A year ago, the Arizona Legislature was just days away from adjournment of its annual legislative session, having already approved a state budget that included painful cuts to state services. But while lawmakers missed their self-imposed 2011 adjournment target of 100 days by just five hours, there's little chance the Legislature will come near as close this year.

A year after a scandal involving gifts and out-of-state trips to sporting events rocked the state Capitol, no legislation has advanced to tackle the subject and a Phoenix Democrat said he believes his colleagues are deliberately avoiding it.

Senate President Steve Pierce doesn’t think legislation allowing employers with religious objection to deny contraception coverage to workers will return for a second vote. Pierce previously indicated he was willing to cast the required 16th “yes” vote to pass the bill last week if supporters could get 15 senators to support the bill.

During the past several years, the Republican-led Legislature has passed some of the county’s toughest laws aimed at driving illegal immigrants from the state and deterring them from entering it. For the most part, those laws have focused on enforcement within the state’s boundaries.

Now the strategy has shifted, and immigration hawks in the Legislature are taking their fight directly to the border.

This week’s most outstanding quips, jibes and utterances.

Arizona’s largest hospital group announced today it is dropping a lawsuit that seeks to undo the state’s decision to cut reimbursement rates to Medicaid providers, a move that comes just days after a federal judge upheld the cuts.

The CEO of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association is holding a press briefing with Senate President Steve Pierce today about the lawsuit it filed against the state over cuts in reimbursements to health providers.

Senate President Steve Pierce said today that he has serious concerns about spending public money to sue the state’s redistricting commission – and even if lawmakers could be convinced to do that, he’s not sure it would be legal.

The Governor’s Office and legislative leaders have reopened lines of communications involving the state budget, signaling a thaw over how to craft the state’s spending plan in the next few years. Gov. Jan Brewer, Senate President Steve Pierce and House Speaker Andy Tobin met Thursday. After the meeting, Pierce said staffers from both sides could start working together as soon as this weekend.

The cash-strapped Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission will meet on Friday to discuss its ongoing budget problems.

The meeting – the IRC’s first since January – comes as the commission faces the possibility of running out of money before June 30, the end of the 2012 fiscal year. And uncertainty over the 2013 budget is even greater.