Any immigration reform plan that makes it through Congress must include a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the country, Sen. John McCain said during an immigration forum in Mesa today.

Senator stays on state payroll while working new job in Wyoming

Arizona Sen. Rich Crandall won’t resign from the state Senate until Aug. 31 in order to maintain health insurance coverage for two of his children.

An attorney for Sen. Carlyle Begay called Rep. Albert Hale’s request that the Apache County Attorney’s Office challenge Begay’s recent appointment to statewide office an “inappropriate attempt… to advance his own agenda” and raised questions about the legality of such a challenge.

An attorney for Rep. Albert Hale is preparing a legal challenge to the newest appointee to the Arizona Senate, who is scheduled to be sworn into office Tuesday morning.

State Rep. Albert Hale, who sought an appointment to a vacant state Senate seat, is challenging the Apache County Board of Supervisors’ decision to send a nominee who lives in Gilbert to the Capitol.

Push for same-sex marriage initiative comes from the right

Erin Ogletree Simpson has been a Republican her whole life, but a year and a half ago, she had a realization that put her at odds with her party.

Simpson discovered that she is gay.

The Legislature violated the state Constitution by combining a comprehensive homeowners association bill with a minor elections bill in the last hours of the 2013 session, a public-interest law firm alleges in a lawsuit filed July 16.

The Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, suing on behalf of two HOA activists, is asking Maricopa County Superior Court to declare SB1454 unconstitutional because it violates the Constitution’s same-subject rule.

The award for most missed floor votes and most missed days of the session goes to Republican Sen. Rich Crandall of Mesa, who showed up to vote on only 64 percent of the bills that made it to the Senate floor, and was present for only 61 percent of the days the Senate met.

Historians will determine the just-completed Arizona legislative session as the most significant in memory. An unlikely coalition, which included a hard-nosed, conservative and partisan governor, teamed together to pass Medicaid expansion.

Attorney General Tom Horne sniped at Democrats today for cutting a $1.2 million fund that has been used for combating Mexican drug cartels in southern Arizona since 2009.