Republican and Democratic leaders met with Gov. Jan Brewer on Aug. 21, the first such meeting during the special session that the governor called in order for the Legislature to pass a budget packet that includes her proposal for a sales tax referral.

Running out of time and options, Republican leadership in the Senate has turned its attention to a handful of Democrats to cajole their support for a ballot referral on a sales tax increase.

The Senate has amended one of the budget bills to remove the provision that called for a ballot referral for the suspension of Proposition 105.

UPDATE - Sen. Steve Pierce told the Arizona Capitol Times that his foreclosure bill will have to be fixed, either in special session or next year when the Legislature begins the regular session. Pierce and stakeholders met this afternoon (July 28) to discuss changes to the legislation.

As the clock neared midnight with no budget yet in place, Gov. Jan Brewer turned to the Democrats for support. For Democrats, however, it was too little, too late.

A clergy and her group opposed to a bill dealing with immigration enforcement were ejected from a committee hearing June 23 after speaking without permission and ignoring the chairman’s order for them to stop.

Bills to ban texting while driving, smoking in a car with a minor fail The Arizona Senate has rejected legislation that aimed to ban texting while driving on all state roadways. Senators also have voted down a measure that would have prohibited smoking in a car if a minor is in the vehicle.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved legislation June 9 to expand the corporate income tax credit to include insurance companies.

There were a lot of behind-the-scenes maneuvers and drama leading to the Senate’s budget vote on June 4. Senate President Bob Burns and House Speaker Kirk Adams met with Sen. John Nelson, a Republican from Glendale, in Burns’ office to try to get his buy-in.

Now that the fiscal 2009 budget gap has been readjusted — hopefully for the last time — leaders will hunker down and try once more to hammer out a deal on the fiscal 2010 budget. “We got a lot to do on (fiscal 2010) yet,” Senate President Bob Burns said May 13, the day the Legislature fixed a $650-million hole in the fiscal 2009 budget.