The Dealmaker: 3/21/2017

Unwilling to raise taxes, Ducey places hope in Trump for transportation funding. “Gov. Doug Ducey plans to lobby… for hundreds of millions of dollars as… transportation infrastructure reaches… crisis levels…. 12 percent of Arizona’s major roads were in poor condition as of 2016.” Find out how much that’s “costing motorists” and why HURF, “the main revenue source for maintaining roads,” hasn’t been much help, at Arizona Capitol Times. http://bit.ly/2mpFWeC

ASU looks to expand leadership in bioscience. “[ASU] is making progress toward becoming one of the leading bioscience research institutions in the [U.S.], following nearly two decades of aggressive investment [$4B] and program development [e.g., its College of Health Solutions]…. [A]t the Arizona Association for Economic Development Luncheon, Rick Naimark, ASU’s associate VP for program development planning, gave a brief overview of the university’s efforts to date and outlined its goals for the future.” Is MIT hearing footsteps? AZBEX. http://bit.ly/2nGXVgC

U.S. Supreme Court upholds Tucson’s council election system. “[SCOTUS] rebuffed a bid… to void the system of nominating council members by ward… Public Integrity Alliance [sought] to have… courts declare that the practice is a… violation of the Equal Protection Clause… The group argued that it… gave some voters more power than others.” Although “justices gave no reason for their ruling,” the 9th Circuit certainly did. Read the appellate court’s rejection in this report from Capitol Media Services’ Howard Fischer at Arizona Capitol Times. http://bit.ly/2n4wkDf

POWER TRIPS – Miles and spending still riding high even as Arizona House road trips decrease. “Taxpayers last year covered lawmakers’ costs to attend conferences in.. DC… Vegas, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and even Beijing…. They sent two lawmakers and two… staffers to watch a space shuttle launch in Cape Canaveral… They even covered the cost of canceling a lawmaker’s family vacation so he could be at the Legislature for a… special session.” For a breakdown of who went where and how much it cost, tap to Arizona Capitol Times. http://bit.ly/2n4wrPb