Hearing on fetal resuscitation bill used to demonstrate ‘our different world...
A bill seeking to repeal a 2017 law requiring life-saving measures for fetuses delivered alive failed to pass out of the House Judiciary Committee today, an outcome predicted by the bill’s sponsor long...
View ArticleHouse votes to raise age to smoke, vape to 21
The preliminary approval of SB 1147 on a voice vote came after Rep. John Allen, R-Scottsdale, who is working with the vaping industry, agreed to some last-minute changes designed to blunt opposition.
View ArticleLawmaker drops bid to raise age to smoke, vape
Arizonans who are 18, 19 and 20 will continue to be able to smoke and vape, at least for the time being.
View ArticleProsecutors’ honor questioned as criminal justice measures die
Arizona lawmakers stymied this year in their quests to revamp the criminal justice system are re-evaluating how to work with prosecutors next year after what some described as an 11th-hour betrayal.
View ArticleCommittee chairs seek balance between gatekeeper and ‘God’
The first major hurdle every piece of legislation faces in the House or Senate is a committee leader with the ability to unilaterally kill bills, and some chairs are more willing to do it than others.
View ArticleExpect revival of pet bills that failed to survive
Even after settling on a multi-billion spending plan for the next year, there was plenty left unsettled when lawmakers went home for the summer.
View Article2019: Moments of bipartisanship mixed with rough politics
The highs and lows of the 2019 legislative session can be measured by how well legislators worked together with the smallest of margins.
View ArticleMontgomery to high court opens way for criminal justice changes
Lawmakers and advocates who’ve sought for years to overhaul Arizona’s criminal justice system are cautiously optimistic that longtime Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s ascension to the state...
View ArticleThe Breakdown: Going courting
On this edition of The Breakdown, our reporters discuss Mark Brnovich, Criminal Justice Reform, and Gov. Doug Ducey's latest court appointment.
View ArticleLegislators order state audit into how efficiently Hoffman uses ESA oversight...
Legislators yesterday ordered the state auditor to investigate how the Arizona Department of Education spends the roughly $1.3 million it receives to administer a state voucher program.
View ArticleLegislators aim to reassert authority with early budget
Republican leaders in the Arizona House and Senate are moving ahead with plans to draft their own budget proposal by the end of the year, reasserting legislative authority they say they lost during...
View ArticlePush to remake criminal justice laws hits snag in House
Several bills to revamp criminal justice in Arizona appear to be on life support after the Republican House Judiciary chair decided to hold a trio of bills in retaliation to his own bill being held.
View ArticleHouse committee passes earned release bill
Long-awaited legislation that would create an early release program for people convicted of non-violent crimes passed through the House Judiciary committee Wednesday, offering relief to lawmakers who...
View ArticlePlayers in movement to remake Arizona’s criminal justice system
Since conservatives got on board with revamping Arizona’s sentencing laws, bills to do that no longer lay unheard, not considered. And as the movement has taken hold over the past few years, a host of...
View ArticleDemise of sanctuary cities measure a mixed bag of politics, protests
The death of the referral marks the end of a two-month saga that began in Ducey’s January State of the State Address, in which it was unveiled as one of several policy proposals that the governor would...
View ArticleHouse GOP caucus cold to gas tax proposal
A proposal to double the state's gasoline tax is in trouble. On Thursday, several Republican lawmakers told Rep. Noel Campbell, R-Prescott, they would not support his proposal for a three-step increase...
View ArticleEthics probe into Cook heats up
A fight over document discovery is brewing in a House ethics investigation into an embattled Republican lawmaker.
View ArticleSecond subpoena filed in Rep. Cook ethics probe
A second subpoena has been issued in the House Ethics probe into Rep. David Cook, an embattled Globe Republican who’s the subject of a pair of ethics complaints filed earlier in the year.
View ArticleLawmaker: Virus makes need for change to sentencing laws greater than ever
This is all frustrating for Rep. Walt Blackman,R-Snowflake, one of many Arizona lawmakers who over the years have sought to amend the state’s sentencing laws -- some of the strictest in the country --...
View ArticleCook: Ethics probe now a ‘public prosecution’
A Gila County lawmaker at the center of a House Ethics investigation wrote a letter to his colleagues Tuesday excoriating the practices of the committee leading the probe into his alleged misconduct.
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