director of the Arizona Department of Transportation to refuse to issue licenses to “dreamers.”

A judge Thursday threw out a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by five former Arizona child welfare workers who were fired last year amid an agency scandal.