Rep. Athena Salman, D-Tempe, and her husband Sen. Juan Mendez, D-Tempe, will return to in-person meetings at the Legislature next session, according to Mendez. Salman and Mendez have avoided coming to the Capitol in-person since the onslaught of the Covid pandemic in March of 2020, but the other 88 lawmakers came back to work in person last year.
A Republican lawmaker says she has the votes to override a spending cap that could trim public-school budgets by $1.4 billion in coming months, but Gov. Doug Ducey’s office won’t say if he’ll call a special legislative session to address the issue.
The Senate Republicans selected a new leadership team headed by Sen. Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, but allowed candidates currently losing their races to vote.
Legislative District 16 is one of the key competitive districts in the election despite not getting big spending from either party compared to other competitive districts, but it could provide a chance for Democrats to steal a seat in the state House of Representatives.
A group of Republican lawmakers and candidates for office signed onto an education proposal on Monday to raise teacher salaries permanently by $10,000 dollars in the next legislative session.