For weeks, the main sticking points to a state budget solution have been a Democratic plan to delay a payment to schools by a day, and a Republican plan to skip a pension payment. Gov. Chris Gregoire recently said those issues are off the negotiating table, but there's still no sign that lawmakers will reach an agreement before the 30-day special session ends April 10.

Moving with due speed, the Iowa Senate voted 48-1 Wednesday to restore status quo funding for the Iowa Workforce Development. The money is needed to keep the agency operating through June in the aftermath of a court battle recently decided by the Iowa Supreme Court. 

The economic development package includes more than $1 billion in tax cuts for businesses over the next three years. It features broad cuts of the unemployment tax and the corporate income tax, and targeted reductions for manufacturers, private plane repairers, and fruit and meat packers. 

The number of public employees joining New York's major pension system this month has just about doubled over the same period in 2011. That suggests a last-minute rush by employees to secure their spots in the current pension plan before the new and less-generous plan, known as Tier VI, takes effect on Sunday.

Republicans and Democrats deadlocked Wednesday over whether to cut state agencies' payrolls, days after improved revenues showed there was enough money to fund a tax break for seniors. 

With the scheduled end of the 90-day legislative session less than three week away, legislators are questioning how they'll get done in time. 

Governor Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders in New York say they are putting the finishing touches on a state budget of roughly $132.5 billion, with lawmakers set to beat their April 1 deadline for the second year in a row.

The Senate approved its version of the state's $19.3 billion budget for the next two years Thursday night - a plan that differs from the House proposal primarily by taking additional steps to curb the state's debt.

The tax plan, quietly developed by state leaders, would lower income and car taxes, while citizens would pay more when they shop online.  It would cut taxes on manufacturers, a major goal of Gov. Nathan Deal and top legislators eager to jumpstart Georgia's slow economy.

The governor and legislative leaders first allowed the public to see the details of the pension legislation at 3 a.m. Thursday. The Republican-controlled Senate approved the measure an hour later, despite the absence of most of the chamber's Democrats, who had walked out over redistricting.

In 2008, 175 former Connecticut state employees received pensions worth at least $100,000. That number rose to 299 people in 2009 and is expected to continue rising.

Are students learning the things they need to know? Is there a healthy exchange of ideas? Are trustees upholding the public trust? Are taxpayers getting a good value for their money? These are the kinds of questions to which the people of Minnesota deserve answers. It is the goal of this report card to provide answers and to help Minnesota—a state rightly known for its passion for education—be a national standard bearer for excellence, accountability, and efficiency in higher education.

Transparency, and the accountability that follows, is necessary for state's to fix their fiscal problems.  Citizens should now demand ready access to state and local government budgets, regulations, contracts, and contacts.  Absent transparency, there is far greater risk of continued failure, corruption, fraud, waste and regulatory abuse.

Sound pension reform meets four general criteria: (1) establish transparency with respect to the true cost of the benefits promised to public employees; (2) mandate that the pension plan sponsor pay the full cost of accrued benefits each year; (3) mandate that the pension plan sponsor pay down the unfunded accrued liability over a reasonable time horizon and (4) improve the generational equity, portability and security of benefits for public employees.

The South Carolina state budget should be more transparent. There should be one document showing the exact amount lawmakers appropriated in a given year and the budget should reveal where all money is coming from.  The budget should list every program each agency is running, how much that program is receiving, and a description of the program.

At least 34 states have passed legislation--often called Taxpayer Transparency Acts--requiring a centralized, searchable website that provides information to the public about state expenditures or state contracts.  They can all be found here.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation provides a host of potential budget solutions for the 2011 Texas state budget. Their solutions cover a broad range of categories from education to tax policy. Take a look!

Over the long term, one of the most important reforms the Legislature can enact to promote fiscal responsibility is to make the appropriations process more transparent.

Case study of New Jersey's five public pension plans and exploration of possible solutions, including shifting all newly hired employees to a defined contribution pension model based upon the plan already offered to New Jersey's university employees and continuing current reforms lowering pension replacement rates and, if possible, extended to current employees.

The time has come for openness and accountability in post-secondary education. The best way to achieve this is through performance audits, which look at all facets of an institution-from student input/outcome data to faculty process data to all aspects of financial data. This project is to develop areas of process for a Performance Audit Guide used to evaluate how public (and/or private) institutions use student, public, and donor funds to meet the institutions' primary missions.

North Carolina should expand NCOpenBook.gov to provide transaction-level detail updated daily with spending and revenue for all of state government. Each state agency should provide easy access to its transaction information on every page of its website.

North Carolina should define government's role in each policy area. Some policy goals are better achieved by families, charities, or free enterprise.  It should post budget bills online 72 hours before the first vote and provide a five-year fiscal note with each budget.   The state should also expand the rainy day fund to 10 percent of General Fund appropriations in the most recent fiscal year.

Hopefully elected officials in the states will see the benefit of providing their citizens adequate public notice of legislative activity.  This language is being proposed as ALEC model legislation and a vote on it will be taken at the ALEC meeting in Cincinnati on April 29, 2011.

This ALEC model legislation affirms that the government of a state has a duty to affirmatively disclose certain information, in a timely manner, and to shift the burden from citizens and journalists to the state, to share all information necessary, so that citizens may hold their elected officials accountable.