Joint Finance Committee also votes on measures on streetcar, taxes, prohibition of soda bans.

Gov. Nathan Deal Tuesday morning signed a $19.9 billion budget for the coming year that increases spending $600 million but doesn’t provide cost-of-living raises for the state’s 200,000 employees and teachers. The state budget includes spending cuts in nearly every department, from agriculture to technical colleges but also funnels millions more into k-12 education and public health care.

Does the school voucher debate belong on its own bill, or within the state budget? The Wisconsin Senate's top Democrat is demanding a stand-alone bill, but Gov. Walker calls that idea "ridiculous."

The Hawaii State Legislature today voted unanimously in both the House and Senate to approve the state budget for the upcoming FY2013-2015 biennium.

Resolving the state budget is becoming more challenging, with signs that tax revenue collections will be sluggish for the key month of April, a top Senate Republican leader said Monday.

To be fully funded, Delaware must increase its annual contribution to the pension system based on a market valuation of plan liabilities. This paper analyzes Delaware’s pension system on a fair-market or government- guaranteed basis, with reference to the average US Treasury rate on 10- and 20-year bonds in June 2012. A discussion of the discrepancy between current government accounting conventions and the fair-market value approach and the implications for plan management follows.

The accountability measurements identify societal goals and iterates specific means of achieving them. While many states list specific goals they want to attain and the means to measure the goals, there is still little accountability for failure to reach stated goals. The measures in place are primarily numerical. By comparing rates and statistics annually, each state can determine the success of the specific tactics used to attain the accountability measures. No states compare their own success with that of neighboring or similarly situated states.

This guide serves as an overview of the basics of municipal bankruptcy, and boils down the municipal bankruptcy process so that officials and citizens have a framework within which to discuss whether bankruptcy is a viable option. It outlines who, what, where and when, as well as costs and benefits.

It is well understood that the federal government must make spending cuts-these cuts will most likely drastically change the amount of federal dollars that are allocated to the states. Unfortunately for most states, dependence on federal funding has continually risen since 2008.

Was the slow recovery of the U.S. economy from the trough of the Great Recession anticipated? 

An introduction to how the state budget process works and a glossary of terms used in the process.

State Budget Solutions recommends that state legislators take action in 2013 to resolve the serious state financial crises by changing their focus from inputs to outcomes by redesigning budgets from the ground up based on priorities and performance.

The ongoing state budget "crisis" strongly underscores the urgent need for North Carolina to adapt significant state budget reforms, including putting North Carolina taxpayers back in charge of approving new debt, and forcing legislators and state agencies at reasonable intervals to justify all spending, not just spending increases.

Highway spending in New Hampshire is not funded by general taxation. Our highway spending is supported entirely by user fees like the gas tax and turnpike tolls. So, if we're developing a real plan, let's start by figuring out how much money those fees will raise over the next ten years.

This is the year to resolve Pennsylvania's serious financial crises by changing the budget focus from inputs to outcomes. In other words, legislators and the governor should junk the old conventional model and start designing a reality-based budget from the ground up based on priorities and performance.