Howdy, Friends O'Farley… 

To start off tonight I want to let you know that next Wednesday, February 29, I will be making a pretty exciting announcement about my political future. I would love to have you there with me to share that moment. 

The first stop on the announcement tour will be at the Tucson Botanical Gardens at 10:30am -- on Alvernon just south of Grant. Next I will appear on the Bill Buckmaster Show at noon on KVOI 1030-AM, then early afternoon in Green Valley (I'll let you know when and where next week), on the John C. Scott Show at the 4:00 hour, and in Sierra Vista at former Representative Pat Fleming's home, 3321 E. Ojibwa Street, at 5pm. Hope to see you at one of these stops!

You will remember that my bipartisan Senior Caucus bill to make long-term care more affordable for middle-class seniors and the families that love them (HB2713) was scheduled for a hearing in the House Health Committee last Wednesday morning.

Howdy, Friends O'Farley… 

Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Centennial, Arizona! Let's celebrate by dedicating ourselves to work for candidates all over this state who can lead us forward into the next century and bring back that Arizona greatness we all deserve. 

One thing we can do to reclaim our greatness is to avert the next century's crises before they happen. Tomorrow in the Health committee, Chairman Cecil Ash (R-Mesa) will hear my first Senior Caucus bill to help avert one of those crises.

As the prime sponsor, I obtained three Republican co-sponsors to HB2713, which establishes the Arizona Long-Term Care Trust. This program allows taxpayers to set aside funds from their paycheck into a savings account that can accrue tax-free interest and be withdrawn for long-term care expenses when needed. 

Howdy, Friends O'Farley… 

Yesterday, students from UofA, ASU, and NAU spent the day at the Capitol talking with legislators. Unfortunately -- for the third consecutive year -- they are on the defense, with a full court press against legislative attacks on the university system.

As I told the students in my speech kicking off their day, we have a lot of work to do. Senator Ron Gould (R-Lake Havasu City) wants to allow guns on campus (SB1474) in order to make students safer, and Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) wants to make students in poverty pay $2000 more per year in order to make them richer. The governor's budget goes after UofA in particular as she sets each university against the other fighting over the few remaining pieces of a shrinking revenue pie. 

Howdy, Friends O'Farley… 

There are many caucuses in the Arizona Legislature besides the Republican and Democratic caucuses, including the Children's Caucus, Native American Caucus, Tourism Caucus, Animal Caucus, and others organized around important issues.

There is one glaring omission, especially for a state with as many older citizens as Arizona -- a Senior Caucus. So I set out to create one and find members of both parties to help. 

Living with my mother's four-year struggle with dementia (which ended in her death last April) made very clear to me that we need to work together in a bipartisan way to educate ourselves and develop policies that confront the very real issues associated with aging.

But as we move forward -- even from terrible events -- in a spirit of love and hope and empathy, and join together in our community as we have especially since January 8, 2011, we have shown we can rise above anything and be a beacon unto the nation. 

As my family and I watched the video on Sunday of Gabby telling us that she would resign her seat, we cried. We feel like she is a member of our family. My daughters have joined me at Giffords events -- and asked pertinent policy questions -- for years and years, and Gabby has always been our hero. 

Howdy, Friends O'Farley… 

The Governor's budget is out, and it seems to have taken its theme from the classic Spaghetti Western, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. But believe it or not, it is an improvement over the last couple of years' budgets that were purely Bad and Ugly. This one actually has some things that we in the minority can support.

Here's some good: 

--> She does ask for more funding for a few education programs, including remedial reading instruction for third graders who are behind in their performance. 

--> $10 million in community college scholarships for veterans for workforce training.

--> More money for investigators for Child Protective Services, and more pay for overburdened CPS field workers -- something long overdue.

Howdy, Friends O'Farley… 

Welcome to the sixth annual weekly edition of the Farley Report, since we are now officially under way at the Capitol as the 50th Legislature, Second Regular Session. 

I hope you all had a healing weekend among friends and family as we honored those we lost on January 8, 2011, and celebrated our strength and passion as a united community that has proven we can rise above horrific events to move forward together.

I was particularly humbled that Gabby and her family and staff visited the Gabe Zimmerman Memorial Trailhead on Saturday, and she said about the tile artwork I created to honor Gabe, "Good stuff. Real good stuff." 

Howdy, Friends O'Farley… 

I apologize that my Farley Report is a day late this month. It's not just because my Santa duties got in the way. Late last night the Independent Redistricting Commission approved the final draft maps for both the congressional and legislative districts, and I wanted to bring you the details right away. 

After months and months of public hearings, public comment, and public attacks from the Governor and legislative leaders, the people's commission asserted their independence and approved a final legislative map that actually returns the control of the Arizona Legislature to the people, by making more of us legislators work harder to earn your votes. 

We all know the first line of A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens's 1859 epic novel on the rise of the French Revolution. The last couple of weeks in Arizona politics could perfectly be described by his entire opening paragraph, no matter where we stand on the political spectrum:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way."

Howdy, Friends O'Farley…

It's Public Input Month at the Farley Report. Arizona needs you to step up and make your voices heard on two vital issues that will determine our future.

First, to ensure our economy and quality of life for the rest of this century, the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) needs to hear from you as it creates the alternatives analysis and environmental impact study for passenger rail between Tucson and Phoenix.

Analysts have projected that, even if I-10 is expanded to ten lanes, by 2050 a trip to Phoenix will take more than five hours by car -- assuming there is not a dust storm in the way. We need to plan and build alternatives now.