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After honoring Boyer as their ‘champion,’ cities say he betrayed them
A group representing municipalities has conferred on Rep. Paul Boyer, R-Phoenix, the tile of “champion” of cities, primarily because he was one of only four Republican lawmakers to vote against a bill that threatens a big portion of cities’ operating budget.
Local and state policymakers should be prepared to deal with emerging technologies
The rapid growth of technology will impact our lives in meaningful ways. At the same time it poses a challenge for state and local governments that are charged with establishing rules and regulations that often draw important revenue.
Tusayan mayor criticizes Park Service for closing Grand Canyon, other parks
Tusayan Mayor Greg Bryan told House lawmakers Wednesday that closing Grand Canyon National Park has devastated his town’s economy, and he criticized federal government officials for not acting sooner to reopen it.
Second anti-union bill gets Senate OK
After being pulled from the debate calendar twice, a proposal that would prohibit public employees from being paid for union work finally received Senate approval today.
Cities, towns asking state to ease budget pressures
With state finances on the sunny side, cities and towns hope to convince lawmakers to relieve some of the budget pressures on local governments.
And it appears legislators are listening.
How courts can help end public-sector collusion
From Phoenix to Pima County, politicians and public-sector unions routinely agree to put union representatives on the government payroll, paying them millions of taxpayer dollars exclusively for union work, renewing these agreements year after year.
Brewer vetoes privatization bill for city services
Gov. Jan Brewer has vetoed a bill to require two most populous cities to consider awarding contracts to private businesses to perform some city services.
Bills seek to make more government financial reports publicly available
Requiring local governments to post audited comprehensive financial reports or the equivalent information on their websites would make it easier for citizens to see how tax dollars are spent, a state lawmaker said.
Arizona speed camera program turns off at midnight
Thursday is the last day of operation for Arizona's groundbreaking and controversial speed enforcement camera program.
Electronic government records should be free to public
Electronic documents were supposed to be the ultimate answer to government openness. Reams of information could be bundled and sent off en masse with basically no overhead and no dead trees, and it would take a few seconds of clicking on a computer rather than hours at the copy machine.
Backers of initiative prohibiting traffic cameras fall short
Organizers of an initiative campaign to prohibit the use of cameras for traffic enforcement in Arizona have fallen short of collecting enough signatures.
Bill allowing donations to parks fails in Senate
The Senate has rejected a proposal to help avert the closure of state parks by allowing people to make voluntary contributions for their operation and maintenance.
