Senator Burges graduated from Yavapai College with an AA in General Studies (1984); the for-profit, open enrollment, University of Phoenix with a BA in management (1993) and an MBA in Business Administration (1996).
Burges' professional experience includes working as an Account Clerk with the Yavapai County Government from 1984 to 1996 and Budget Coordinator with the Cyprus Bagdad Copper Company from 1976 to 1981.
In 2013, Burges fought against US involvement with the United Nations initiative, Agenda 21, the Rio declaration of environmental principles, claiming that she would "certainly call it communism.
In April 2014, Burges traveled to Nevada and showed support for rancher Cliven Bundy, who was resisting a cattle round-up after refusing to pay grazing fees since 1993.
[5] The constituent was asking about HB 2404 that required petition gatherers in initiative campaigns be paid by the hour rather than by the signature.