Key criminal justice bills dormant in Senate
Although several measures aimed at cutting prison sentences and making other major changes to Arizona’s criminal justice system have passed the House this year, the big question is whether these bills will make it through the Senate or even get a hearing there.
Use-of-force data will improve policing
The best way to reassure those people that the police officers in their communities are upstanding is to show them irrefutable, concrete data on use-of-force. State legislators have a chance this session to get that data to the public and, more importantly, to stop the bloodshed.
House Republicans kill attempt to expand insurance program for children
The House voted along party lines Thursday to defeat a Democratic attempt to expand KidsCare eligibility by amending a bill funding the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.
Half of this year’s bills died unceremoniously
By the February 19 deadline to hear bills in committees in their chambers of origin, more than 950 measures were left to die
House Ethics panel chair rejects calls to investigate Finchem
An Oro Valley Republican who was in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, the day a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to halt the certification of the electoral vote, will not face an investigation from the Legislature, the chairwoman of the House Ethics Committee said Friday.
House panel OKs criminal sentencing changes
State lawmakers took the first steps February 3 to reversing decades of tough-on-crime policies.
Senate panel moves bill to criminalize certain abortions
A legislative panel voted February 4 to make it a crime to terminate the pregnancy of a fetus with a genetic abnormality by declaring that it has the same legal rights as anyone else.
Covid, threats make ‘People’s House’ less friendly
It’s supposed to be “the people’s house,” or at least that’s what legislators call it in their impassioned speeches. But this session, between an ongoing pandemic, security concerns that led to multiple layers of fences and a hodgepodge of committee rules, the people — and even the paid lobbyists who represent interest groups — are having a harder time than ever making their voices h[...]
GOP divide spurs call to arms, doxing
Protesters rallied outside House Speaker Rusty Bowers’ home December 8 and a self-declared candidate for Arizona governor threatened to remove Gov. Doug Ducey through non-legal means this week as intraparty... […]
Blame falls on Fernandez for Dems not taking House
Several key races in the state House remain too close to call with the first batch of Election-Day ballots counted, though Democrats, as has been the trend for the last week, are leading in early votes.
Democratic money dwarfs Republican spending
A handful of Democratic legislative candidates bolstered by out-of-state funders broke Arizona campaign finance records with just two weeks to go before the election. Democrats in swing districts pulled in... […]
A lot could go wrong for both flyers in LD6 Senate race
In 2018, Felicia French came within 600 votes of doing the improbable – a Democrat flipping a legislative seat in northern Arizona and creating a 30-30 deadlock in the House.