Ariz. high court to allow clean energy ballot spot

PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court has ended an effort to bar a proposal requiring the use of more renewable energy in Arizona from appearing on the November ballot.

In an order Wednesday, Chief Justice Scott Bales rejected an appeal that sought to prevent the measure from appearing on the ballot.

Earlier this month, the state said the campaign in favor of the proposal had gathered enough signatures to appear on the ballot, but opponents sued, alleging that not enough valid signatures were collected.

The Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona proposal, also known as Proposition 127, would require half the state’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2030.

Microsoft contractors to offer new child leave

Microsoft will begin requiring its contractors to offer their U.S. employees paid leave to care for a new child.

It’s common for tech firms to offer generous family leave benefits for their own software engineers and other fulltime staff, but paid leave advocates say it’s still rare to require similar benefits for contracted workers such as janitors, landscapers, cafeteria crews and software consultants.

The new policy affects businesses with at least 50 U.S.-based employees that do substantial work with Microsoft that involves access to its buildings or its computing network. It doesn’t affect suppliers of goods. Contractors would have to offer at least 12 weeks of leave to those working with Microsoft.