Brushing aside the “optics” of the last-minute action, state lawmakers voted Monday to triple the daily allowance they now get. The move by the House Appropriations Committee came after Rep. Noel Campbell, R-Prescott, urged colleagues to make the vote on the politically risky move bipartisan and unanimous.

Saying voters are purposely being misled, organizers of the #InvestInEd initiative asked a judge on Friday to force lawmakers to recraft the description of the measure that will go to voters.

The resignation of U.S. Rep. Trent Franks has set off a flurry of political activity as Republicans clamor to gauge if they stand a chance of winning a seat in the staunchly conservative 8th Congressional District.

Precinct committeemen, the party faithful who show up at legislative district meetings and encourage people to vote, occasionally get a chance to have an even more influential role in state politics.

Only 24 Arizona legislators managed to both attend work on all of the days they were expected during the 122-day session, and push a button each time there was a vote. Two of those perfect record-holders were Speaker of the House J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, and Senate President Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler.

More than a century after Arizona’s voters gave themselves a Constitution and the right to write laws, legislators still can’t quite accept the fact that they have competition.

Gov. Doug Ducey used his political action committee to contribute $84,500 to Republican candidates in this year’s primary, writing most of those checks to the GOP’s incumbent lawmakers.

Gov. Doug Ducey has finished acting on all the bills lawmakers sent him this year – and the legislative batting averages have been tallied.

The Grand Canyon State received an overall score of 64 – a D grade – in a new State Integrity Investigation, a data-driven assessment of government accountability and transparency in all 50 states by the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity. Despite the low grade, Arizona ranked 22nd among all the states.

Shope eyes smaller districts for state representatives

Rep. T.J. Shope wants to cut Arizona’s massive House of Representatives districts in half.

The first-term lawmaker hasn’t completed his plans yet, but is strongly leaning toward a proposal that would split the House districts in half. Rather than have each legislative district elect two House members at large, Shope’s plan would create two separate House districts that would be contained within each Senate district.