Here’s a guide to key policy matters that are likely to be addressed and heavily lobbied in the 2013 legislative session.

The path through any budget session leads to a negotiating table at which the governor and legislative leaders work out the most politically palatable taxing and spending deal they can muster. But the budget is never the only game in town. Before the session endgame gets played out, a network of committees will play host to various and sundry dramas involving policy issues before state government.

Brad Rixmann likes to say he was dragged into politics “kicking and screaming.” Just five years ago, Rixmann, the founder and CEO of Pawn America had been at the Capitol only a few times as a child.

A House committee this morning approved a bill that would close a loophole in state law that allows three payday lending companies to operate under rules other than those specifically written to govern the industry.

In a 2009 legislative session very light on compromise, there’s at least one new law that stands as an exception to the rule – regulation ...