The Arizona notary law was amended in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, and 2004. The 1996 amendments comprised the first major revisions of the notary law in Arizona in more than 50 years. Rules, effective August 25, 2004, are included in this manual which contains:

* A question and answer section
* Notary laws
* Rules
* Instructions for completing a notary application form
* An application form
* Name/Address form
* An index

This publication contains lobbying definitions, statutes, and lobbyist forms for those interested in how to register as a lobbyist and file with our office. This booklet helps explain how to register and file lobbyist reports with the Election Services Division. Included are deadlines, instructions and reporting requirements – all at your fingertips for quick reference.

The Secretary of State’s Office publishes this manual as a guide for Arizona notaries. Revisions to this manual include concise explanations of how to apply with our office, how to purchase a notary bond, information about your commission, duties as a public official, samples of notarial acts, and the laws and rules that govern Arizona notaries. Arizona notaries are required to have a copy of this manual and keep it as a reference.

This handbook is chiefly intended to help political committees at the state level to understand and comply with the laws of the state relating to campaign finance reporting and to provide some technical assistance and practical guidance on how to use the Secretary of State's campaign finance software to facilitate such reporting. Much of this handbook may be useful to political committees in other Arizona jurisdictions as well.

The Jaguar Conservation Agreement provides opportunities and incentives for interested parties to become involved with conservation activities. These activities include collection of biological information (to provide a sound scientific basis for decisions); consideration of relevant cultural, economic, and political factors; design and implementation of a comprehensive approach to conservation (including public education); and monitoring, evaluation, and feedback. This summary will focus on the mapping efforts and make recommendations to the Jaguar Conservation Team on conservation measures for potential jaguar habitat.

In March 1997, the Arizona Game and Fish Department and New Mexico Department of Game and Fish entered into a Conservation Agreement with other state, local, and federal cooperators, with voluntary participation by many private individuals, to conserve the jaguar (Panthera onca) along borderlands of Arizona and New Mexico and to stimulate parallel efforts in Mexico. Under the Conservation Agreement, an annual evaluation and progress report must be submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The first of these reports was completed in July 1998 and the second in June 2000. This third report is a comprehensive review of all Jaguar Conservation Agreement activities from March 1997 through December 2003. We compiled the information herein with assistance from members of the Jaguar Conservation Team and Jaguar Working Group, to help ensure that objectives outlined in the Conservation Agreement are being accomplished and that any deficiencies identified are addressed and corrective measures are implemented. In this report, we will identify progress, or lack thereof, in accomplishing the goals and objectives set forth by and for the JAGCT for the last 6 years.

Arizona’s vulnerable populations are struggling on a daily basis but usually do so in silence, undetected by traditional radar and rankings, often unaware themselves of their high risk for being pushed or pulled into full crisis. Ineligible for financial assistance under strict eligibility guidelines, they don’t qualify as poor because vulnerable populations are not yet in full crisis. To be clear, this report is not about the “poor,” at least not in the limited sense of the word. It is about our underemployed wage earners, our single-parent households, our deployed or returning military members, our under-educated and unskilled workforce, our debt-ridden neighbors, our uninsured friends, our family members with no savings for an emergency, much less retirement.

Arizona's recently adopted budget for fiscal year 2015-16 includes dramatic reductions in assistance to low-income families with children. On July 1, Arizona will become the first and only state to limit lifetime eligibility requirements for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to 12 months (federal law allows for eligibility time limits of 60 months). That means come June 30, 2016, many Arizona families no longer will receive TANF benefits even if they otherwise would be eligible under federal guidelines.