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Archive of Home on Tuesday June 30, 2009
Furloughs cut into state services
With states facing a $121 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year, a growing number of them have turned to squeezing their workforce for savings, and effects both great and small will be felt. Read More
US: States brace for shutdowns
INDIANAPOLIS and DENVER -- The last time Indiana missed its deadline for passing a budget and had to shut down the government was during the Civil War. But on Monday, as lawmakers raced to hammer out an agreement over school funding, state agencies began preparing 31,000 workers to be temporarily out of a job. Read More
US: Obama steers health debate out of capital
WASHINGTON — With Democrats deeply divided over health legislation, President Obama is trying to enlist the nation's governors and his own army of grass-roots supporters in a bid to increase pressure on lawmakers without getting himself mired in the messy battle playing out on Capitol Hill. Read More
US: Ruling adds teeth to state oversight of banks
For years, state governments have had little power to enforce consumer-protection and lending rules at the country's biggest banks. No more. Read More
CA: EPA gives California emissions waiver
WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency will announce today that it is granting California's request to impose tough restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks -- reversing the Bush administration's position and opening the way for the state to take the lead on global-warming policy. Read More
MA: Patrick hints at hike in gas tax
Governor Deval Patrick signed a budget yesterday that imposes more than $1 billion in additional taxes on Massachusetts residents and visitors, most of it through the first increase in the state sales tax in 33 years, even as he declined to rule out a future boost in the state gas tax. Read More
MI: Michigan to California -- Send us your prisoners
CHICAGO -- Michigan has to close prisons to save money. California's are bursting at the seams. Both states are struggling with huge budget gaps. Now, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has offered California some of the state's prisons that are slated to close at a yet-to-be-determined cost. Read More
SC: Sanford -- I'll 'serve as best I can'
Efforts by some state senators and Republican Party activists to oust Gov. Mark Sanford lost steam Monday: There were no plans to collectively call for the governor's resignation. Read More
RI: Amazon cuts R.I. affiliate ties over taxes
SAN FRANCISCO -- Amazon.com Inc., the world's biggest Internet retailer, cut ties with its Rhode Island business affiliates after the state's assembly passed legislation requiring the company to collect taxes. Read More
FL: Florida offers help to some with home down payment
Starting Wednesday, Florida hopes to stoke its real-estate market by becoming one of the few states to offer $8,000 in down-payment assistance to qualified homebuyers so they can benefit upfront from a new federal tax credit. Read More
US: A green way to dump low-tech electronics
Since 2004, 18 states and New York City have approved laws that make manufacturers responsible for recycling electronics, and similar statutes were introduced in 13 other states this year. Read More
LA: First 'one-stop shop' agency opens in La.
The first "one-stop shop" that will give residents a central location for assistance offered by several separate state agencies opened Monday. Read More
MS: House, Senate OK new cig tax
State lawmakers in a special legislative session are trying to finish budget work today to prevent some government services from stopping when the new fiscal year begins Wednesday. Read More
NJ: Corzine signs $29 billion N.J. budget
Gov. Corzine signed a $29 billion budget yesterday that he said managed the national recession by cutting spending but still making "the right choices" to preserve programs for education, the poor, and the elderly. Read More
OR: Oregon's 2009 session ends with trail of big taxes
Oregon lawmakers, working a late-evening marathon to bring the six-month session to a close, barnstormed through a flurry of bills Monday, including a near total ban on field burning and a moratorium for online schools. Read More
PA: State budget agreement unlikely to meet deadline
Less than 24 hours remain for Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and Republican legislative leaders to work out a new state budget on time, and neither side is optimistic about coming to an agreement anytime soon. Read More
IL: Lack of state budget deal won't be felt right away
The state's budget year ends today, and lawmakers are nowhere near a deal on a spending plan with Gov. Quinn. Does that mean someone shuts off the lights of state government at midnight? In a word, no. Read More
AZ: State services uncertain if government shuts down
The Legislature's fractured Republican majority struggled Monday to reach a budget agreement, bringing Arizona within hours of a nearly total government shutdown. Read More
DE: With gap nearly closed, last day should be quiet
With the contentious battle over tax increases nearly completed in the House, today's final-day push in Legislative Hall could be strangely anticlimactic. Read More
MO: Illinois borrowing measure to avert cuts
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- The Illinois House on Monday overwhelmingly approved a complicated $2.2 billion borrowing plan designed to forestall massive social service cuts in the shadow of the state's protracted budget crisis. Read More
CT: State budget talks continue as fiscal year winds down
If there are no last-minute dramatics today, the state's fiscal year will run out without a new state budget and the government will need to begin paying its bills by executive order Wednesday, when the new fiscal year begins. Read More
CA: Schwarzenegger says Democrats are wasting time on flawed budget plans
With only days before the state begins issuing IOUs, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger scolded Democrats Monday for "wasting time" on budget fixes he won't support while they accused him of making unreasonable demands. Read More
Tracking the recession: Budget deadline looms
Unlike the federal government, states have to balance their budgets. But several states still have not completed spending plans for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Read More
Weekly wrap: Feds release long-awaited stimulus job guidelines
The Obama administration tells state officials to take "a simple headcount" of jobs saved or created by the stimulus program. Meanwhile, the demand for some special jobs is soaring. Officials also warn states not to shortchange education when balancing budgets. Read More
Ga. hotline aims to cut mental health costs
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Tracking the recession: States target jobs
Though unemployment is rising in nearly every state, aggressive efforts to create jobs are paying off — modestly — in many states. Read More
Reports: State income levels plunge
States racing to cobble together new budgets for their July 1 deadline could find themselves sinking back into red ink sooner than they think, as Americans’ income and the taxes they pay on it shrink, new data show. Read More
Weekly wrap: Sales tax fight splits GOP in Arizona
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) sues her own party over the budget. The U.S. labor department releases May unemployment data, and Illinois says it can’t afford to pay for indigent burials. For a quick update on the top recession news in the states, read Stateline.org's "Weekly wrap." Read More
New courts tailored to war veterans
Twenty years after local officials in Miami opened the nation's first drug court — a specialized "treatment court" aimed at rehabilitating low-level drug offenders instead of locking them up — state lawmakers in Illinois and Nevada are applying the same idea to a different population: war veterans who have had run-ins with the law. Read More
Recession ushers in more tobacco taxes
In a double-whammy for smokers, the federal government and seven states raised taxes on cigarettes this year. But the new taxes plus President Obama's vow to sign a bill imposing sweeping regulation of the tobacco industry threaten to shrink cigarette sales — and revenues for state coffers. Read More
Tracking the recession: State leaders suffer political backlash
Voters are blaming governors and state legislators for the economic downturn, which could make it harder for them to win re-election next year. Read More
Gay marriage legal in six states
With the exception of Rhode Island, same-sex marriage is now legal throughout New England, and neighboring New York could be next. On June 3, New Hampshire became the sixth state, including Iowa, to legalize gay nuptials. But despite these gains by the gay rights movement, the United States is still a nation divided over whether to redefine marriage. Read More |
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