def _auth_items_to_dict(auth_items):
  """Takes a list of auth_items and returns a dictionary mapping the items
  to their respective step names, i.e..:
  [{"step_name": ..., "threshold": ..., "authorized_functionaries": ...}, ...]
  -->
  {<step name> : {"step_name": ..., "threshold": ..., "authorized_..."}, ...}
  """
  auth_dict = {}
  for auth_item in auth_items:
    auth_dict[auth_item["step_name"]] = auth_item
  return auth_dict