House Speaker Dean Cannon sees no reason to delay action on the next state budget until after lawmakers finish redistricting. The 60-day regular session begins on Jan. 10.

Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan told union leaders at a statehouse hearing on Monday, that the General Assembly needs to play a role in contract negotiations in order to control costs. The Speaker says lawmakers control tax dollars, Governor Quinn only suggests spending.

Illinois Legislature want to prevent the governor from spending money the state does not have in the bank.

Colorado's revenue situation isn't getting any worse, but the ongoing "structural imbalance" in the state budget almost certainly will mean another round of deep cuts for the 2012-13 fiscal year, economists told Colorado lawmakers.

A lawmaker-requested study released Wednesday by University of Denver researchers says Colorado's long-term budget outlook is worse than first thought.

Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal said he is offering to approve a full budget for the upcoming state fiscal year, starting July 1, and a 50 percent state budget for the second fiscal year, starting July 1, 2012.

Gov. Terry Branstad said he won't cut any deals with Democratic lawmakers over his demand for a two-year state budget instead of the one-year state spending packages in use the past 28 years.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal said, despite offering "olive branches" to Gov. Terry Branstad, a deal has not yet been reached in state budget negotiations.

In his veto message, Gov. Branstad said he has proposed to the Iowa Legislature a budget that includes funding for fiscal years 2012 and 2013. He also has submitted legislation to require lawmakers and the governor to adopt a biennial budget.

Delaware taxpayers will have at least a week to pore over the state's $3.4 billion operating budget before lawmakers vote on it.

For the third year in a row, Utah lawmakers faced lower-than-needed revenue and a growing education system when working out the state's annual budget.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's move to make the state budget "simple, fair and efficient" may instead be leaving the public in the dark about how its money will be spent.

Illinois House members set spending limits for next year's budget Thursday that are lower than revenue estimates made by both Gov. Pat Quinn and the General Assembly's own financial forecasters.

Revenue forecasts made by America's state governments are increasingly missing the mark, a trend that is aggravating political, fiscal and social pain as most of the 50 states grapple with budget shortfalls, according to two leading think tanks.

But the biggest difference between the governor and the GOP majority in the Legislature is whether to make up for all of the $313 million so-called structural imbalance this session.

With N.J. budget due Tuesday, Governor Chris Christie faults timing as the Democrats seek veto overrides.

Kansas House and Senate leaders said a conference committee appointed to settle differences between the two chambers on a bill that would balance the state's budget for the current year had made no progress.

A Democrat in his second month in office, Cuomo is exercising what some call unprecedented authority with his $132.9 budget, a plan that calls for $3.7 billion in savings, without explaining which programs, buildings or state workers must go.

These 10 elements, ranging from realistic budget scoring to tools for eliminating wasteful spending, are written for Congress but are very easily applied to state budgets as well.

The state's $5 billion budget is a wreck and behind-the-scenes bickering has echoes of a family squabble as the Budget Control Board prepares to meet.

The Washington Policy Center proposes seven ideas for balancing the budget that, if adopted, would put Washington on the path to long-term financial stability so lawmakers do not feel they have to increase the financial burden they place on citizens by raising tax rates.

Decision making is best informed when all options are on the table; in other words, when all spending priorities can be measured against one another as parts of a whole.

The Washington state revenue forecast showed a negative $12 million difference between the March and June forecasts for the two budgets yet the impact on the ending fund balance for 2011-13 showed a reduction of $575 million.  How does that math work?

While awaiting Senate confirmation of his appointment as U.S. Ambassador to China, outgoing U.S. Commerce Secretary and former Washington Governor Gary Locke is still pushing Priorities of Government (POG) budgeting.

Branstad clearly feels strongly about the benefits of biennial budgets, but what makes a two year budget so different?

As Washington state lawmakers prepare for the consensus bad news awaiting at tomorrow's revenue forecast, a number of troubling potential budget gimmicks have begun to surface to "balance" the budget.

Andrew Cuomo, the governor-elect of New York who will be sworn into office this Saturday, faces immediate challenges in the fiscally troubled state for which he is about to be responsible. New York has an $8.5 billion shortfall for Fiscal Year 2011, representing 16% of the total budget that was passed amidst political drama in the previous administration. What's more, the state has over $56 billion in unfunded retiree healthcare liabilities. Cuomo claims he's bringing serious reform across the board, but will he stand up under these enormous financial burdens?