Reyna Montoya was a math whiz, but she didn’t speak English when she was 13.

A state senator at odds with his own city government wants to cap salaries for municipal employees throughout the state, a move city officials say could hobble efforts to attract and retain good government workers.

Rep. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, launched a primary challenge from the right against her seatmate, Sen. Heather Carter on Tuesday.

When Gov. Doug Ducey signed the Child Protection Act in May, he called it a “significant and critical first step.” He’s right about that. The law is a significant improvement in the previous legal landscape that had made Arizona a safe haven for child abusers. But it is just a first step.

Advocates and lawmakers who won a hard-fought legislative victory for survivors of sexual abuse this spring are shifting their focus to preventing future cases of abuse.

A former competitive speed skater from New York became an unlikely player in the crucial last few weeks of this year’s Arizona legislative session.

But even with the 17-13 split in the Senate, the 31-29 split in the House, the Democrat who accomplished the most during the First Regular Session of the 54th Legislature is the one who was criticized for her lack of political experience during the campaign – and she wasn’t even a lawmaker.

The legislative session wasn’t even done before lawmakers started announcing bills they planned to introduce next session.

Throughout the 135 days of the 2019 legislative session, only eight lawmakers made it to every required work day and cast a vote for everything that made it to the floor, down from 19 lawmakers last session.

The first major hurdle every piece of legislation faces in the House or Senate is a committee leader with the ability to unilaterally kill bills, and some chairs are more willing to do it than others.