With marriage licenses just starting to be issued to gay couples across the state, lawmakers are already talking about ways to protect religious organizations and businesses from being forced to participate in gay marriages, and SB1062 is back on the forefront of many minds.

The American Civil Liberties Union warned Arizona lawmakers it had problems with a bill designed to criminalize “revenge porn,” and are now those problems are the basis of a court challenge arguing that the law is unconstitutional.

Mesnard said he has declined Gowan’s offer to appoint him as Commerce chair in exchange for giving up his bid for speaker. “This is still competitive and the caucus members deserve a choice,” he told our reporter.

Away from the media limelight, another political race is shaping up that will have tremendous repercussions for the Legislature’s actions in 2015.

Gov. Jan Brewer’s agenda in her final regular legislative session lacked the blockbuster policies, drag-out fights and frayed nerves of 2013. Instead, the governor proposed a far more modest agenda in 2014. Relatively small spending increases in a few key areas, two low-profile economic development bills and legislation strengthening the state’s human trafficking laws were among the biggest policies she pursued.

Lawmakers anxious about the prospect of spending tens of millions of dollars or more on child safety in an upcoming special session have their doubts — for a reason.

A small group of lawmakers and Capitol staffers will begin making their pitch for a new child safety organization to the Legislature next week.

Sharing lewd images of a person without his or her consent will soon by a felony in Arizona now that Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation outlawing the crime.

The funding level for students in a program that provides public money for private schools is in question after lawmakers gutted a controversial portion of a Senate bill that passed April 24.

An eleventh-hour change to the state’s annual tax reconciliation bill marked the end of attempts to resolve through legislation a struggle over the way Arizona taxes — or exempts from taxation — leased rooftop solar panels. The move paves the way for a potential lawsuit to settle the matter.