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.

Child welfare investigators specializing in cases of sexual and physical abuse are relinquishing thousands of cases to ordinary caseworkers, who are already overburdened, a practice that is possibly in violation of the law.

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.

Dana Naimark, the leader of the Children’s Action Alliance, is going to push for increased funding for child-care subsidies in the upcoming special session by trying to dispel the notion that subsidies are a form of welfare.

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

Optometrists want the ability to prescribe steroids, hydrocodone pain killers and other potentially dangerous drugs, but lawmakers say a bill allowing them to do so is circumventing the legislative process and would put the public at risk.

Eight Republicans helped to reject a bill Thursday that would have sharply expanded a program that uses public money to send students to private schools.

  The Capitol community’s attention is turning to the work of a small group of lawmakers and Capitol staffers drafting legislation to create a new child safety and welfare agency, an effort that will require a special legislative session in ...

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

After a week of political bargaining over the state budget that included a failed attempt to consider the spending package on the floor and an emotionally charged press conference declaring negotiations had broken down, Republicans in the House of Representatives banded together to approve a $9.24 billion spending plan for the 2015 fiscal year late Thursday night.