Since trading in his legislator badge for judicial robes in 2015, John McComish said he has no regrets leaving the Capitol and mostly leaving politics behind.

Jockeying for Senate leadership positions has begun, and one incumbent member of the Republican’s leadership team may be in jeopardy of losing his post.

Democratic Sen. Ed Ableser of Tempe regained his title of most absentee lawmaker this year, showing up for only 62 percent of Senate floor sessions, though he voted on 70 percent of all the bills put before the chamber.

A group of lawmakers and Capitol staffers racing to create a new child safety and welfare agency in a matter of weeks must still iron out a few details, including how to handle criminal conduct investigations and provide oversight of the department, according to documents obtained by the Arizona Capitol Times.

Although the 2014 election season is just heating up, a quieter campaign has been continuing for months — the election of legislative leadership.

Efforts to redefine Arizona’s trespassing statute have hit another snag: Some GOP lawmakers in the Senate object to a proposal calling trespassing a violation of any state or local law.

Common Core opponents took a beating this week when two bills were killed in the Senate followed by a sparsely attended press conference in which one of the Legislature’s most ardent foes of the learning standards was a no-show.

Electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors would be allowed to sell cars in Arizona without establishing a dealer network under a bill approved by a state Senate committee Wednesday.

The Senate began to advance a $9.2 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2014-2015 on Monday afternoon, one that differs enough from Gov. Jan Brewer’s spending plan and the priorities of the House to raise questions of its chances outside the Senate chamber.

Five Senate Republicans again helped Democrats kill two bills that would have undermined Common Core.