The latest round of cuts proposed by Gov. Chris Gregoire would increase public-school class sizes, eliminate subsidized health care for the working poor and release hundreds of inmates early.

Tetiree health insurance is costing Rhode Island taxpayers millions of dollars a year, and with the state now into the second year of a long-term plan to build up a pension-like trust fund to pay for retiree health care, the state budget office is seeking an update on where those costs are going.

Citing the federal government's debt obligations, Gov. Sam Brownback said he will return a $31.5 million federal grant intended to help implement the new federal health care law.

Public employees in South Carolina will pay 4.5 percent more for their health insurance next year, after the state Budget and Control Board voted to raise premiums for the state health plan to ensure the system is sound and has the money required to meet employees' health care needs.

State Budget Solutions would like to present the "Reality Check" award to Indiana for its impressive work on the state budget, education reforms, and the creation of health savings accounts for state workers.

By promoting the use of health savings accounts as well as using a realistic budget process, Indiana serves as a fiscal model worth duplicating by fellow states.

When laid-off government workers go back to their jobs Thursday, they immediately will deal with the effects of what's in the budget and borrowing bills signed into law.

For the first time, a public employee union has struck a tentative two-year contract agreement with state government requiring workers to pay part of the cost of their health insurance premiums.

This brief finds that California, North Carolina, and Ohio rely on a combination of wellness programs and cost containment to rein in cost increases, and analyzes the cost of providing health insurance, along with changes in health plans the states have adopted to slow cost increases.

The two-year $10.3 billion state budget and its massive trailer bill easily cleared the Republican-dominated Legislature and now it's up to Gov. John Lynch to decide whether he can live with the significant cuts in spending and sweeping changes in state policies.

Louisiana's Governor Bobby Jindal wants to get his state out of the insurance business and has proposed privatizing state workers' health insurance.

A key Ohio Senate committee approved a two-year state budget Tuesday, after adding changes that would prohibit public hospitals from performing abortions, allow charter schools for gifted students, cut legislative pay and tweak various privatization plans.

Maine lawmakers are inching toward agreement on a $6.1 billion state budget for the two years starting July 1.

Schools, college scholarships and health care for the poor would face sharp cuts under a budget approved Friday by the Illinois House in a rare show of cooperation between Democrats and Republicans.

State and local governments’ retiree health care plans are an enormous unfunded cost for taxpayers. With unfunded costs equaling to $1.4 billion, states will have to raise premium costs for public sector workers or find other ways to rein in cost.

Unveiled last week, the package of LePage's proposed Maine state budget alterations intended to plug a new, $164 million hole has elicited both cheers and jeers, sometimes from the same groups.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, promoting his $55.6 billion budget proposal, said that if the state holds the line on spending this year, "we will have a tax cut next year."

Gov. Bobby Jindal's chief budget adviser defended the administration's plan to sell a state-run health insurance plan to a private company.

An $18 billion state budget for next fiscal year that forces education cuts, reduced health services and less money for local government cleared the Colorado House, largely leaving intact a bipartisan spending agreement that already cleared the Senate.

The General Assembly approved an $18.3 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year Tuesday that cuts college funding and borrows from Medicaid to prop up the teacher, employee and retiree health care system.

Medical hardware just happens to be a Minnesota specialty, so the Affordable Care Act has a extra impact on the state. It so happens that in this case, industry concerns line up with the concerns of a free-market advocate.

In all, the salaries and benefits of state employees add up to $18.5 billion, or a fifth of New York’s operating budget. Unless those costs are reined in, New York will find itself unable to provide even essential services.

With pension liabilities and health care benefits out of control and unions asking for more, states are finally taking action. Here's a look at some of the effort-within and beyond Wisconsin-that are underway.

State budgets are already in bad shape due to years of overspending and a weak economy. But the problems could get a lot worse in the months ahead as two health matters come to the fore of the budget debate: the rising costs of Medicaid and the implementation of provisions of the Obama administration's health care reform law.

Though nearly every state is in serious fiscal pain that will almost certainly adversely affect citizens, budget shortfalls are forcing states to rethink and redesign government for the better.

With potentially millions in savings at stake, the Washington State Legislature and Governor should find a way to implement a policy that the cheapest effective drug wins regardless of whether it is a generic or brand name.