The latest dispatch from state Rep. Steve Farley:

Howdy, Friends O'Farley…

What a day for America! After a hundred years of trying, we finally enacted real health care reform.

It's not perfect, and the main features do not go into effect for another four years, but it remains a huge accomplishment given the cynical campaign of fear and lies waged against it by the big health insurance companies and the big right-wing newsertainment industry.

We should offer huge thanks to the Democrats in Arizona's congressional delegation for casting that vote in favor of reform, especially Gabrielle Giffords, who was the target of vicious TV ads running every five minutes last Thursday through Sunday, paid for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce fronting for the big insurance companies.

Our own home-grown tea party warriors went to work against our brave congresswoman with tactics not worthy of civil society — yelling, honking, blocking traffic, and at 2:40am after the vote, shooting out the front door of the Giffords Tucson office.

I have also been hearing from some of our tea-headed friends on their opinion of the healthcare bill. Here is a letter I received yesterday from a local tea party

There's a lot of confusion about the impact of the health-care reform package that Democrats managed to make into law this week.

One question is the impact of the legislation on the state of Arizona, which recently eliminated KidsCare and made plans to dump more than 300,000 people below the federal poverty line from state-subsidized health coverage.

Howie Fischer of Capitol Media Services looks at how the GOP's budget plan could cost the state a staggering $7 billion in federal health-care dollars.

Meanwhile, U.S. Reps. Harry Mitchell, Ed Pastor, Gabrielle Giffords, and Raul Grijalva today released the following statement regarding health insurance reform and Arizona’s Medicaid costs:

"When the United States Senate passed a health insurance reform bill in December that punished Arizona for having a strong and successful Medicaid program we worked together to ensure that the special deals put in place by the Senate, like the ‘Cornhusker Kickback’ were stripped and changes were made that will help reduce Arizona’s Medicaid costs. We were successful in our efforts and the reconciliation bill passed by the House will ensure Arizona is treated fairly and equitably for its Medicaid program. The changes we fought to put in the bill will provide $2.5 billion in new Medicaid funding for Arizona.

“We came to our individual decisions to support health insurance reform in the wake of the Governor and state legislature’s move to kick close to 400,000 Arizonans, including 40,000 children, off their health insurance. The state's decision to slash Medicaid and KidsCare, which puts Arizona at risk to lose billions in federal matching funds and kill over 42,000 jobs was an important consideration in our decision to vote for health insurance reform legislation. Claims by the Governor and her legislative allies that this bill would cost $1 billion or more to Arizona are hyperbolic and completely unfounded. They are thinly veiled attempts to divert attention from their misplaced priorities and poor judgment that will keep families from receiving the health care they desperately need — a plan that will dig the state into a deeper budget hole by jeopardizing $7 billion in federal funds. These are funds that were paid by Arizona taxpayers and they should not be forfeited

While Republicans are attacking her for voting in favor of the health-care reform legislation yesterday, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is going on the offensive against GOP lawmakers and Gov. Jan Brewer, who enacted deep cuts to health-care programs earlier this month, including stripping health-care coverage from an estimated 310,000 adults on AHCCCS and eliminating the KidsCare program. (Learn more about some of those cuts in last week's feature story, which you can find here.)

The statement from Giffords' office:

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is asking the Department of Health and Human Services for guidance about potentially devastating cuts to Medicaid as a result of the state budget approved by the Arizona Legislature and Governor.

Immediately after the U.S House of Representatives passed landmark health insurance reform legislation, Giffords asked HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to clarify whether Arizona could lose nearly $7 billion in federal funding as a result of the sweeping cuts that were signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer on March 18.

The cuts eliminate KidsCare, making Arizona the first state in the nation to cancel its State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Elimination of the program means an estimated 50,000 Arizona children will go without healthcare.

The cuts also make changes to the Arizona

The latest dispatch from Sandy Bahr, legislative lobbyist for the Sierra Club:

Hi everyone! You would think that after all of the havoc they wreaked last week, the Legislature might give us a small break, but no. They moved forward a long list of bad ideas — from providing more exemptions for large mining conglomerates, weakening groundwater protection, allowing more illegal lot splits, stealing all the Clean Elections dollars, and setting up a good ol’ boy network for Game and Fish. Needless-to-say, they did nothing for Parks and still refuse to hear HCR2040 sustainable state parks fund (Jones, Brown, Ch. Campbell, et al). They are proposing a voluntary fee instead, as well an unconstitutional raid on voter-protected funds.

SB1200 NOW: game and fish commission; recommendation board (Nelson) passed out of the State Senate 16-7-7. (It failed on the first vote but was brought back for reconsideration.) Please thank the following senators for voting no and for supporting public involvement in good wildlife

The latest bulletin from the state Rep. Steve Farley:

The special session is over, and the Republican budget is set. Because of that, Arizona's future is now at great risk.

Not a single person signed up in support of any of these budget bills during their only public hearing in front of the Appropriations Committee. Agency heads were not allowed to testify or provide input. This budget has no constituency, only ideology.

The fiscal crisis is only Republicans' excuse to do what they feel they were elected to do: destroy government. This is the Grover Norquist budget, designed to—in the words of that influential Republican anarchist from DC who controls the No New Taxes pledge signed by a majority of AZ Republican legislators—shrink government to the size where it can be dragged to a bathtub and drowned.

Please refer to last week's email to review the details of the carnage, but here are a few lowlights once more:

—> KidsCare is entirely eliminated, kicking more than 42,000 kids off their health care. That makes Arizona the first

A poll released by supporters of the one-cent sales-tax proposal before Arizona voters shows a majority support it:

With the May 18th election just 64 days away, nearly 6 in 10 likely special election voters say they will vote yes on Proposition 100, a three-year, one-cent increase to Arizona’s sales tax meant to protect education, public safety and health care.

A telephone survey of 506 likely voters, conducted in late February by veteran polling group Moore Information, used the exact ballot language voters will encounter

Tonight on Arizona Illustrated's Friday Roundtable: We say what we can about the state budget. What has happened this week is far, far bigger than most people yet realize.

Watch it after the jump.

The state budget is all but done—and it's pretty devastating to every aspect of state government except for the prisons.

We'll have details in next week's print edition, but Senate President Bob Burns defended the budget on the Friday Roundtable on tonight's Arizona Illustrated on KUAT-TV, Channel 6. You can watch it after the jump.

The payday lenders, who will go out of business on July 1 if they don't get legislative action before then, are making another effort for a new lease on life:

Howie has the details:

Rejected by voters and stymied in the House, lobbyists for payday lenders are now trying to get a Senate panel to approve legislation to keep the industry alive beyond June 30.

But now there's a sweetener: They're offering to set aside an estimated $1.5 million of their proceeds each year for community-based organizations that help the needy.

That still may not be enough to corral the votes they need to keep the doors open. Most Democrats and several Republicans already have announced their opposition to extending the life of a special law that allows lenders to charge what would be the equivalent of 400 percent interest on an annual basis.

Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives are still pushing to strip away health insurance from 310,000 Arizonans below the federal poverty level even though federal aid being approved this week would allow them to keep them on the program.

The House is moving through the budget bills this afternoon. Still no action in the Senate.

Watch the live proceedings here.