Recent Legislatures in Texas have diverted some funding from state lockups to community-based supervision and diversions. Reallocating funding in this way continues to better protect the public safety and reduce crime, as a recent report details.

A logjam on the budget broke swiftly late Wednesday as the House and Senate advanced water and school fund measures each was demanding of the other.

The Senate plan and a budget passed by the House last month both include $500 million in new revenue, including hikes in gasoline and cigarette taxes.

Gov. Rick Snyder and Republican legislative leaders reached an agreement Tuesday on how to divvy up nearly $702 million in surplus revenue as lawmakers race to complete the 2014 fiscal year budget by June 1.

The single largest increase by far in the Senate budget plan is an additional $584 million dollars plowed into Medicaid in the upcoming year. Next year, the increase will be $796 million.

House and Senate negotiators settled Friday on a roughly $100 billion state budget. It would reverse most of the historic spending cuts that socked Texas classrooms in 2011, give state employees a modest raise and still afford Republicans the political cover of not busting a cap on state spending.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee Thursday immediately started poking holes in a $25 billion state spending plan the House of Representatives approved last week.

Scott's extensive veto list is more than twice as large as his list last year, and his largest since his first year in office. It slashed state spending from $74.5 billion to $74.1 billion.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee released a nearly $34 billion state budget proposal, a spending plan significantly less than the plan Gov. Deval Patrick unveiled earlier this year.

After a round of painful mid-year budget cuts, the state finished fiscal year 2012 with a $133 million surplus, proportionate to Florida's. But the Jindal administration needs to use most of that to move money around to get fiscal year 2013 out of the red

The sixth-annual Tennessee Pork Report is chock-full yet again, of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement of taxpayer money by state and local government officials. Despite a changing political landscape in Tennessee, wasteful government spending has not disappeared.

Unemployment rates in the states were little changed in August 2011, according to figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on September 16, 2011. 

The duration and depth of the current recession reveals the risks associated with the federal-state unemployment insurance programs. Unemployment insurance programs in the states have been approaching insolvency for more than a decade, putting pressure on states to raise payroll taxes, cut benefits, or seek federal loans.

The Federal Unemployment Account (FUA) provides for a loan fund for state unemployment programs to ensure a continued flow of benefits during times of economic downturn. 30 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands are currently borrowing to cover unemployment benefits. Five states, Maryland, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas, have repaid their loans in full. This report lists the most recent balances of outstanding state loans.

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.

Prisons are supremely important, but they are also a supremely expensive government program, and thus prison systems must be held to the highest standards of accountability.

State policy makers across the country are putting research into action by passing legislation that requires their courts and corrections agencies to use evidence-based practices. over the past few years, a number of states have passed comprehensive corrections reform packages that require the use of risk/needs assessment and are projected to save taxpayers millions of dollars.

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.

Georgia should continue to push the reforms that have made this one of the best managed states in the nation, but innovation is the best opportunity for true reform. Tax, regulatory and tort reform will create the right conditions for innovation in the private sector while the state pursues innovation in the areas of criminal justice, education and heath care.

it is time for Missouri to consider alternative modes of financing highways and bridges as we attempt to deal with MoDOT's projected shortfall in the billions over the next 20 years.

Unemployment Insurance reforms should be considered, including eliminating the "firewall" between administrative costs and benefits, reducing cross-subsidies to high-layoff employers, and relying more on face-to-face training and advising. More significant reforms that could be considered include adopting elements of state workers' compensation programs and experimenting with individual accounts.

Passenger rail will always have its advocates and, while technology and population densities may someday make passenger rail financially-viable, it is not currently feasible in New Mexico. Unfortunately, solutions like higher fares and additional emphasis on tourism are not likely to fill the gaping holes in the train’s finances. Luckily, the Rail Runner is by no means essential to our transportation network and it can be shut down. The sooner our leaders realize this, the better off New Mexico’s finances will be.

ALEC drafted model legislation for public transportation.