The Fiscal Link
Your On-Line Connection to the Latest Fiscal Information in the States: May 2008
With a few exceptions, state finances are deteriorating, in some cases considerably. This development has presented many state lawmakers with a twofold problem: keeping their fiscal year (FY) 2008 budgets in the black and enacting balanced budgets for FY 2009. With the assistance of the National Association of Legislative Fiscal Offices (NALFO), NCSL released a State Budget Update for April 2008.
State legislatures are concerned about the projected growth in prison populations and accompanying increases in spending. As a result, state legislatures passed laws in 2007 aimed at sentencing, controlling prison populations and budget growth, according to a new analysis from NCSL's Criminal Justice program.
The National Association of Legislative Fiscal Offices is inviting nominations for the annual NCSL Legislative Staff Achievement Awards. Each NCSL staff section may give up to two awards to recognize outstanding legislative staff. These nominations can be for individuals, project teams or entire offices. The awards will be presented at the 2008 NCSL Legislative Summit in New Orleans.
This week's Capitol-to-Capitol features the Senate requesting states’ help with Medicaid regulations and the states requesting the Senate’s help with REAL ID; also, reauthorization of the Higher Education Act is again delayed, pending a conference agreement.
The NCSL Fiscal Analysts Seminar is scheduled for Sept. 23-26, 2008, at the Madison Concourse Hotel in Madison, Wisc. The annual NCSL Fiscal Analysts Seminar offers both the knowledge of national experts and the expertise of senior legislative staff who are policy experts in their own states. This year’s seminar provides more than 25 panels, discussions and presentations highlighting vital state fiscal issues. This year's tracks are transportation, tax and revenue, higher education, and economic development. More information about the seminar will be available later in May.
Applications are still being accepted for the 2008 Legislative Staff Management Institute. This program is intended for senior-level legislative staff members from throughout the country. Acceptance into the program is competitive as the program size is limited to no more than 30 participants.
Louisiana--A recent report from the Office of the Legislative Auditor reviews 48 performance audits and other reviews issued between 2002 and 2007 and summarizes the types of performance based problems in state and local government during that period.
Minnesota--A recent report from the Office of the Legislative Auditor evaluates the state's highways and bridges. The report follows the collapse of an interstate bridge in Minneapolis and identifies concerns with the sufficiency of state funding for transportation and the state's relative levels of investment in state highway system expansion vs. preservation of existing infrastructure.
The University of Utah's Center for Public Policy and Administration published an Evaluation of Utah’s Tax System and a Comparison of Eight Intermountain Western States.
Wisconsin--A recent report from the Wisconsin Legislative Council compares significant features of major state and local public employee retirement systems in the states. The report includes data from 85 public employee retirement systems and features analysis such as normal and early retirement provisions, contribution rates and vesting requirements, and retirement benefit calculations.
A recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides 2007 annual averages for regional and state unemployment compared to 2006. The brief finds that unemployment rates from 2006 to 2007 declined in 28 states and the District of Columbia, rose in 16 states and remained unchanged in six states.
A new report from the Congressional Budget Office provides an analysis of the geographic variation in health care spending in the states. The report includes 50-state tables on per capita health care spending, physicians per capita and Medicare spending per beneficiary.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has updated its State Snapshots, which provide state-specific health care quality information, including strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. The 50-state profiles are based on data collected for the National Healthcare Quality Report.
The Tax Policy Center has issued an updated Tax Policy Briefing Book. The report includes discussion of key elements of the U.S. tax system, including federal, state and local tax policy briefs.
The Federation of Tax Administrators has updated its table on state tax holidays which includes information on the 13 states and D.C. that are scheduled to provide a sales tax holiday on various items in 2008.
A newly released report from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education reviews the efforts that several states have made to integrate their higher education appropriations, tuition, and financial aid policies. The states in this study are Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington.
The Government Performance Project has issued its Grading the States 2008 report, which is an assessment of the quality of state management in the 50 states. The projects' grading covers how states manage fiscal resources, how states maintain, improve and plan for future infrastructure needs, and how effectively states use data and technology in delivering states services and communicating with the public.
States across the country are experiencing "a classic nutcracker effect," as revenues weaken and costs rise sharply, according to the Rockefeller Institute's latest State Revenue Report. After adjusting for inflation and legislated tax changes, states' tax revenues dropped by 4.3 percent during the October-December quarter in 2007 compared to the same quarter a year before.
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Last updated: 2 May 2008.
Page maintained by Lisa Houlihan and the Fiscal Affairs Program, NCSL, Denver, Colorado.
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