The bid by Gov. Doug Ducey to permanently cut $1.5 billion a year of state revenues is based on an economic theory and a set of numbers that may not hold up under closer examination.

A Republican senator is prepared to withhold his crucial vote on the state’s budget unless it contains at least $160 million in ongoing funding for higher education and another $20 million for firefighters with cancer.

A new report found that Arizona could save $1.4 billion in the next decade if the state implements more opportunities for non-dangerous offenders to shave time off their prison sentences.

Jim Rounds is a familiar figure at the Capitol. He served as a senior economist and budget analyst at the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, and as senior vice president of Elliott D. Pollack & Company. He now runs his own consulting firm, Rounds Consulting Group.