By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services/Arizona Daily Star
State lawmakers voted today to scrap what has been Child Protective Services and replace it with an entirely new state agency.
Today’s move comes after years of complaints about how the agency has been handling complaints of abuse and neglect. But it took the almost accidental discovery that 6,500 complaints had never been investigated at all to build sufficient political pressure to do more than tinker with the agency.
A separate measure to add close to $63 million in funding for the new agency drew a single dissent from Sen. Kelli Ward, R-Lake Havasu City. She objected to the lack of benchmarks to ensure the funding is properly spent.
The House passed the measure after the Senate’s vote. Gov. Jan Brewer signed the bill this afternoon.
