Arizona lawmakers are considering whether the state should continue funding its recently launched school finance transparency portal.  

It’s been more than a decade since Arizona had a divided government, but Republican legislators are signaling they’re willing to send bills to die at the desk of Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.  

A Republican majority in the House Education Committee, with support from Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, revived the crusade against critical race theory (CRT) and passed a bill imposing a $5,000 fine on schools whose staff are found to have provided “prohibited instruction” on race outlined in the legislation.  

The Arizona Senate and House of Representatives adopted new rules packages on party lines this week that would expand the powers of the House speaker and Senate president and drastically reduce requirements for members to retain records.  

The first bill to be heard by Arizona House of Representatives members, which is projected to reduce the state’s revenue by about $1.8 billion from corporate income tax breaks over four years, passed two committee meetings on Wednesday. 

Incumbent Reps. Judy Schwiebert, D-Phoenix, and Justin Wilmeth, R-Scottsdale, are leading Republican newcomer Christian Lamar for the Legislative District 2’s House seats, according to preliminary voting results.  

Democrats are spending millions of dollars in the few competitive legislative districts hoping to take control of the Arizona Senate.  

Despite going 166 days, the second regular session of Arizona’s 55th Legislature saw generally good attendance from lawmakers in both the House and Senate. Beyond the standouts, however, there were also some exceptions.