By Erica MacKeller
Forty-six states begin a new fiscal year (FY) on July 1. Twenty-eight of those 46 have final budgets in place for FY 2016. That leaves 18 states at various stages of the budget process with just one week left to finish the job.
Five legislatures have passed budgets and are awaiting action from the governor. In some of these states, such as Alaska and California, the governor is expected to sign the budget, and in other states, the governor is considering either a full or partial budget veto.
Maine’s Governor Paul LePage (R) previously vetoed several line items in the Legislature’s budget. The Legislature subsequently overturned those vetoes and is now waiting to see if the governor will veto the budget bill as a whole.
In Connecticut, the legislature sent a budget to the governor’s desk at the beginning of June, but the governor now plans to call a special session later this month to renegotiate some details in the spending plan.
A few states are preparing contingency plans if their budgets are not completed by July 1.
While lawmakers in South Carolina hope to have a budget in place by the July 1 deadline, they have passed a continuing resolution to give them more time if necessary. North Hampshire and North Carolina lawmakers also may choose to pass a continuing resolution or short-term spending plan as budget negotiations continue.
A few states may face a partial government shutdown if agreements cannot be reached by the July 1 deadline.
The Illinois General Assembly and the governor are at odds over several potential reforms in the state. Officials in Washington state have begun preparing for a potential government shutdown, though negotiations continue between the legislative chambers.
Four states begin their fiscal years at different times. So what’s the status of their budgets? New York began its fiscal year on April 1, so its FY 2016 budget was negotiated earlier this year. Texas and Michigan, which begin fiscal years on Sept. 1 and Oct. 1 respectively, have budgets in place that have been signed by their governors. In Alabama, lawmakers wrapped up the 2015 session without a general fund budget deal, and they will likely meet in a special session later this summer to complete their FY 2016 budget, which is set to begin on Oct. 1.
Visit our State Budget Status Web page to see the status of budgets in the 50 states, and stay tuned for another NCSL update as budget negotiations wrap up in the states!
View information on legislative session calendars.
Erica MacKellar is a Policy Associate in NCSL’s Fiscal Affairs Program.
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